MovieChat Forums > Casa de los babys (2004) Discussion > A couple of things I noticed. (Spoilers...

A couple of things I noticed. (Spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by Joshf84
5 replies | jump to latest

First of all, I enjoyed the film very much. I have always admired John Sayles for his great ability to write great character depth especially in female characters. But my real reason for picking this up was because I love Mary Steenburgen and Marcia Gay Harden and I was happy to see them in a film together. I noticed a couple of things though that left me with questions. Why on earth did we not find out more about Nancy (Marcia Gay Harden)? We know that she is a a cleptomaniac and a compulsive liar, but what was her reasoning for doing this? Sayles left so much to wonder on her character. My personal opinion as that she was not married and that she in fact was a lesbian (She would constantly talk about Leslie (Lili Taylor) being a lesbian. The other thing that I picked up and I am sure other people did also was during the beautiful scene between Eileen and Asunscion she divulges that her daughter who she gave up for adoption was named Esmerelda. Then at the end of the film the older child of the two was named Esmerelda. (Was Asuncions wish actually coming true on having her child not only have a good mother like Eileen, but actually having Eileen as her adoptive mother. I know I am reading a lot into this but thats what I absolutely love about John Sayle's Films. Anyone else care to weigh in on these topics?

[–] devilsmercy03 17 years ago

I liked that Nancy's character was not completely revealed - I don't think that the reasoning was particularly of importance, and that her anger, and judgements were the important things to show. And I think the suggestion of your asumptions are implied.

And as for Esmerelda, si, I believe she found a good mother - and what a wonderful thought it is to see Esmerelda all grown up, retracing the thought that her adopted mother and real mother had such a great moment. Although, I so wished that little boy had found a mother in Eileen. :D

[–] mbtwotimes 16 years ago

Asunscion's daughter was four years old, so the baby could not have been her daughter.

[–] dilateyourmind 16 years ago

I believe that while Eileen did not understand the whole story that Asunscion was telling her she did get the feeling that it was a story about a child named Esmerelda and decided to name her child that.

[–] altanic 16 years ago

yeah, it was obvious to me that she understood some of Asuncion's emotion and remembered the name.

[–] MuchToBeGratefulFor 13 years ago

We know that she is a a cleptomaniac and a compulsive liar, but what was her reasoning for doing this? Sayles left so much to wonder on her character.

I don't see how these questions could have been answered, as we can't know any more than the other women do. It's the nature of the situation that they don't know a lot about each other. These are women who never would have even met, if they were not each seeking children to adopt.

I agree with the other posters about Esmerelda. Asunscion's child is almost 4 and already adopted. The child Eileen is getting will be some other child. She was moved by the story Asunscion told her about her daughter Esmerelda so decided to give her daughter that name.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi