As a breast cancer survivor, I'm offended

It's gratifying to know your experience with breast cancer and the subsequent surgery had such a positive outcome. You must be aware, however, that your experience is not necessarily representative.

In the movie, when Consuela tells David she found a lump, she doesn't say she found it in her breast: she says she found it under her arm, which suggests lymph node involvement. It's likely that she has already had some diagnostic procedures performed that have caused her to believe that she does not have a high likelihood of a good long-term prognosis. So, it's possible that her ill appearance is attributable to her cancer having progressed to a degree that other systems were involved, and/or that she's so anxious about it that she's not eating and sleeping well. This may also be the reason she went to the ICU post surgery (the surgery involved more than removal of her breast, i.e., involvement of other organ systems).

I'm not sure I can agree that the message of this movie gives to women diagnosed with breast cancer is that they will be horribly deformed and then die; I believe the message to all of us is that our futures don't always unfold the way we think they will (i.e., just because David is 30-odd years older than Consuela doesn't mean he will die first). David worries about the relationship ending because she'll meet someone younger. Consuela talks about places her parents (and she and David) have talked about going but never went.

I think the message is that we should cherish the time we are given with the people we care about.

1) Consuela doesn't look sick to me--she looks very unhappy, as though she's been crying for a week or two and hasn't put on make-up. It didn't cross my mind that she looked cancerous. The idea that someone like her just naturally looks perfectly drop-dead gorgeous, or else she's ill, is silly.

2) She tells *David* she's scheduled in 2 weeks. She's probably lying. After all, she doesn't tell him when she does go in.

3) Maybe I'm thick, but I didn't think she was necessarily dying at the end. I haven't read the book, but the "dying animal" of the title is obviously David.

I do think some people get their ideas, including health ideas, from the movies. I'm always annoyed when, in a movie, someone is brought up from a pond, given half a minute of CPR, and then: "he's gone." I don't doubt that many people, particularly kids, have died because professional CPR folks weren't available and those who were available got their CPR information at the movies.

First of all, everyone wishes you well. And really us all well. I don't feel the movie anymore gives the message you mention, than it does that we're all going to be alone and sad when we're David's age. I completely disagree that a film has to have a plot that somehow shows the best of a situation, or captures the majority result of a situation. Films can tell one story. Your life is one story. your neighbor's life is another. Neither of them are lies, just different. And if all your neighbor's stories are the same except for one, that one person's story is no more or less real than the rest of yours; it's just different.

This film isn't giving a message; just telling a story. Just because it's not your own doesn't mean it's not realistic. And I'm glad it's not your own. Now everybody, group hug! Ok?

oh poor you!

This film may not represent your experience, but this is a very personal story for the writer, whose wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and then was dead a month later. My guess is that he knows for whence he speaks.

Also, remember that this is a fiction film, which always necessitates some streamlining of details and timelines to suit the plot beats.

A little blunt, but exactly my sentiment towards the OP

as many have said before me, your experience might not be representative. Also, to comment on your points.

1) Consuela looks very sick. Yeah, she looks very sick but who ever said it was because of the cancer? Ever thought that the dark circles under her eyes might've been from a lack of sleep? It wouldn't be abnormal that a person diagnosed with something as terrible as cancer would hardly sleep or eat at all.

2) yeah, she says. Who's to say that she's telling the truth. I personally thought she told David that it's in two weeks, because she didn't want him to be there. She did refuse his offer to come with her to the hospital. I think we can easily assume that she was lying.

3) yeah, you were out of the hospital in 24 hours (and I honestly must say that I'm very happy for you) but yet again that's not representative. You don't know if there were complications, if there had to be further tests, perhaps she wasn't responding well to the procedure, whatever. There can be so many reasons why she's still in the hospital. My grandfather was also diagnosed with cancer and ended up staying at least twice as long as the doctors planned.

4) prepared to die? No one ever said anything about her dying. She was depressed and felt ugly, but there were no indications of her dying.

For goodness sake! Please mark these posts as SPOILERS. Jesus.