What were we supposed to infer about Emma at the end when she was crying when Peter told her he loved her?
What was with the camera?
Also, I know Emma wasn't a virgin, but why did she let Caleb believe she was?
"As the great warrior poet Ice Cube once said, 'if the day does not require an AK, it is good.'"
she was crying b/c she felt sorry for him lol. thinking "what a naive little 2-minute-wonder of a boyfriend i have..."
i didn't get that she allowed caleb to believe she was a virgin. i thought he realized she wasn't and had f'd the little bro already
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
Early in the film her boyfriend's brother called her a whore, but she insists she's not. He later has sex with her, while a day or so later her boyfriend tells her that he loves her.
My first and only thought of why she was crying is that because she realized that she is a whore. "They're all whores." She's got a guy she probably doesn't deserve and at that moment she knows it.
i thought that emma really was a virgin. that's what kind of undid Caleb while he was in the room with her. now i don't think he was going to spend the night (how awkward would that be in the morning...), but he left so quickly because he realized maybe he actually was *wrong* about her, but had led her to become the type of woman he hated (i.e. whores), and in so doing hadn't protected his brother but *beep* over what may have been a decent relationship.
but that's just me.
I thought the same thing daaf-y, especially after seeing her reaction to him wanting to leave so quickly. I would think if she was a whore, she would have known what she was getting herself into and would have had an entirely different reaction after having sex.
Up your ziggy with a wa wa brush!!
I had the exact same thoughts you did, daaf-y and maybutler.
shareMy thoughts were conjured within my mind just the same as you, nyc20, daaf-y, and maybutler
http://www.last.fm/music/Disuse
You hit the nail on the head, she realized she wronged him by sleeping with his brother, and she felt guilty. it was jot that she was in love with the brother hey, they were kids and i doubt if she truly love him. she may have felt for him the younger brother was who she was in tuned to.
shareEmma probably felt guilty for not being faithful with Peter. So when Peter told her that he loved her, she cried.
And she was not a virgin. She told that only because she didn't want Caleb to know she had already slept with his little brother. But Caleb immediately realized that she was lying and left.
very interesting, ami_cool, almost an alternate universe interpretation of the film. when did peter and emma have sex? they tried, but it seemed to me that peter (humorously) came too soon (which is why he apologized to her). even if he did sneak in for a second and then lost it, i don't think that would count as "having sex" for emma.
i also don't think emma lied to caleb. in fact, he was the one person with whom she let down her guard and was truthful.
but, hey, i suppose film is open to interpretation and to each their own...
For those of you who think Emma had sex with Peter, you must have missed the part when he said "come on let's try again" meaning that he failed to perform earlier. It seemed like Peter had some sort of sexual problem, impotence and premature ejaculation I think - at least that's what I took from the bedroom scene they had before she went outside to meet Caleb.
It seems like Emma really was a virgin and Caleb had inadvertently become her "first" - something that shocked him and freaked him out so much that he turned into a mumbling fool and fled the scene. It means that he got her all wrong, she wasn't a whore. It was all his doing - he seduced a virgin - so if anyone was the whore it was Caleb.
As for why she cried, I think it was just because the whole thing was so messed up. She had sex with her boyfriends brother, self-explanatory really.
The writer can't write for a female character because emma is a caricature like many indie characters are. Her only purpose in the film was to create emotional drama for caleb and donald. So the answer to why she is crying is whatever you think is right because it seems pretty obvious the writer had no idea why she was crying. Most likely it's because she just gave her virginity to caleb (yes I think she was a virgin because she had no reason to lie about that) and she wanted to hear words of love, or at least like from him and not his brother, but that's obviously just a guess. She had a bad weekend and was emotionally messed up . . .
The camera was an affectation common in indie films like this, or it could also be a way to show that he can't express himself using words, that he is disconnected, outside looking it, take your pick.
And about caleb leaving because she lied to him about being a virgin. Just no. Peter made a comment like I almost made it in that time after he apologized and then when he came into caleb's room after caleb had left he said he wanted to try again. You don't "try" something you've already done before.
But seriously even if she wasn't a virgin that would automatically make her a whore? Yeah that makes perfect sense . . .
I thought it was pretty obvious that she was in fact still a virgin before Caleb, as doing the deed earlier with Peter had not gone successfully (hence her, erm, seemingly pained gasps when with Caleb and the apology she gives Caleb). As for Caleb quickly scuttling out of there upon learning this, I took it to mean a) that he felt pretty scummy for treating her the way he did, inexperienced as she was, and b) that Emma was not in fact the embodiment of his ex that he was clearly still very much in love with. Caleb barely knew anything about Emma, and was just projecting his own frustrated feelings towards his ex onto Emma, and upon the post-coital reveal, those illusions came shattering down. Emma's character was kind of hard to decipher, but she obviously felt guilty about her actions on the train. I think she was drawn to Caleb because she identified with his emotional scarring, being the daughter of two alcoholics herself. At one point in the movie she tried to get Peter to open up about his family dysfunction, and although he didn't know the truth, he was reticent to open up. While Peter treated her well, she felt connected to Caleb because of their shared personal demons. At the end of the film, I don't truly believe that Caleb still thinks that "all women are whores."
shareI agree with this reading. I thought this movie depicted how losing your virginity really feels physically/emotionally for a girl. If you're with somebody who doesn't know what he's doing (Peter) 'it' doesn't just go in smoothly. Peter 'finished' before he even got it in all the way.
