Bruises?


What was up with the bruises? Anything?

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I know huh..
I was wondering that too..

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Owen Wilson's character is bruised up too if you watch the Darjeeling Limited trailer. In the movie Owen Wilson's character got in a motorcycle wreck so maybe Natalie's and Owen's character were on the bike together???? who knows

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the accident with wilson's character happened way after "hotel chevalier" takes place. also there's a scene in darjeeling where adrien brody and wilson say they didn't like schwartzman's girlfriend. so it's unlikely they were on the same bike.

i just see it as another wes-anderson-oddity.

Where are you, Mount Everest? Give me some Everest.

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um wrong...hotel chevalier takes place just before he leaves for india...she puts the perfume in his suitcase and he doesn't find it until the he is on the train...wilson's face was beat up when the perfume is found therefore the motercycle accident happened before hotel chevalier

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The tea pot feels hotter than the tea itself! Don't let your brain go farther than the original writer of the movie.
Simply, may be Natalie has been with some rough man after near break up of her relationship with the person she comes to meet in the hotel room, may be that's the reason why she has come to old man says things she says.

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This might be the one part I wish there was more dialogue on in the script, but alas, there is none.
I think what it means is she had obviously been seeing someone else - someone who was a little violent perhaps. Jason's character possibly recognizes this, which may be why he doesn't care if she'll "Feel like *beep* the morning after . . . ?
Who knows?
That's what I like about this - there are unclear events that took place before the movie that are eagerly left up to the viewer to interpret!

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I agree, I think whoever she was with after Jason abused her, thats why shes came to him for comfort.

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I thought it was AIDS.

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Maybe you're right, but my interpretation is that she was in an s/m-relationship based on voluntariness. But it's just a personal interpretation as I was left by a former lover for a s/m-relationship with someone else because I didn't want such a relationship. And that's why I identified with poor Jason. Anyway, in my eyes it was a brilliant, breathtaking performance by Portman. Awesome and excellent. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

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I think she fell from a horse, because I fell from a horse once.

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HAH!!!

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The bruises are from really good sex that was a little on the rough side. Definitely voluntary and non abusive but nothing that could be considered S&M. I know this because I fell off a horse once.

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Yeah. I think it was just perfect. Film dialogue is about saying just as much as you need to to give the audience the right feeling and impression, and in a short film this economy is more important than ever. I think this is as good as anything Anderson has done, even if it's just 12 minutes. It's promising that Wes avoids his former optimistic, whimsical redemption here--if there's one person who loves optimistic, whimsical redemption it's me, but this seems to be a move in a different direction, which I think is warranted and really pretty exciting. Here Wes confronts the same repressed self-loathing from his other work without the safety of his comic gift. There is wit here, but no comedy. There is no room for it. This is a stark, bare film in the tradition of the best short stories, and I'd like to see Anderson explore this very vulnerable side in his future work (hoping Darjeeling Limited has some of the same).

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I'm a big Anderson fan but showing bruises with no explanation isn't quirky or odd and doesn't invite us to take away our own impressions, it just confuses. which is, i hate to say since i'm a huge anderson fan, the height of pretension in film. i was hoping the bruises would be explained in darjeeling, but nope, just bruises for bruises sake. there is really 100 explanations for the brusies. that's sloppy film making in my opinion.

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they looked like sex bruses to me.
not, abusive brusies.
i dunno.


-order66
Thank goodness I also passed Suspension of Disbelief 101

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definitely rough sex bruises

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Yeah, they were meant to be bruises inflicted during sex, I think. Not abuse.

It was just meant to show, early on, that she had been unfaithful. The audience was supposed to see them before the character did.

From a makeup design standpoint, they were pretty awful, though! A bit extreme, I'd say.

Owen's makeup was much better.

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There are lots of explanations for bruises, paul_is_taul. There are only a couple good explanations for bruises she's unwilling to explain. I, for one, made the connection immediately, and if it had been spelled out for me it would have been insulted, obvious, and obnoxious.

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so to you if a director intentionally confuses you then he is being pretentious? are you then including surrealists in this category of extreme pretension?

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it's not really sloppy filmmaking if you think about it; wes just left us all wondering. he's exacting enough that loose ends are definitely intentional. and he's obviously inviting conjecture--keeping use thinking about the film. in my opinion, the main purpose of the short was to introduce jack as a character, and to show why he keeps reliving his life in his stories. so really, it's just intentional mystery.

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dude youre missing it, its not that important but not exactly trivial either... just shows shes kind of living a not so clean life. whether its abuse or rough sex or whatever, its just a little bit of character development, just a spice, to explain that she isnt the type of girl that would live in the hotel chevalier for a year. Shwarzinator is, hes the nice guy, more reserved, quiet, upscale, etc. and shes the kind to take advantage of him.

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dude youre missing it, its not that important but not exactly trivial either... just shows shes kind of living a not so clean life. whether its abuse or rough sex or whatever, its just a little bit of character development, just a spice, to explain that she isnt the type of girl that would live in the hotel chevalier for a year. Shwarzinator is, hes the nice guy, more reserved, quiet, upscale, etc. and shes the kind to take advantage of him.

Ding. We finally have a right answer. I thought exactly the same thing. It's just to show that she's been through some "rough times" lately (literally), whatever those may entail, and she's throwing herself sexually at him because she needs someplace "safe" to stay.

Since Swartzman is obviously well off financially, one assumes either her family is or at least was also wealthy for them to have the same social circles. Obviously something has led to Portman's downfall. Does she have a drug problem? Was she disowned? Could be anything. Doesn't really matter. Like Portman says, they are going to hate themselves in the morning, presumably when all this gets discussed. But for right now, it's still good. She's using him but he's smart enough to knows it, and he lets it, and they have one great night. Thus it ends on that tender moment when he places a robe around her body and they stare out onto Paris together.

It's a perfect little film.



Orgies are not too much fun if no one wants to do it with you.

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lizard

I think you're right. The bruises are simply the marks left by her new lover. They are less abusive and more of a type of rough play that these two indulge in and which Jason's character is ignorant of. Clearly she has been having sex since she last saw him and for whatever reason she has actually tracked Jason to this hotel for some typically twisted "girl" reason. He has fled from her - she having hurt him by cheating on him - and she has tracked him down. But for what purpose? Why do that and then say that she will feel like sh*t the next morning if they have sex? She'll feel that way because she will now be cheating on her new rough boyfriend, the same guy whom she cheated on Jason with?

I'm with Jason. If that is who she is, then *beep* her and let her go. And don't ever see her again (if you can manage that; after all, we're dealing with Natalie Portman here). Oh, and make sure you leave some new, fresh bruises on her for him to see. She obviously likes that and has no embarrassment about it, no apologies, and it is very like marking territory, very primitive. Which makes her more seemingly independent even though she is being rather dependent in this short scene.

I have had a girlfriend cheat on me and then cheat on the new guy with me later. It's actually a kind of satisfying quid pro quo. And it helped me sever my emotional ties to her, it made the sex more mechanical and less romantic. Hey. Worked for me.

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Rita, later in darjeeling, has bruises before she was going to 'break up with her boyfriend'

I thought of it as women just use Jack to feel nice when they have abusive boyfriends.

maybe

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Sex bruises, 100%

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if a director sets out to confuse you and provide no resolution i find that off-putting and pretentious. are surrealist films pretentious? is a Man Ray or Dali film pretentious art? sure. it can also be a wonderfull experience. plenty of pretentious diversions are enjoyable, but wes anderson isn't trying to make a surreal film. if they are sex bruises allude to it with subtlety and art and you reward your audience. a previous poster said that it would be too obvious to point out where the bruises came from, its my position that a creative writer/director should be able to find the line between obvious and confusing using subtlety. just because she doesn't explain the bruises doesn't narrow them down to 3 or even a dozen choices. in a 12 minute film everything should have a purpose, if the film is a prelude then exceptions can be made for loose ends that will be tied up later. not the case here. in conclusion i really enjoyed both films, but 2 things irked me: portman naked is skinny as a wet puppy and she's covered in unexplained bruises.

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sex bruises. or it could be that she just bruises easily. i bruise very easily and my boyfriend would always ask me where they came from and i'd be embarrassed because he would never believe me when i told him i just bruise easily. it's a curse for us fair skinned gals.

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The bruises were pretty obvious to me. And open interpretation too. It didn't confuse me at all. I liked that it wasn't explained. For me, that's not pretentious. I'm tired to seeing many movies that hit you over the head with everything. I like to use my brain when I'm watching movies too. It generates discussion and that is always a good thing.

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agreed on both counts. my girlfriend bruises super easy, so i feel for portman's fair skin. i also like to use my head and that's why i enjoy all of wes anderson's movie. not to beat a dead horse, but the bruises are a minor sticking point for me. I don't think they contribute anything. almost anything you throw in a movie can be 'open to interpretation.' that doesn't make it good art.

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It's obviously make up and not real bruises.

My interpretation without knowing anything about the short prior to seeing it ( I try to know as little as possible before I watch any show, TV or Film) Her character is escaping from something (related to the bruises...likely a boyfriend who is beating her) Whatever she is running from, it's only temporary and only for this one day.

Like I said, it's not the best short film I've ever seen, but still pretty good. I liked the performances, but I'm not a huge fan of Schwartzman.

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okay. on my last post i said i thought they were just bruises...but now i'm questioning it more. after seeing the movie, and then seeing the sex scene clip one more time i think there is more to it. i hate to question art...like what has been said before...but it really is kind of annoying me now.

when i saw it again...i saw how the ex looks like she is feeling really guilty about sleeping with him. the question is....why would she feel guilty about it if jack was saying he didn't care and he just wanted to have sex with her? no reason really if the ground rules were set...unless she is hiding more than that. she says "i never wanted to hurt you on purpose." now is she talking about the past, or is possible that she is talking in some sort of foresight? maybe trying to convince herself that this is okay. like she has AIDS and that's why she was staying in the hotel for some kind of temporary seclusion .

or the second theory is that she was with the brother in the accident and they were having an affair. maybe that's why he said, "i never really liked that girlfriend of his." to hide his past fling.

but since they had it in theaters for awhile without hotel chevalier....i think it's more likely that the AIDS theory was true. maybe they originally didn't want to put that much deep material in this film.

