SPOILER!
Was it clear to everyone but me why she left Eckhart in the first place? Why she just walked out on him? I got that they were married and that they lived together, but then she disappears and he never knows what became of her, and I must have missed the explanation she gave for that. IF she did, indeed, give one at all.
She got pregnant I believe.
-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --
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When she was showing the pictures of her children to him, she mentions the ages (and names, I believe) of the younger two, but the eldest, she just simply says, "and that's the eldest". I took that to mean that the eldest was possibly his child.
shareHe was cheating on her, he talks about what she did at home how she cooked for two and how he was stupid and left her home alone , it did not come right out and say it but he was cheating and she was pregnant not what she wanted.
shareFunny, I never got that at all and I've seen the film twice in the space of two weeks. I thought either he worked too hard and left her alone and/or he was somewhat irresponsible and therefore a lousy husband. There was a moment in a flashback where she threw something at him and screamed "Get out!" which might be a reaction from cheating or just being fed up with living with him day to day. I think he was far too drawn to her to cheat on her, she's clearly the only woman he was ever that attracted to or loved. Also in the present she has none of the bitterness that a cheated on person would show, she seems completely confident in herself with him. The DVD commentary indicates that she went to NY to have this experience (including sleeping with him) and kind of get some closure and then go home.
shareI wouldn't say she was the only woman he was ever attracted to or loved...I think part of the movie is how he spent years mythologizing her, reminiscing and regretting the past.
That's why there's that one scene when she tells him to stop bringing up that scene by the tree, because she can't ever live up to that.
He totally cheater on her...you got that from the response he gave about being a lousy husband in conjunction with the many times that they both said that he couldn't focus on one woman at a time. A pregnant woman would never throw something at a husband and kick him out for the mere day to day.
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Am I the only one who thought the bicycle accident had something to do with her leaving... like he was cheating, she was pregnant, she lost the baby in the accident and left for london? that is what I came out of it with... but i could totally be off base. I kinda liked how they made her reason for leaving ambigious, it was interesting:D
shareCould be. Or it could be that she had it later but didn't want to open up the emotional wound of seeing him so didn't tell him. If she was pregnant then it makes sense she would have lost it so it adds up. I'm still not convinced that he cheated but seeing his personality it sure isn't beyond him.
On the other issue, I didn't say she was the only woman he was attracted to, just that she left the biggest mark. The fact that he lost her and never saw her again definitely played a role in him pursuing her so aggressively. She knew this ahead of time and in the end she got exactly what she wanted, a final experience with him and closure.
Maybe he didn't cheat. At the wedding she stated that being married to a doctor is better than a lawyer, and she has experience. This leads me to lean a bit more towards the working too much aspect.
shareIt is not explicitly stated at all, but in the flashback she is much younger at the time of the bike accident. I had the same thought you did. She lost the baby and then never could face going back. But it is just as plausible that her eldest daughter is that baby.
But I think that they were a young couple, and that they were fighting a lot. She felt isolated and unprepared to have a child and ran away to London. He never really tried to find her... is it just me or is it very odd that he had no idea where she had gone or how to find her -- but the second his sister was short a bridesmaid, she called her up and got her to come no problem. The parts of the story we don't get to hear about are more compelling than the ones we do. Perhaps that is why the movie works so well, that missing information held my interest, and made the people seem more real.
none of the children are hers, he clearly asks her "are they yours?" and she says "no, god no, they belong to another woman" and he says "an ex wife?" and she says "yes".
the children are her husbands from HIS first wife.
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that sort of thing is frowned upon, but then again, what isn't these days?
Well, she is an ex wife. And the whole time they talk about her as another woman than she is now. Ambiguous.
shareHello!! I agree with you, even if they didnt mean exactly that, that accident was something very meaningfull for both of them. Very beautiful movie.
shareI was so interested in the plot line of the film, but one of the really interesting questions to me was that he was looking for her in the faces of women for 9 years, but somehow his sister knew exactly where to find her? Despite the fact that he was so drawn to her, and obviously had access to whatever he would need to find her, he never actually took a single step. But yet seemed totally gutted when she left to return to London?
