... visit that blonde, white woman in Berlin ...
WHO was she? And, why did they re-connect?
I thought that part of the film came out of the blue.
She is listed as "la tante allemande" but, it never was clear whose Aunt.
I think she was the sister of Josephine's mother. I thought Josephine and her father were just taking a vacation and decided to visit the grave of Josephine's mother, stopping for a brief time to talk with the somewhat maudlin aunt.
share
Thank you, naufragium! I thought this segment, of them going to Germany, was kind of plopped into the film, sort of non-sequitorially. The aunt (billed as la tante in the credits) was rather dramatic wasn't she? I thought she was jarring, to tell you the truth.
Actually, I thought that the whole movie was a bit non-sequitur filled. It was very "slice of life" in the sense that it was like peeking into the day-to-day lives over a few months in the life of the characters. Things happen, people go in and out of one another's lives (we never saw the hopeful suitor of Josephine's again) and we don't get a lot of explanation.
The aunt was indeed a bit jarring. I think it was because Josephine and her father were both so low-key and intuitive in their communication that you got used to people expressing their feelings with significant looks rather than the sort of agitated monologue of the aunt. I thought she was the grandmother, actually, and only from your post did I realize she was billed as "the German aunt." The movie really doesn't tell you things flat out. I still don't know exactly what happened between the father (Lionel) and Gabrielle. Did she just have feelings for him or were they a former couple?
The aunt was indeed a bit jarring. I think it was because Josephine and her father were both so low-key and intuitive in their communication that you got used to people expressing their feelings with significant looks rather than the sort of agitated monologue of the aunt.
I thought she was the grandmother, actually ...
The movie really doesn't tell you things flat out. I still don't know exactly what happened between the father (Lionel) and Gabrielle. Did she just have feelings for him or were they a former couple?
I thought Josephine was definitely getting married at the end. She was in a weddingish dress, Lionel gave her her mothers necklace, Gabriel wanted to do her hair and was wearing a wedding flower thing on her dress.....it was a bit confusing though as everyone was wearing black. I initially thought it was a funeral.
sharealso.... sorry for overloading the thread with my inane thoughts on the film.....
The significance of the rice cooker.
I thought it was just symbolic of the affection of Josephine for her dad.
She buys a rice cooker but he buys her one also. She doesn't want him to feel bad about buying it unnecessarily so doesn't tell him that she's already bought one even though she prefers the one she has bought.....I think she prefers her one because she spent a little time looking at it in the shop (it was in the shop window so maybe she had seen it on her way past) and also there's a brief scene where she's sitting in her bedroom with it on her lap and she's smiling to herself. They use the rice cooker a lot and the small sacrifice of not using her preferred one in exchange for her dad not having his feelings slightly hurt obviously makes her happy.
spiky,
Why are you apologizing? I like your posts. They are informative and intelligent. No worries.
I like your statements about rice cookers and their significance in the film.
I liked the red one, myself. Looked to be more high-tech, and it's the one they both used, isn't it? That was the one that Lionel, the dad bought.
Now, about what country you think they both originally came from?
A tropical country where rice if the staple, yet that has alot of black people ... indigenous, to it.
What do you think?
(The characters didn't seem Jamaican, but they did drink Rum.)
that's exactly how I felt about the rice cookers, glad to see someone else thought that, too!
shareMy take on this sequence was that the purpose of the trip was to visit the mothers grave. Josephine was going to get married and they went to the grave as a mark of respect before the marriage day...stopping off at the aunts house on the way.
I thought the sequence told quite a big part of the end story, particularly when we see them camping out under the stars on the way back (could be on the way there, can't remember) instead of sleeping at the aunts house even though it's obviously quite cold out they'd prefer to just be on their own, together. You could tell it was close to the house as you see dunes where they are sleeping and the aunt mentions dunes in her monologue. Josephine says something like "we could stay like this forever". I felt that she was marrying the other guy just so her family unit (the residents of the block of flats) could stay together and her dad wouldn't be alone....I'm assuming that she would just move upstairs in to the other guys flat but would still be able to look after her dad.
I agree, except for the reason she's marrying Noé. She's obviously in love with him -- remember how upset she was when he said he was leaving? Her dad's mixed feelings of sadness and pride (drinking the 35 shots) indicate that she's moving away (maybe even to Africa where Noé was offered a job).
shareJo bought her dad a red rise cooker. Just like she probably bought other stuff for him, since she insisted on taking care of him.
At the end of the movie, we see that the dad has bought himself a Rise Cooker, indicating that Jo is moving and taking the red one with her, and he can take care of himself. (ie.he doesnt need her to buy stuff and take care of him. We dont have to worry).
Simple as that.
PS: Maybe He keeps the red rice cooker and she takes the new one. Who knows, but not important.
The scene before it is what made the German trip: what it is about.
The father comes home from a night on the town: you see this because he is wearing the same shirt, sans jacket, and with croissants to signify morning.
Jo is cleaning the home vigorously, to show her feelings of how she views her past, murky; and in terms of how she relates sex to life and family, and the aftermath of it with a man. It's all messy. She's trying to give it order.
I found most interesting the tonal shift of how they talked. Up until that point: we have the French Liberty, Equality, Fraternity type thing going on in tones.
Then in German: a stark conversation but yet vague about drowning and swimming. Makes sense they didn't visit her much.
I found the aunt "jarring", too but think some of it is the difference between the French language and the German language - I just think French sounds prettier.
I enjoyed the "slice of life" aspect of the film - that's part of why I like foreign films - it lets me see other ways of life - I loved the actors that played the father and daughter - some of the scenes felt so real.....my husband didn't seem to enjoy it at all.
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The scene is a transitional scene providing character cohesion.
Josephine undergoes an emotional transition, and that scene encapsulates and emphasizes her entire emotional journey.
The dialogue in the scene is an external representation of her total transition, from an insulated and insecure daughter, to a restless student, to a reticent potential lover, to a scared and suffering and silent young woman, to an independent adult swallowing the fear and diving into untested waters.
The key dialogue from the aunt -
I taught her to swim. She was scared of the water. We're all scared of it. I'm also scared of that sea. So vast, so wide, and when you scream, no one hears you.Wine = Essence of life, Sea = Life, Basked in the sun = lived without a care and lived oblivious to the passage of time and lived in the moment, Lost in the Dunes = swept away and wandering aimlessly and drifting in a dream-like daze and navigating trackless wastelands and feeling wondrously dwarfed and alienated and one day eventually emerging on a landscape burgeoning with milk and honey and other luxuourious fruits of life....
Lionel, do you remember that time when we all went swimming together? We basked in the sun. Lost in the dunes.
Good wine. Not always that good. You don't remember? Why don't we drink some wine? A little glass of wine now. Why not?
Sometimes it seems the whole world is scared of suffering. Everyone wants either total stress or some peace in their happy little lives. But not us, not us! We're strong, aren't we? Aren't we, Lionel? Still so silent.
Temporary One:
THANKS My, but you are very articulate!
-- I admire celebrities who muck in & get dirt under their "sport" manicures. Charity rules!