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My theory is that she is obviously an emotionally messed up girl. She is looking for confirmation from men, sexual confirmation. It's stated that their relationship ended a couple months ago, and I think she left him for someone else who gave her sweet drunk talk, and after a while he ended up beating her. She, pretending to be strong, left him, and being self-righteous, sought to confirm herself by going back to Jason, because he was a dumb shmuck who actually liked her. She knew he wouldn't turn her down, and even though she can admit that she's a bad person, she's not going to change it any time soon, and still feel like *beep* but affirm herself through sex.

I liked Wes's film, I like how they keep ends open and leave it up to you to fill in the blanks. Anyone can use their imagination and make up their own version.

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[deleted]

The significance of the bruises should be quite obvious, on first viewing. If you didn't spot it the problem is with you, not with Anderson. Sorry to be so blunt about this, but really. Asking filmmakers to go at the pace of the slowest is not fair on them or their intended audience.

The bruises are from rough sex, simple as that. This fits together with the "long pause" after he asks her whether she has slept with anyone else. And yes, we are supposed to see and understand the bruises before Jack does, a technique known as dramatic irony.

As to exactly what that means in terms of what sort of woman she is or what sort of relationship they have, that's perhaps a little more open to interpretation. Jack is not exactly a reliable narrator in my view - the whole point of his using "Where Do You Go to My Lovely" as the soundtrack for their meeting is that he has a self-dramatising, immature personality. He affects a sophistication he doesn't possess (see also "how do you say grilled cheese"). And he loves to cast himself as the romantic victim. (As we see later with Rita in The Darjeeling Ltd).

In fact I think probably the entire movie is to be seen as Jack's account of their meeting rather than an objective view.


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

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I think that the bruises were meant to be symbolic. Both films have a lot of symbolism.

Wilson and Portman both have bruises to show how damaged they've been. It doesn't matter if the bruises come from rough sex or a motorcycle accident. The point is that they've been bruised by life. As Darjeerling goes on, you see Wilson take off his bandages. Its gritty, but the healing process is beginning and he's starting to face life bruises and all.

Also, throughout the first part of Darjeerling, the brothers are struggling with a mountain of Louis Vuitton luggage left to them by their father. Its all matching and numbered, but they all have pieces of the same set. Finally, they're trying to catch a train and they end up discarding all the luggage (=emotional baggage from their dad). They all seem much happier then.

What about the symbolism of the Bill Murray character? Is he supposed to represent their dad? In the first scene he tries to catch the train and misses. What's up with that?

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Yeah, I was thinking more a symoblic way of displaying emotional bruises.



You sir! Too sir!
Welcome to the grave!


Official Bleeder

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Krustallos, you nailed it. 100% spot on.

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They were put there by the make-up Dept in a vain attempt to give depth to this paper thin plot of a bad short.

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[deleted]

I don't think it ever happened.

Jack wishes she had come back, and she never did.

Jack wishes she would have come back bruised, secretly, as if to say "This is why you should have stayed with me." Natalie takes off, away from him, for the big bad world, gets hurt, and comes crawling back. He wants to protect abused women. To the point that it may be a flaw.

Remember, it's Jack's story. He writes it exactly how he wants. It doesn't mean he's telling us the truth of events, just the truth of how his "characters" may have been, based upon his own experience.

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that works.

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i think it symbolizes her lifestyle. just like when jack asked if shed slept with anyone since and she paused and said no, leading to him saying it doesnt matter. it just shows bad choices and recklessness.

shhh...you had me at balls.

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That really contradicts The Darjeeling Limited, though. I mean, throughout that film he keeps maintaining that the characters in his short story are fictional, even though the other two brothers immediately recognize the story as what happened to them, and then we see the incident he wrote about portrayed before us visually, and everything that the other brothers commented that he got right in the story we see, and then when he tries to talk about his second story, which contains the exact dialogue from The Hotel Chevalier, he attempts again to maintain that it is fictional, and then stops, and thanks them for their comments when they say they liked how mean he was.

-Bad waves of paranoia. Madness. Fear and loathing.-

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Right, I retract what I said about it not happening, as he does have the perfume.

I don't think things went down the way the story portrays. I think elements of it did, she did show up, for instance, but I think he made himself mean in the story, but he wasn't that mean in real life.

He reads it to them and they say "I like how mean you were" and he says, "The characters are all..." not the whole thing is fictional.

I think he was just writing it with everything he wished he had said.

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I think the ones on her arm look like they could have been made by a hand

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I definitely think it was trying to further the possibility that she had cheated on him... presumably the reason why he is so angry with her

bruises on hips-sex.
thats what i got from it

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[deleted]

Oh yeah... I was nearly hoked on herion once!

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What is wrong with you people. She's a self destructive person who has been in Paris for who knows how long, surviving on who knows what means in conditions that could be fine to really bad. I'll lend you five dollars so you all can buy yourselves an imagination.

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^^
An example of someone who thinks he's smart but is a sucker for poorly conceived movies

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

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