MovieChat Forums > Margaret (2012) Discussion > Sexual encounters - CONTAINS SPOILERS

Sexual encounters - CONTAINS SPOILERS

posted 11 years ago by Pogo_76
14 replies | jump to latest

On Wiki it says "After Lisa's sexual encounter with Paul, and a subsequent one with Caije, she discovers she is pregnant and has an abortion. Lisa confronts Caije, telling him of the abortion in the presence of another teacher. She expresses doubt about who the father was and mentions that there are two possibilities."

First of all I'm not not sure if she actually was pregnant and thought it was more a metaphor when she told the abortion story but even if she did have an abortion, when did she have sex with Matt Damon's character? They kissed a bit and then he broke it off while both were fully dressed but they didn't have sex. Did I miss something or watch an alternate version?

[–] lisa-291 11 years ago

I think it was implied that they had sex, but they didn't show anything....

[–] chuck-526 11 years ago

On leaving Caije's apartment, she said something about "...it's just sex...". So yes we were told very explicity that it happened. And no the camera did not show us it happening.

In this case if you just look at the visuals, it appears not to have happened. Here it's the dialog that tells the story.

[–] joyjoker 11 years ago

Well, I don't know what version of the movie you've watched but it was explicit that they (Lisa and Caije) had sex. They starting kissing when she went to his apartment and when she is about to leave she says that it was just sex. But I'm not so sure if she was really pregnant or said that in front of the other teacher just to embarrass him.

[–] MissAngelCakes 10 years ago

The metaphor thing is a good point, maybe she meant "abortion" as in the problem she had (court case) was gone. Although the two did have sex, it made me think she mentioned it to get money from him, but then again, she mentioned the other potential father so no way would he give her money.

[–] chuck-526 10 years ago

This is one of the places where the differences between versions really matter. In the Theatrical Cut you have to watch out for some things that are really short, pay a lot of attention to the dialog, and fill in a lot of blanks, and still it's not certain.

But in the Extended Cut there are explicit scenes of using a home pregnancy test kit, refusing to tell Mom who the father might be, an abortion clinic, and lying on a bed recovering after the abortion. No ambiguity here, and no metaphors.

[–] hppg 10 years ago

That just sounds like two different movies.

[–] chuck-526 10 years ago

That just sounds like two different movies.

Exactly.

IMHO watching the theatrical cut when the extended cut is readily (if oddly:-) available is simply bogus. The arbitrarily time-limited version called the "theatrical cut" is in fact not even readily available in some parts of the world (the U.K. for example).

(If runtime is about 150 minutes, keep looking; find runtime about 179 minutes. To get the extended cut in Region 1, obtain the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, then discard the Blu-ray. And no, that's not a backwards typo - the extended cut is indeed on that DVD.)

[–] hppg 10 years ago

So you recommend the longer version?

[–] chuck-526 10 years ago

Yes, I definitely recommend the longer version. It's what the director envisioned, it's easier to follow, and it makes more sense.

The 'theatrical cut', available mainly in the U.S., was for some reason abbreviated to meet an arbitrary and rather ridiculous (but perhaps legally required?-) time limit. The two versions also have different sound tracks, with the sound track on the longer version containing a whole bunch of background noises which are absent from the 'theatrical cut' and which help quite a bit to convey the "sense" of the movie.

[–] ChiefLittleRoom 9 years ago

According to the original script, yes she was pregnant, and her mom takes her to her abortion.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

But in the Extended Cut there are explicit scenes of using a home pregnancy test kit, refusing to tell Mom who the father might be, an abortion clinic, and lying on a bed recovering after the abortion. No ambiguity here, and no metaphors.

Ah! Thanks for posting this. That makes a lot more sense. I like a lot of other posters on this thread was wondering whether the abortion was real or otherwise, because there are no real lead in clues about her pregnancy. She just walks up to the teachers and blurts out all.🐭

[–] Krustallos 10 years ago

Although the two did have sex, it made me think she mentioned it to get money from him

It clearly wasn't about money. She was very angry at that point and my take is that she either wanted to get the teacher fired/prosecuted but backed off at the last minute or she just wanted to frighten him.

I just saw the Scorsese/Schoonmaker cut in London and in that it appears she made up the abortion. I didn't know an extended cut was available anywhere but that clearly tells a different story, in that respect at least.

I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.

[–] electric_storm 8 years ago

My impression was the abortion subplot was supposed to mirror the main bus crash plot. In both cases she was complicit in the event and could even be said to have initiated matters (running up to the bus driver, seducing Damon), yet in both cases her attempts to deal with the emotional fallout involved demonizing the other party. Her confrontation of Damon was akin to putting him on a mock trial directly mirroring the real trial against Ruffalo, she was extorting him for money ("the abortion cost $400") and threatening the future of his job by blabbing. Yet over the course of the scene she thinks better of it which to me reveals a growth and change in her character has taken place which is later confirmed by her emotional outpouring at the opera.

[–] Karamakate 7 years ago

Matt Damon didn't seemed that uncomfortable when she said that she did an abortion. It seemed like they only had oral sex, which is sex.

The Culkin boy though, he came inside Paquin.