MovieChat Forums > Expired (2008) Discussion > What Woman would take all this guys CRAP...

What Woman would take all this guys CRAP!


I understand her life was bad and she was very lonely but why did she take all this guys BULLxxxx???

I know she was very passive but also intelligent, well mannered, and decent looking and all she cared about is this ASSXXXX? She got good advice from her neighbor but didn't take it.

This man she was going with was the worst excuse for a human being- uncaring, selfish, uncouth, defensive, and in general a complete LOSER!

I was sure at the end she would figure out that could do much better and try harder to meet a decent man. If not, she deserves what she gets!

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My interpretation is that Claire seriously lacked self-esteem. It seemed like she was walking on eggshells whenever she was with Jay. She didn't have much experience in relationships and wanted to make this one work even though she knew it was toxic. Like many women, Claire is both excited and repulsed by a man like Jay. They like men that treat them like dirt until it gets out of hand. There were many times I thought Jay would become physically abusive to Claire. Her mindset was that if she was thinner, smarter, i.e. whatever Jay wanted her to be, he would be nicer to her. But as in real life, these men seldom change.

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Yes, she certainly lacked self-esteem but what she really needed was a good therapist to learn how terrible this relationship was. Knowing Jay's character I think it was a matter of time till he would became abusive to her. Guess what-if nothing changed she would still see him as he promises it was only because he had a bad day. Sad, very sad!

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I don't recall if it was discussed in the film, but it is possible that Claire tolerated Jay because she saw her mother in a similar relationship with her father or someone else. This might explain why Claire was so forgiving of how he treated her. There were several red flags which we the viewers could see that Claire ignored such as Jay's family disowning him, how he dealt with the public, 6 years in AA, etc. Claire definitely seemed to have a co-dependent personality, therefore Jay knew she'd always be there for him.

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Claire certainly could have used some professional help. Later in the movie, I would have needed some help too if I found out my mom gave away almost a million dollars and left me with $3500 working as a meter maid.

That being said, Jay could have used a team of psychiatrists and some meds himself.

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Your right!

This couple need professional help.......badly!

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There are plenty of women who put up with worse abuse than this because they are too insecure to leave.

I couldn't believe he made a big deal about taking her to Pomona. I live not far from there and it is disgusting, full of crime and illegal immigrants living several families in a small apt. That's where you take someone to whack them. Of course, it used to be very nice about 40 years ago.

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I can't remember the exact words but she asked someone if it was better than nothing. Easy to say you think she's got a decent chance finding a better guy but at what point does she settle for what she can actually find rather than what she hopes for? A simple point really, no need to consult Freud. Is 10% affection better than 0%. You might think it's not worth the 90% abuse but what if she can compartmentalise that, moment by moment she's not weighing it up so she still feels affection 10% of the time, which is more than she would have on her own. I expect this is true in all relationships just hopefully with reversed percentages. Very sad when it's as bad as this of course, if i was in that situation i would try to consider what type of father he would be before settling for it.

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That's very interesting.......the 90 and 10%, which is what it really was. I can only answer you in real life experience: My sister in law was married to a doctor (a psychologist no less) and he was very abusive to her (mentally not physically) the whole marriage- I expect a 90 to 10% ratio would describe it.

He died 5 years ago and she is the happiest woman on earth. She really didn't know true happiness but she soon realized the small percentage of love is never worth all that abusive behavior. I expect the same thing as in this film if the lady got rid of this terrible excuse for a man!

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You have to put yourself in her shoes to understand it. She's in her 30s and had nothing but failed relationships, she's a lot of a wall flower and awkward so doesn't get a lot of male attention, as many women will tell you by 30s most of the good men who can commit to a relationship have been taken. So this relationship hasn't broken down completely yet, there are glimmers of humanity in him. Can she break this relationship herself or let it continue and see what happens, is it better than nothing. If her experience has shown all the other men she's known are similarly wrong, why would she rush to change. better the devil you know?

I think this is the central point of the film, isn't that what the title refers to? Has her chance of finding happiness in a relationship really expired? has her hope expired and now all she has is resignation? The film is due on TV this week and i'll watch it again with that in mind.

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26 mins in, after it's become clear the guy is a nut job, she's sitting with her Mom and says "Mom, what do you think is better, something or nothing, when you can't have everything?"

She's lonely, everyone else is getting married, having children, her mom keeps telling her her dead father is disappointed she's not married. After they meet she says to her mom "he can be really nice.....he can be a little mean at times".

This film keeps the point an extreme one for effect but this issue of accepting imperfect partners is a huge factor in life today, in the easy way we get in and out of relationships. We now have 10+ partners before we get to the point in life where if we're smart we realise that no matter how many times we change partners they're always imperfect, just in different ways, and if we keep chasing perfection we're going to be lonely.

And after watching the film again he doesn't come over quite so bad. The first time it's shocking but the second time he seems to have one fairly consistent paranoid personality disorder that she could learn to ignore. Other times he shows some good traits. Pity he learned sex from porno and practised with hookers but maybe he could unlearn that. I can see how she holds out hope he'll be better than nothing.

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plenty. there're a lot of women who go for complete assh*les who treat them like crap, generally because they have self-esteem issues. i know this mostly from spending most of my twenties being the 'safe, nice guy' female friends turned to and cried about how their boyfriends were treating them in a lot of the same ways seen in this movie, and then some.

meanwhile, all the nice guys i knew then were mostly single BECAUSE the women they liked prefered going for complete jerks.

such is life.

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