MovieChat Forums > Lymelife (2009) Discussion > Why did Charlie have to look for a job?

Why did Charlie have to look for a job?

posted 15 years ago by dab6
7 replies | jump to latest

He was very sick, why should he need an excuse?

I saw Charlie as a demoralized man who is stricken with a deep case of shame in front of his family. He seems to be keeping a happy, positive face on for his wife and family but then seems too depressed or mentally ill to actually go and look for a job. He was one of my favorite characters because a) I love Timothy Hutton and was thrilled to see him in a good movie and b) it seems to strike a cord in today's world with so many people out of work. While watching I wondered what I would do if I were out of work, depressed and losing it mentally. I don't know if I would hide in the basement and pretend to be looking for a job, but it would be hard to face my family everyday. Made sense to me. And I also liked the idea that his illness could possibly be psychosomatic. That was a nice touch. I don't know if he was truly ill or not, but he was clearly losing his mind. A person in that state could very well do what he did.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Hatton_Mann 14 years ago

Wasn't it something with Lyme disease?

[–] dab6 14 years ago

People are missing the point of this thread. WHY did he have to get a job in his condition? What job could he have done in such a state? Why did his wife make him look for one at that time? Why should he have to lie?

[–] PhillipmarlowePE 14 years ago

In my post I thought what I said makes sense. Charlie didn't have to look for a job. He could have easily said to his wife "I'm too sick", but the character in the movie was pretending to look for a job IMO b/c he was suffering from what many unemployed men with families suffer from. Shame of not being able to put food on the table. I've heard many stories as of late, with this economy, where men lose their jobs and feel so castrated that they don't even tell their wives they lost their jobs for a while. They pretend to go to work until they finally confess. Or they tell their wives they're going to look for a job but are too demoralized and depressed to do it so they drive around in their cars or whatever just to keep up the facade. Charlie is also clearly losing his marbles b/c of his illness so the choices he make aren't necessarily rational either. This is what I took from it, but in this movie everything isn't spelled out so it's that kind of movie where many people will put their own meaning on certain characters or whatever. It's why I liked it so much.

[–] Corner_House_guest 14 years ago

After all, he was putting food on the table. Venison in fact. NO veggies to go with it, but even so.....

[–] jenny-05664 8 years ago

He was very ill with advanced Lyme disease that hadn't been treated more than a dose of regular antibiotics. This was in the early 80's, when people didn't know what Lyme disease was. His wife thought he was making it up, and without a real diagnosis, he was probably too ashamed to insist he was ill. Even now, doctors still give people a hard time if they have an illness that is hard to diagnosis, including Lyme disease.