This is my main complaint with this movie. I really thought that Tautou's character deserved one tender moment after being used and abused throughout the film. There is only one guy that truly loves her in this film and all we see is a silently mouthed "I love you" at the end. No lovemaking - No kiss - No hug - Nothing!
Otherwise it was a good movie.
That's ironic... That's one of the things I loved most about this movie. It's so clear that they love and care for each other, but the only time they truly admit this to themselves and each other is at the end, when they whisper their loves and goodbyes. Just goes to show what a glum world they are--or at least were--forced to exist in. Just as was said in the film, "For us there is only survival." They couldn't afford to get caught up in romance, and the feelings they did acknowledge for each other came at great risks to both.
Quite honestly, I felt it was about the most original and amazing ending I've seen to a movie in ages. I was perhaps as moved by Shawshank Redemption, but even that was expected. And this ending was made by their final whispers.
I also got the impression that Okwe was so focused on his goal of getting back to his family that he would not allow himself the distraction of starting a physical relationship. He loved her, yes, but he loved his family more and they were his highest priority.
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Joon: You're out of your tree.
Sam: It's not my tree.
I agree with C2FThom on that..it was far more effective. like you said, "They couldn't afford to get caught up in romance, and the feelings they did acknowledge for each other came at great risks to both."
shareThe PROFESSIONAL is different, she was a minor. In the 21st Century, despite the fact the multiracial births have quadrupled in the past two decade, people are still uncomfortable with interracial, even interethnic romances and sex scenes. Please remember all of the controversy between Halle and Billy Bob in MONSTER'S BALL.
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I concur. For years I have made occassional complaints about the movie industry shying away from certain types of interracial love. But I had no problem with how it was handled in Dirty Pretty Things. The two of them didn't need to go to bed and consumate their strong feelings. Their stares at one another in the end said it all. It was perfect. Adding a love scene would have been tacky and detrimental to the characters and the film.
shareAnother point that your post triggered...
Sex as trauma. Not just for Senay but for all of them. At the beginning, when Okwe check's his bosses *ahem* parts, it's shot so that it almost seems for a second like Okwe's going down on him. And I'm sure that was intentional. Even with Juliette, the first time we see her "working", she is smacked and abused by her customer (though she certainly puts up a good fight). Later on, in response to the question, "Who are you people?" Okwe includes the they are the ones who "suck your cock". It makes for a bit of humor when Juliette takes credit, but it's also using oral sex as a metaphor for their existence, and in turn, painting the impression that, for these people, sex is just another form of being demeaned and supressed.
In the 21st Century, despite the fact the multiracial births have quadrupled in the past two decade, people are still uncomfortable with interracial, even interethnic romances and sex scenes.
he does i recall him in he got game and in training day of the top of my head were he has interracial sex.
shareWell, He Got Game was a special case because it was a low-budget independent film and not a big studio blockbuster (and legend has it Denzel asked Spike Lee to remove the scene, Lee refused). And it doesn't count in Training Day because Eva Mendes isn't white.
I know it's been 2 years since my original post, but let me just add that this taboo still holds true. A black man can hook up with pretty much any kind of woman as long as she's not white/blonde/christian. It's cool if she's Indian, Native American, Asian, Mexican, Spanish, Jewish, and in some special cases, if it's firmly established she's not an American (ie French, Russian, German, sometimes even English) then you MIGHT be able to get away with it, but not usually.
"Action is how men express romance on film." --Kurt Wimmershare
I want to add that actually in He Got Game his wife wasn't white. She was mixed and in the movie I believe she portrayed a light skinned black woman because she even made a comment about being wary of her son dating a white girl. She defintly wasn't white woman though.
"Cool will get ya dead." -Former NBA Power Forward, Karl Malone
I know this post is years late, but boy do you make a very valid point, you stopped short at pulling the trigger. There are so many times I see this that I can't believe it. When it comes to interracial sex scenes they are remarkably unbalanced. What I could never figure out is this is true from country to country and is no way isolated. So this must be a global and very deep rooted issue, You will see it on television but not in movies. You see Arab Italian and Latin, and almost every other country in the world do the interracial love scenes but never with black men the stories are written where it will not be required. I have only seen Charlotte Rampling who doesn't give a dam about the issues. But she is the only one who comes to mind. People can sugar coat it all the want but your post is so true. One more point it being with all the British movies it always tickles me on how blacks are left out of even background scenes as if they don't exist there. It is so obvious.
shareYes, this seems to happen all the time if the leading male is black and his female co-star is white. A great example is THE PELICAN BRIEF, with Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, and A PATCH OF BLUE, with Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman (R.I.P). Some people give the excuse of the conditions didn't merit any interaction like that between the characters, but how many times have similar plots to these movies, involving non-black leading males, gotten to the inviteable love scene or some form of loving relationship shown.
