MovieChat Forums > Being Julia (2005) Discussion > Completely wrong and backwards ending

Completely wrong and backwards ending

posted 12 years ago by callmecrazy341
10 replies | jump to latest

I thought it was totally wrong how Julia humiliated Avice in the play. Ok yes, she couldn't act, slept around to get ahead, and was all around a bit ridiculous and dumb and not a very likeable character, but she really didn't do anything malicious or mean-spirited to Julia or showed any signs of trying to do harm to her. If her great sin was that she had an affair with Julia's husband, that actually makes her no worse than Julia, who was messing around herself, and furthermore the film makes it clear numerous times that Michael and Julia are not in an exclusive marriage. And as for Tom, he may have been Julia's lover, but for all intents and purposes, he was an unattached man. Really, if anyone needed to be cruelly humiliated it was Tom. He ruthlessly used and hurt Julia, and his only punishment was being covertly called out in a play. Nobody gets it any worse than Avice. It's ridiculously archaic and irresponsible how this movie villainizes and slut shames the other woman in the situation, when it is really the men who needed comeuppance. I mean, really??! In the very next scene the heroine is hugging and kissing the cheating husband! I'm sure it's most likely faithful to the events in the book, but that can get somewhat of a pass for being written in the 30's. For a modern movie to endorse that kind of message is a tad disappointing.

[–] jmckay27 12 years ago

Loved this movie, and I thought the end could have gone down a little darker and deeper with the drama, though the twist of Julie humiliating the younger actress was okay. When Tom abrutly cut Julie off there seemed to be no closure as in real life I suppose, so the silly ending was off beat yet was a "feel good" ending.

[–] marvelass 10 years ago

Actually, women do go after the other woman even if the husband/boyfriend was at fault. Personally, I've witnessed it many times.

Furthermore, the movie was not a morality play. It was not trying to teach the audience a moral lesson. Frankly, I found the movie/story pointless.

.

[–] Ana_Banana 10 years ago

Both men have had their share of humiliation in that scene because they have been 'endorsing' Avice.
The film is about aging and Julia having to learn how not to depend on other people.

We can't be lost; we don't know where we're going.
All that matters is that we're going.

[–] Posh_babe 10 years ago

Nobody gets it any worse than Avice. It's ridiculously archaic and irresponsible how this movie villainizes and slut shames the other woman in the situation, when it is really the men who needed comeuppance.

Couldn't agree with this more. So Julia gives some vague hints in the play that the younger actress is having an affair...it's a comedy play and the real meaning is lost on about 90% of the people watching. So maybe a few latch on the the fact that Avice is sleeping with Tom and Julia's husband well they probably knew or could have guessed that anyway.

While this was written in the 30's it still doesn't make it ok and it's certainly not all right for the modern era. Julia should have targeted her husband and younger former lover rather than just some silly petty cat fight between 2 women. She is what gives women a bad name.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Julia should have targeted her husband and younger former lover rather than just some silly petty cat fight between 2 women.

Why should she target her husband for goodness sake? They appeared to have some sort of open marriage. He was her director come agent and was ecstatic over her impromptu performance which wins the show and Julia herself glowing reviews.

Tom was targeted and humiliated and attempts to leave the show early, but is kept in his place by Roger to endure the whole performance.

I think it was a pretty slight sort of film about generally shallow sorts of people and can understand its lack of commercial success, but I thought the ending was quite clever.

[–] Posh_babe 10 years ago

Why should she target her husband for goodness sake? They appeared to have some sort of open marriage. He was her director come agent and was ecstatic over her impromptu performance which wins the show and Julia herself glowing reviews.

Tom was targeted and humiliated and attempts to leave the show early, but is kept in his place by Roger to endure the whole performance.

I think it was a pretty slight sort of film about generally shallow sorts of people and can understand its lack of commercial success, but I thought the ending was quite clever.

Fair enough about open marriage but he was starting to use his young lover in a way that would affect Julia's career. This hadn't happened so far.

Tom was targeted but not in the way the young actress/mistress was. I think only a small handful of people knew who he was.

It did look like the young actress, who I have no time for, bore the brunt of her rath which is very unfair. After all in this case it took 4 to tango.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

...but he was starting to use his young lover in a way that would affect Julia's career.

That's just speculation on your part.

Tom was targeted but not in the way the young actress/mistress was. I think only a small handful of people knew who he was.

I don't think that matters as far as Julia and Roger are concerned.

[–] Posh_babe 10 years ago

Avice would have been the star of the play. Julia felt threatened by it and it was her husband who was directing. It's not just speculation.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Avice would have been the star of the play.

But she wasn't at that stage. Julia is still the star with Avice the aspirant. If you're saying

... she would have been ...

(and I can't quite see how you can claim that), that's just speculation, which you're trying to pass off as some sort of fact.

[–] whoanelly (1558) 4 years ago

You've missed a huge aspect of the plot. Yes, Julia is the “star" and Avice is playing the ingenue. But if you watch the rehearsal scenes carefully, you'll see that Avice was being favored in an unprecedented manner and being given preferential treatment which she had not earned.

Avice wasn't a good actress. She was a pretty face with a nice figure (thin was in during the 20s-30s). She used Michael to get ahead in her career and risked her relationship with Tom to do it. (Neither Michael nor Tom knew that they were sharing her with each other.)

During rehearsals, Avice is given too many lines for her role; her part is enlarged to the point that she is upstaging the star. The sneezing segment allows Avice to steal the scene from Julia, plus she's on the swing, which also draws attention to her and away from the star. Additionally, she gets better lighting and nicer costumes. That's unheard of for an ingenue.

At first, Julia just ignores it and allows it to happen because she's depressed and has sort of given up. But then she gets her fight back, and starts to pretend to play along and offer more and more to Avice so she can set her up for a bigger fall.

All the aspects of Avice's role that were undermining Julia's position as the star of the play: the swing, lighting, the preferential blocking, superior costuming, attention-getting lines and bits -- all of those things, Julia took them back for herself during the play's premiere. And Avice was not the sole target for this comeuppance; Tom and Michael received their share, too. Michael was described as a fool, and Tom was exposed for "playing” Julia and two-timing her with Avice.

It's true that Michael got off easier than either Tom or Avice. But Julia is motivated to let him off more easily; he's Julia's husband, and she doesn't want to totally destroy his career. They make a great team; she's prepared to forgive him if he will forgive her too, and see that Julia is "right" for him and Avice is a huge mistake. Michael was acting like a fool, and would have been an object of ridicule for letting his hormones get in the way of being a good director.

Do I think Avice deserved everything she got? (Perhaps not everything.) Do I think Julia carried it a bit too far? (Definitely.) But Julia had the reputation of being a killer, and Avice was super dumb to under-estimate her. Basically, Avice played with fire and got burned.