MovieChat Forums > The Line of Beauty (2006) Discussion > After the Nick/Gerald showdown

After the Nick/Gerald showdown

posted 15 years ago by Arec_Barwin
13 replies | jump to latest

Just finished watching this and I was so incensed by the Feddens' use of Nick as a scapegoat for every self-induced disaster in their dysfunctional family that, if I were Nick, I would have been up to the News of the World offices like a rat up a drainpipe selling my story of their murky lives to the highest bidder.

And the contemptuous, snarling, pizza-faced advisor would have found himself with my foot on his windpipe with the latest rolled up edition shoved up his homophobic arse.

I would have been ruthless. I like to think when Nick's HIV test came back negative his thoughts turned to cold-hearted revenge, especially on Cat, whose betrayal, I should have thought, was the most hurtful. I'd tell her the next time things went all "black and glittery" to feel free to go for it with her collections of sharpened blades, the over-priveleged, self-indulgent, attention-grabbing, immature tart.

And as for that bloody housekeeper, I would have said: "I may be no good in your eyes but I'm still a guest in this house and you're still the hired help, so get the frying pan on and whip up a full English. Oh, and then you can bake me a going-away cake after you've put my smalls in the wash, bitch, so hop to it." I don't know who she thought she was but if she'd put a foot a wrong, the Feddens would have put her on the first flight back to the Costa Brava. Snooty, deluded cow!

Jeez! Angry much????!!!!

Otto: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes, they do; they just don't understand it

[–] amanjones 15 years ago

I didn't care for Nick's obsequiousness, but I have to agree with you Arec, ESPECIALLY when it came to the housekeeper. Nick should have reported her behavior to the Feddens. In a gentleman's house, such behavior from the staff would not be tolerated, no matter the length of their service. She would have been out on her arse in a flash. I did like the spot of Nick demanding a full english! Classic!

Cat's betrayal would likely have cost Nick the most, both emotionally and even financially. I wouldn't be surprised if Wani disinherited Nick upon Cat's revelations to the Press. Either that or Wani's father would've circumvented Nick's inheritance. The family's failure to recognize Cat's deep psychological problems was irresponsible and surely was what ruined them. Cat was a powder keg ready to explode. That loon should have been locked up.

[–] HarlowMGM 14 years ago

I didn't care for Nick's obsequiousness, but I have to agree with you Arec, ESPECIALLY when it came to the housekeeper. Nick should have reported her behavior to the Feddens

Are you kidding, the Feddens blamed Nick for everything short of the weather, they certainly wouldn't have cared if a devoted cook has spoke to him rudely at that point. What Nick should have done was make a similar nasty remark but he was obviously too shocked to do so. The point of this scene I believe was to underline that Nick, despite his illusions, was never truly accepted by anyone in the family - including the help.

[–] amanjones 14 years ago

Despite what the Feddens thought of Nick at that time, I don't think they would've countenanced such behavior from one of the help toward a houseguest, even a reviled one. But, I do agree that the point of the scene was to reveal to Nick that he was never accepted by the family, including the help.

[–] jerry4444 14 years ago

I agree. Tried he might have, in the end they still looked down on him and he never fitted in.

[–] bootblack987 8 years ago

Are you kidding, the Feddens blamed Nick for everything short of the weather, they certainly wouldn't have cared if a devoted cook has spoke to him rudely at that point. What Nick should have done was make a similar nasty remark but he was obviously too shocked to do so. The point of this scene I believe was to underline that Nick, despite his illusions, was never truly accepted by anyone in the family - including the help.

I didn't see Nick as being too shocked to say anything. Just a few moments earlier, he had very sharp words to say to Gerald, who was someone much more likely to shock someone into silence than the housekeeper Elena. I think he just thought there wasn't any point in stooping to the level of what these people were capable of doing.

[–] mercyonme 9 years ago

I must have missed something...what did Cat do to betray Nick?

[–] jedi_R 9 years ago

She sold out everyone in the family to the press, including Nick in regards to his sexual orientation and his relationship with Wani.

[–] mercyonme 9 years ago

How did they know it was her? And what did she do it for? The money?

[–] cr69-192-994706 9 years ago

I don't think that Cat did it for money. And she was the only one that knew about Nick and Wani. I think I remember reading somewhere that Cat didn't think that anyone should have any secrets.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

She was back with her photographer BF when the Nick/Wani story came out. (IIRC?) I believe that Nick exclaims "Cat!!" with anger and disgust when he sees it in print.

If Elena wanted to direct her vitriol toward anyone (other than Gerald,) it should surely havè been this spoiled-rotten, self-absorbed, unemployed, hypocritical, nasty little ingrate.

[–] bootblack987 8 years ago

She was back with her photographer BF when the Nick/Wani story came out. (IIRC?) I believe that Nick exclaims "Cat!!" with anger and disgust when he sees it in print.

You're right. I just re-watched that scene with the sub-titles on. I missed Nick whispering, "Catherine" as he read over the articles about himself in the newspaper. I assumed the stories were just newspaper writers digging around for whatever dirt they could find about the family. I'm having a hard time believing that Catherine would betray Nick's friendship. He had only been completely good and kind to her. If it's true that Catherine gave this information to the newspaper, I guess her hatred for her father was greater than her love for Nick?? I just never saw Catherine as such a horrible person.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

In the scene in which Nick last talks to her, she apologizes to him; I think that at the time, it wasn't clear exactly why - to the viewer *or* to Nick - but this explains it. I think that she's pathologically self-centered, if such a condition exists. Hell, she is in any case!

I'd thought she cared for Nick a great deal, too, though I realized afterward I'd never thought she loved him. I doubt she's ever loved anyone but herself.

I never saw Nick as obsequious. Excited and eager, but not obsequious - which is a characteristic to which I'm sensitive and by which I'm disgusted, for what it's worth.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

YES!! by the way, to the OP!!