Romantic fiction?


Does anyone else out there think that the story of this film is meant to be viewed through Mrs Delahunty's lens - that it is just the sort of romantic fiction that she would have made up? Even when she's not on screen, the characters behave in ridiculously stereotyped ways (witness, for one small example, the German with excellent English who nevertheless hasn't quite caught those quaint English words like "hollyhock" and "sundial"!) Even when she overhears the scientist's frank assessment of her on the telephone, it is just the sort of stereotypical thing that a hard headed scientist would be made to say in a romantic novel. And even Mrs Delahunty's terrible past is a typical romantic plot device, and it is viewed through soft focus stylised images. If this idea (of a romantic fiction) is intended, the film is more interesting; if not, I think it's pretty much pleasant and diverting tosh. Though Maggie Smith is good either way!

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I agree. If this was a novel I'd probably call her an "unreliable narrator", similar to the narrator/s in Wuthering Heights, who describe the events from their (biased/flawed) points of view, but don't see what's really going on/what the main characters are really like. I didn't catch the beginning of the film with the bomb etc., but it seemed like she was trying to cast Aimee's uncle as the leading man/love interest and other characters into certain roles which they didn't necessarily fit and behaving towards them accordingly e.g. the voiceover about the kind of man she'd expect to drive up to the house; talking about her flawed past to elicit some kind of empathetic response from the uncle etc. and disappointment when he's not behaving the way she expected; and imagining what people from the houseguests' pasts were like.

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I agree that once Tom arrived Emily became somewhat swept away by her fantasies and kept trying to setup situations that echoed her novels. But she didn't end up with the hardheaded scientist sweeping her into his strong manly arms, gazing down at her with a strangely softened expression on his face and covering her face with kisses. She wanted this to happen, lord knows, she would have liked nothing better than to gain the happy ending she always gave her heroines, but she gained a different happiness instead. And I think that when she woke up and saw Aimee she suddenly realised how silly her fantasies had been and that she'd rather have Aimee than Tom any day.

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