It's very rare that you find a movie like LOVE FIELD. (spoiler alert)... Although you might say Dennis Haysbert's character essentially goes to jail for being with a white woman.
"Thus, with a kiss, I die."
@C.S. Wood
As long as the MAN is WHITE, he can have any kind of sex scene with any kind of woman he wants (when's the last time Halle Berry had a Black male love interest?).
That's the damn truth----I know this is an old post, but it's still true--when has Will Smith ever kicked it with a white female co-star in ANY of his films, let alone kissed one? Never! Not even to this day---maybe that might change with the new film he's coming out with. And,yeah, white boys usually kick it with anybody they like in the movies--according to Hollywood,everybody is supposed to be just so in love with them in the movies, no matter how *beep* up and arrogant the white male characters are,as if no other men on earth but THEM can be the most desirable men on the planet--which is some BS,of oourse.
And you know as well as I do, that if both the main couple in DPT were both white, they would have been rolling in the sheets before the first half of the film. I mean, c'mon, it's pretty obvious that Tautou's character was attracted to Ejiofor's character and really liked him---if he'd given her the go-ahead, she would have been kicking it with him first chance she got. And,yeah, a then-unknown Ejiofor was excellent in this--as he's been in just about everything else he's done. But,I thought the two not having sex was some BS---they should have done the deed at least once, to bond under the messed-up circumstances they were living in. Not buying the "oh that would have cheapened their connection" explanation---the film's makers weren't gonna put an interracial sex scene in the picture because they figured it would hurt the picture's financial chances,that's all. Which is a shame,because it's a good film,regardless.
@C.S. Wood
As long as the MAN is WHITE, he can have any kind of sex scene with any kind of woman he wants (when's the last time Halle Berry had a Black male love interest?).
That's the damn truth----I know this is an old post, but it's still true--when has Will Smith ever kicked it with a white female co-star in ANY of his films, let alone kissed one? Never! Not even to this day---maybe that might change with the new film he's coming out with. And,yeah, white boys usually kick it with anybody they like in the movies--everybody just supposed to be just so in love with them in the movies, no matter how *beep* up and arrogant the white male characters are,as if no other men on earth but THEM can be the most desirable men on the planet--which is some BS,of oourse.
Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.share
@C.S. Wood
Whoa---I wasn't even expecting an answer to a 10-year-old post either, but thanks for replying!
And not only that, even when the guy is white, I have seen no coming of age or "nerd gets the hottest girl at school" movies where the hot girl was anything other than white. She can't be black or asian or latina. The one movie that did do it I can think of was The Sitter with Jonah Hill (but the girl was only around for like 10 minutes).
But we never see any films like that (such as Project X, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim, ect) with a black guy in the lead anyway because they'd HAVE to cast a black girl as his love interest in a movie with a black couple at its center and Hollywood still doesn't make those. They're making more adult themed films like Think Like a Man and the About Last Night remake, but nothing for younger people.
@C.S. Wood
Just so you know, Will Smith's latest film, FOCUS, actually has his character actually kicking it with a white leading lady character for once. Since he's never done that before, that'll be quite interesting to see!
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I think the lack of a physical sex scene is what makes this film so special and heartbreaking at the end. Anyone can sense the love between them in their final scenes together without having to see them make out. Its one of the most original and powerful films I've ever seen.
shareIts kinda like in Amelie, at the end when they dont really show Amelie and Nino having sex, but they show that cute kissing scene, where they each kiss each other on the corner of the lip, the cheek, the neck, and the eye. We know they do have sex after, but it isnt shown which I think was even better. The subtlety of it all, I guess is what makes it powerfull.
*Slappy, good news! I've decided not to kill you!.*
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Agreed! That's how I felt about it....
Sillypuddy wrote: I think the lack of a physical sex scene is what makes this film so special and heartbreaking at the end. Anyone can sense the love between them in their final scenes together without having to see them make out. Its one of the most original and powerful films I've ever seen.
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What you what you see (and have seen) is what you get -- and have!
I don't understand how people can see rape and sexual coercion as proper plot devices, but view any showing of physical love between Senay & Okwe as being out of the question.
It didn't have to be a full out love scene - they could have expressed their affection through a kiss, hug, or something of the sort. Didn't Senay deserve as much after what see had been through?
Leaving this out of the movie made Okwe unrealistically asexual, and unemotional.
Hello, do you not get a little word called repression?
Okwe explained it himself in the movie, in one line: "For you and I, there is ONLY SURVIVAL." He denies his affection for her, among other things, because he fears causing her any more harm than he's already done.