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I don't understand the part where she said she was married to a lawyer (Eckhart's character was a lawyer) but when it showed her leaving they were both still young so wouldn't he have been to young to be a lawyer?
Also after the bike accident she said she stayed in the hospital 6 months. Was this from the accident or complications from possibly losing her pregnancy if she was even ever pregnant?
I think the reason she left was she couldn't really be happy with him. She kept saying she was happy with her husband in London so this must have been the case. Also she couldn't live up to the idealized image he had of her and he seemed really clingy throughout the night so she probably knew she didn't have a future with him so she went back home to her husband.
Thanks for ruining the end of the film in your subject line.
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I also think that it was from overwork of her husband. She was still in contact with I believe his sister since she was in her wedding so she probably heard things about his recent girlfriends from her. You also have to think that although she might have had suspicions of what he was doing while at work, that doesnt mean he was actually cheating on her. She seems more sad and confused in her way of leaving than she was angry.
The combination of neglect from her husband and feeling young, alone, and pregnant (not to mention the hormones associated with being pregnant) would be enough for her to leave. This also explains why there was no real confrontation because she couldnt face him and it probably took all of her to leave, then get as far away as possible (i.e. london). She then got into the bicycle accident but couldnt call him because of what she had done and that was where she met her new husband.
There's that scene when she's on the phone with Sarah the Dancer and says something like: if he's anything like he was when I knew him, I can see why you are worried, but don't worry nothing happened between us. We just talked
I think it's clear: they married young, he was off running around with other women, etc. leaving her at home alone, she got pregnant -- i'm thinking there was probably an abortion because he never asked what happened to the baby. but after that... she got fed up probably depressed and left him. THEN she got in a bike accident, etc. later.
I need to rewatch this film, a second viewing may clear up some of the question marks I have now based on other people's posts.
I thought the bicycle accident happened after she'd gone to London. She never answers the question about where she met her current husband and during one of the flashback scenes when she's in a wheelchair she's going by the Cardiology ward and one of those doctors looked like a slightly younger version of Jeffrey.
And while it seems plausible that she would have lost the child during the accident, the manner in which she answers the question about the eldest certainly does leave it open to interpretation. What's even more telling to me is that he doesn't come outright and ask if she is his. He doesn't want to know. Or maybe deep down he already knows and doesn't feel like he deserves to be a participant.
I definitely got that he was cheating (as well as working too much) and that was the catalyst for her leaving.
After watching the actors talk about their characters in the Special Features section, I see those flashbacks and their entire history differently. First of all the director (Hans Canosa) explained that many of the split screen actions were what the character was thinking about at that moment. In other words, the character was creating the other half of the frame.
As the movie begins, Aaron Eckhart said his character (Man) is talking as fast as he can, trying to pick up Woman (Helena Bonham Carter). So Man essentially creates their whole history together and Woman plays along with him. Meaning they met for the first time at the wedding.
If this is the case, it indicates Hans Canosa was too smart for his audience. Which kinda makes sense, this being his second film. Interesting comment in the Trivia section that the editor quit and Canosa ended up cutting his film. There is another section in Specials where Kwesi Collisson and Hans Canosa talk around this issue, making it seem to the (Sundance/Final Cut Pro ?) audience that Collisson was the editor and he had to leave for a week. I suspect Canosa did the rough cut and Collisson and assistants cleaned everything up.
Considering everything that happened, it is a wonder the movie turned out as good as it did. I have seen bigger messes from films with $30M budgets.
I think it was just that he was this long-haired cool spirited artist and he just spent too much time doing other things and kinda neglected his wife, until she just left him and never came back. There's no reason to think otherwise since they don't go into detail what happened and why she left.
shareI'm with you on the the split, but I don't think they were formally married. I just think they thought of each other as really committed to each other and that's why they toss around the "married" word in regards to each other.
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