MovieChat Forums > Water for Elephants (2011) Discussion > Normalizing adultery - am I the only one...

Normalizing adultery - am I the only one who thinks this movie is sick?

posted 9 years ago by Sean673
3 replies | jump to latest

Ok the word 'sick' is perhaps a bit strong. There are mitigating circumstances - the husband was certainly a flawed man, and yes, it's quite reasonable to expect that she'd be questioning her marriage.

But... the story assumes the audience will be rooting for an outcome where the wife screws around. Which she did - how romantic :/

Anyone else feel a bit off about this aspect of the movie?

BTW... No I'm not religious at all, so this is not a 'thou shalt not', it's more a 'wtf?'

[–] leaverus 9 years ago

those were exactly my thoughts on watching this. rubbish movie. it gave no real reason to root for jacob. the only reason he "loved" marlena was because she was beautiful?? superficial a**hole who only cared about her outward appearance? and they barely knew each other!

[–] F_Serpico 8 years ago

Well.. it was quiet clear she was in the relationship out of fear, so it was kind of hard to just break it up the "right" way before going to Jacob. As for loving her just for the looks, although we don't see much else, besides of course a love for the animals, sometimes you can fill out the gaps in your mind for yourself. They were working together for some time with something they loved, fill in what might happen.

Why am I Mr. Pink?

[–] WatchCat 8 years ago

Perhaps you were too distracted by her appearance to see that his interest began BOTH because she was beautiful on the outside but also an obvious beauty in spirit.

He first witnessed her connection with her horses -- her gentle, kind, and respectful way of talking and caring for the animals. He saw how much she disliked the way her husband treated all animals (humans included!)

Those feelings mirrored his own so why wouldn't he be drawn to ALL of her?

How did you miss this?