I'd actually liken it to Lost in Translation. Bob & Charlotte didn't have sex, but they didn't need to. Personally I find it rather insulting that you think someone's unrealistic just because they don't take full advantage of an opportunity to have sex.
No need to be rude...
Did you even read my post? I said that I disliked that there was no show of affection between Okwe & Senay. I even said that the affection could have taken the form of a hug, kiss, or (yes) a sex scene. But at no time did I state that I would only be satisfied if they had included a sex scene in the movie.
Let me just restate what I'm saying. I found the rape scenes in this film to be extremely distasteful. Senay seemed to be crying out for a meaning relationship with Okwe, despite what she had to endure. But Okwe maintained his distance. Why? I've heard many reasons - his child back in Nigeria - it would have ruined the movie - blah, blah, blah. None of these reasons satisfied me. In what way would it have complicated things more if they had shown some affection (fill in the blank what form of affection that would be____:-)?
I could have excepted it if they both were hesitant, or if they didn't know the others true feelings. But Senay expressed her feelings only to have Okwe give excuses. In my eyes this made the Okwe character into a cold and unemotional figure. This went against the obvious charm that the character possessed. Where did the heart of stone come from all of a sudden? Just because Senay was a women? That wasn't good enough for me.
I also have to disagree with conclusions you made on the sexual messages in the film. I just think that Okwe was painting a picture of the group he unwillingly found himself apart of. Namely the prostitutes, the hotel workers, the taxi drives, etc. I don't think that the movie was trying to link sexuality with oppression at all. If anything it was trying to link social class and oppression.
Peace & Thanks for the Comments
Sorry, didn't mean to sound rude. When I say "Hello..." something like that, it's more like how Mike Myers a la "Wayne's World" would say it than, I dunno, somebody mean. :P
Anyhow, where would his heart of stone come from? "It is an African story," I bet Okwe would say. Perhaps because he had loved someone before, and had to bear with seeing them firebombed. Perhaps that made him afraid to love again. Perhaps he feared that only trouble could come to those he allowed himself to love.
Or perhaps he was afraid of being just another person taking advantage of poor naive Senay. Sure, just a kiss or something, not much. (Though didn't they at least kiss on the cheeks at the end? I'm pretty sure.) But to Okwe, he would probably consider it unfair to her.
And I didn't mean to imply that the film was making a connection to sexuality and oppression--more that it was using sexuality, and specifically oral sex, as a metaphor for the class-wise oppression that the illegals suffered under.
Wow, that's an amazing point.
I can't believe that I never considered that he might be traumatized by the brutal killing of his wife (How silly I feel right now!). It's certainly a better reason than just simply saying that the relationship between Okwe and Senay wouldn't have worked out. It's possible that the people who said this had already considered the death of his wife as a legitimate reason for Okwe's behavior, and didn't feel that they had to explain it.
I'm really glad you articulated it the way that you did, because I now understand a sensible reason why Okwe may have resisted Senay. He just wasn't ready. That's perfectly fine reasoning for a man who is suffering from the death of his wife.
I guess he doesn't have a heart of stone after all :-) This really opens up the movie for me.
Thanks also for clarifying your statement about the sexual messages within the film. I was really uncomfortable with the sexuality of this film. That is a major reason why I would have liked to see a love scene between Okwe & Senay. I thought that a tender moment between the two would balance out the negative sexual imagery of the film. But the director had to include these disturbing scenes for some reason. It's definitely possible that both of you are on the same wavelength.
Now I have to see it again with this new perspective!
Excellent analysis on your part.
Glad I could help.
I don't remember if I mention anything that hasn't been discussed already, but I have a review of Dirty Pretty Things here:
http://www.smart-popcorn.com/disp_review.php?r_id=160
I, too, was disappointed that there was not a love scene. It did not have to be gratuitous, just simply a hug or a passionate kiss. After all that Senay had been through, for Okwe to deny her that was wrong, not matter what his excuses. It was clear to Okwe that Senay was deeply in love with him. I don't understand why he didn't kiss her. Maybe he didn't want to hurt her anymore than she'd already been. The ending was happy, but in my opinion, it would have been better if they'd kissed. They would have made a really cute couple, living together in New York along with Okwe's daughter.
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I haven't seen this movie, and I don't have anything to add in terms of the content...
But I just wanted to say that I really admire how you all have conducted this conversation. Somehow you managed to disagree, discuss, and come to a happy conclusion without starting a flame-war. This almost never happens online!
props... :)
Either there is too much of it or too little. Yes, they did hug. Sex? It wasn't required and would have been out of character for Okwe. Truth be told, the biggest flub in the flick was that Okwe became way too uptight as it went on.
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