MovieChat Forums > Book of Love (2004) Discussion > I did not get this movie!

I did not get this movie!


Was Dave attracted to Chet? And the Disney Land trip... was Dave working out and so giddy about it because he was after Chet?!?! Why did he work out, then go over to Elaine (who was sitting on the bed) and make her feel how hard he was? He was all, "Like a rock!" And then Elaine started to cry and beat the pillow.

And the fight scene was odd. It almost looked like Dave was trying to rape Chet instead of just fighting/competing with him. And Elaine was strange throughout the entire trip like she knew Dave's motive or something.

Throughout the movie, I thought it was about a married couple hanging with this kid who the woman gets attracted to and they have an affair. Then it takes a weird turn with Dave's reaction and I'm lost.

reply

No Dave was not attracted to Chet! Dave was working out I think because he felt that he was competing with a much younger guy for his wife's affection. Elaine was crying because she felt gulity about what she did with Chet knowing that she was married... and Dave still invited Chet for the trip( I think ) to get back at Elaine ( sort of, like throwing it up in her face so to speak! )... and Elaine knew that!

the fight scene was like any other fight that most guys have! they almost anyways like to wrestle on the ground with each other. Dave wasn't trying to rape Chet! and like I mention before, yes Elaine knew exactly Dave's motives.

Throughout the movie, I thought it was about a married couple hanging with this kid who the woman gets attracted to and they have an affair.


and that's exactly what the movie is about!

Then it takes a weird turn with Dave's reaction and I'm lost.


Of course! that's the reaction of almost every husband who's wife have cheated on them!




* Sourires et baisers d'arc-en-ciel! : { }

reply

Carmen got it right (in my opinion).

I'm always fascinated with how many people wonder about the "fight scene." They often ask "interesting" questions.

Maybe you have to be a guy to understand a lot of Dave's behavior, but basically he is being edged out as the Alpha Male and can't take it. He wants his Alpha Male position back. That was why he invited Chet on the trip and wrestled him. It was a macho thing to win back Elaine's affection, as if to say, "he's just a kid -- I'm a man."

reply

I don't know. I kind of had the same idea as the Original Poster (was he competing for Chet because his wife had slept w/ him. What was up in the hotel room scene and was he trying to rape him?)

I think this film could've been great but it wasn't executed well enough which just had me completely disappointed overall.

reply

I really don't think it was anything sexual. He was pissed that his wife had slept with this kid and wanted to show him who was the "real man." It was just a macho thing.

-----------------------------
The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.

reply

Good analysis...this is why I like IMDB boards...bunch of opinions and helps movies I don't understand come together!

reply

A friend of mine loaned the movie to me and praised it so I was excited to finally watch it. However, I just watched it and did not get it either. But now that I read the other posts, I don't feel bad because there wasn't anything to get.

It wasn't horrible but it's not something I would request or watch again.






"Some people are a$$holes. If you are one of these people, leave me the hell alone!"

reply

Started promising but in the end this movie sucked ass, it made no sense at all. They go to Disney World? And that slut wife agrees and comes along? Chet getting a boner when he fights Dave in that hotelroom? Heather and Chet end up in Cambodia? lol, the director is an idiot.

reply

Chet ending up in Cambodia was not a shocker...he came full circle with the affair and situation. He grew up and took a hold of his life due to the affair. He got something good out of it.

I just found it strange that Elaine was so happy running that Yoga business. She was happy with her husband and they had a great relationship (it seemed) why did that make her so happy? Maybe she felt free. She got something out of the affair too if that's the case and it seems to be so.

The husband was the one who got screwed in my opinion. Everyone else seemed to come out ok. He quit his job and lived in a crap place and was all alone.

I always try to find some message or lesson in movies....but this one just didn't seem to give one. Don't cheat? Don't make friends with teenagers from ice cream shops? LOL. This movie was just a journey with no real reasons for how the characters ended up.

reply

I did not grow up in America but living for the past decade now. I noticed one thing is that people constantly over-analyze and constantly trying to figure out if a guy is gay. Even normal things are construed as gay thing and it looks childish. Everything is about sexual orientation. for god's sake grow up.

reply

I think in the movie it did imply that Chet had an erection after Elaine walked in on them fighting. He shoves his erect penis into his shorts after she walks into the room...it is pretty clear if you watch it again. Just another possible layer to a complex relationship between the three. Something to consider. Why include that part? If there wasn't maybe something he felt for both of them.

reply

I came to this message board looking for exactly this thread (regarding the Disney fight) and I created a IMDB account just so that I could weigh in.

I've thought a lot about this since seeing this film a few months ago. (First of all, it was listed as a gay film on Netflix so there's that. Though I don't agree!) I agree with the OP. The fight was sinister & strangely sexual. It definitely had a rape-like feeling. At first, I thought I was being unduly influenced by having seen the film "Beauty" that same week. I showed my husband the BoL scene first and he agreed that it was definitely sexual though neither of us felt that David had any attraction or lust for Chet. Remember when he found out she cheated with Chet? He's sad / mad and then immediately "aroused." He gets up behind her in this animalistic fashion and has rough rut-rut sex with her. She's freaked & disturbed but not really surprised.

After I showed my guy the BoL scene, I played the rape scene from "Beauty" which is a mean trick to play in someone (as something you can never un-see.) It's actually quite unnerving how similar the two scenes are -- in energy not action. Obviously, Beauty is brutal and violent and the man in that movie feels lust for the younger "boy" that BoL's David doesn't feel. However, both men share obsession and that obsession fuels their behavior more than attraction. Also, ask yourselves what would have happened in BoL if Elaine hadn't walked in? I think that David was groping him in the groin area hence his reaction. Chet had no lust for David and was definitely saying "no" but he was 15 and hormonal. It actually illuminates the Elaine issue, really. His body may have wanted it because she was teasing at his burgeoning sexuality but Chet was in way over his head with these two. I think the final answer to the sinister quality of the "wrestling" scene lies in Chet's response to David's second go at him -- he was frightened! He felt truly threatened! He was scared enough to stab him!

For all of the above reasons, I am convinced that this was so much more than alpha male wrestling. It was alpha male something! Like most rape / sexual attacks, it was about power and dominance. Think about it this way -- what if Chet was 15 yo Charlene instead? It would be all too clear. Chet didn't want to wrestle & David was certainly not playing. He was being really aggressive and acting wildly unhinged. Remember the pills he gobbled through-out?

The thing about this couple that is interesting is that, while they may not know themselves (delusion!) they each other all too well. We don't know initially that Elaine is a predatory & promiscuous narcissist but David does. We don't know that
David is a passive-aggressive nut but Elaine does. When he announces the Disney trip, she beats the pillow because she knows that he's up to some sort of trouble. She's sees a familiar mania developing. Like Chet, the viewer is drawn into the lies they tell themselves with their hydroponic veggies & lesbian friends & Cambodian empathy. We believe they are good people.

Unfortunately, the director seems to think he told a story about "good people who do bad things." In reality, the story is about bad people who think they are good.

Finally, I'd like to point out that David's creepy wrestling game is not exactly a new response to a wife's infidelity with a young boy. In Ancient Rome, it was actually a law that a husband who caught his wife with a boy was allowed to violate the boy for his own pleasure. This supposedly righted the wrong. Men! Jeez!

reply

By Chet's reaction, I am referring to his erection.

reply