Emma's gasps were because having sex with Caleb HURT her. She wasn't exactly moaning with pleasure or anything.
Most teenage girls are attracted to danger and uncertainty. I don't think she loved Caleb or anything, but was drawn to those aspects of him. I feel like her reactions to their post-coitus conversation support this.
Megs23,
I couldn't have explained it better!! that's exactly how i saw it.
The reason that she cries at the end is because she feels bad about betraying Peter knowing that he loves her, and she also knows that she can not tell Peter what happened between her and Caleb, that could destroy the relationship that Peter has with his brother.
I agree that the female character wasn't fleshed out enough. She was playing a rather idealistic 'nice' girl, or a male fantasy figure rather than playing a real girl. She was too nice, as was everyone else in the movie. Being too nice means not being honest with others or yourself, which is why everyone suffers. Even Caleb must undergo the torture of being cheated on and losing a week's sleep in order to be 'not so nice' or pretend badboy, which would attract any girl in such a dull nice universe.
I think she cries at the end because she's trying to be 'nice' and endures and suffers rather than being honest and doing what she wants and telling Peter the truth. She is the centre of attention in the whole movie because everyone else is empty and idealises her. She isn't allowed to express her real self because that would break the illusion of who she really is. She isn't a whore, she was always trying to be the male fantasy, a cross between a mother and a whore, which is not reality.
I agree with friedgumby. Emma was not fleshed out enough at all. I don't know if its just the actress not understanding the character or the writer not understanding their own character, but I did not get enough from her. Plus, her wig was really distracting.
I think the easy thing to say about Emma crying in the end is that she felt like a whore. She *beep* her boyfriends brother, she knows this is wrong and knows she doesn't deserve him. Thats what I would think is the reason why. Hell, maybe she realizes that there is no way to continue with the relationship and will break up with him when they get back to school.
I do think that this movie almost had things right, but there were some things missing. I don't think this movie knew what it wanted to be.
I drink your milkshake!- Daniel Plainview
personally, i think she was a virgin. I think the first time she and her boyfriend tried he couldn't get it up and thats why later he says "you wanna try that again?".
www.myspace.com/sofewwithbrains
I took it pretty clearly to mean that Caleb was indeed her first, because uh, no literal sex occurred between her and Peter. Someone else wrote on here too that Caleb left after finding that out because he felt guilty. He spent all that time thinking Emma was a whore, and when he found out she wasn't, he realized what a jackass he'd been to her.
Also, a lot of people in this thread don't think the character of Emma was fleshed out enough, but I didn't really feel that way. The main character is Caleb, and Emma is characterized just enough. I mean, if people want a more clear image of her, more time would have to be devoted to that character. And why? We got all the basics. Her parents are drunks, she's not too happy with Peter, she's drawn to Caleb. I could see the complaint if she was really unrealistic or something, but I didn't get that at all. The movie isn't about her. It's about Caleb. And she's not some 2D character solely created to create drama. I thought she was characterized just enough.
Maybe I'm not the only one, but I feel like Emma WASN'T a virgin.
She obviously was disappointed when Peter came too early. And the fact that SHE was pressuring HIM to have sex indicated to me that she wasn't a virgin (because generally if the girl was a virgin also she would most likely wait till "i love yous" or she's ready whatever). In addtion she was already dating a frat guy before him. She seemed pretty damned experienced to me during the sex scene between her and Caleb beforehand.
Maybe I'm personalizing here, but to me it felt like she started dating Peter because she admired the innocence in him that she personally lacked. I have a feeling that before him she might have been a little more loose (I won't say whore, because that's sexist). I have a feeling too with her family history that she probably had a troubled childhood that lead her to less than ideal situations for a teenager. I mean, she smoked, which is funny because unless you had a troubled childhood most kids this age only smoke while socially drinking.
I think the reason why she was unintentionally attracted to Caleb is because she saw a kindred spirit in him. I think maybe she was flattered when Caleb thought she was a virgin (probably because the last sex he had was WITH a bonofied whore, and she probably hadn't had sex for a while she had been dating Peter). But once he left her, assuming it was because she was a virgin and HE felt guilty about that, she felt guilty cheating on him.
At the end, I think she broke down because she ultimately felt guilty and not a good enough person for Peter. If she had had sex for the FIRST time with Caleb I could guarantee she would have been more forthcoming and open that she felt IN LOVE with Caleb (as most virgins do, be honest, we've all done it). But instead she felt really guilty. I feel like that comes from experience.
It seemed obvious that Peter was a virgin. Emma seemed like someone trying to be better, but hadn't been in the past.
[deleted]