I don't get why she gave that poor guy her period blood. I'm guessing she was trying to embarrass him by rejecting him but was handing out period blood a common gesture of the time? Why have it in the movie ?
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i hope you choke on your bacardi & coke!
*Team Landa*
because there was an (5th century?) account of Hypatia doing just that to an admirer. (Although I doubt very much that it was Orestes.)
sharelol, i was just thinking the same... i'm watching the movie on netflix and just now came to that scene. i thought WTF and rushed to the board to see if anyone else was thinking WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT the hell was that for? O.O not to mention it doesn't make much sense if you want to offend the dude with your own "shortcomings", but man, every woman has her period, so it's almost like she wants to tell him to go be with another dude or something...
shareIt was to reject him to his marriage proposal so she could proves her point that she was a woman of science and has no interest in marrying anyone.
Was it really that hard to comprehend that scene? What's up with all the people acting overly excited and spamming emoticon "O.O" face? I guess the internet generation is to be blamed for.
Actually it was because she was a neoplatonic philosopher who regarded the body as a burden and a prison for the soul, as all neoplatonics did. The mensuration is treated as that, as a sign of the unimportance of the flesh and general disgust towards it.
I just thought it was odd and kind of low of her. I mean if a man handed a woman a cup of his semen and was like 'sorry i don't wanna marry you.' Kind of offensive. Thank you for the informed answers.
i hope you choke on your bacardi & coke!
*Team Landa*
Put the posts of KittyKatt and Playtester together and you have the matter in a nutshell.
It's quite some time since I saw the film, but I seem to remember her saying 'You are in love with this.' That is, 'You want me as a wife and mother, which I will never be.' No rejection could more honest, especially when accompanied by a symbol of such clarity.
Silly Americans, get surprised so easily.
sharei think its down to personal interpretation. i took it as orestes putting hypatia on such a high pedestal and her basically saying "no- im not this perfect, heavenly creature you want me to be...im a real woman; do you still find me appealing with my flaws?"
"they should give nicole kidman an oscar for being able to show any emotion after THAT much botox".
All I know is, the woman who gives me one of those will have thus volunteered to be the mother of my children.
shareIn the original version, after she gives it to him, he sits there stunned for a moment, then says, "This . . . is . . .so @#$%ing HOT!! Am I right, guys?! Huh?"
shareThat is so true. It was gesture of showing that she can have children.
ι ѕнall deѕтroy yoυr нappιneѕѕ ιғ ιт ιѕ тнe laѕт тнιng ι do.
It was gesture of showing that she can have children.
I know what you mean, I was about to ask why didn't she just tell him in private that she doesn't feel the same way about him instead of embarrasing him like that? I know what he did seemed embarrasing to her but he took a lot of courage to do that for her, that is admirable.
shareDoes anyone have the link to that scene please? I can't find it on youtube
shareWhy is it coragous to woe someone in public, trying to tell everyone that she's yours, forcing her to accept the instruments, etc? Is it not equally brave in that case to make it clear that you don't want to belong to anyone and that you're not interested in your body or relationships?
shareI think his intention were noble, he didn't mean to humiliate her, he was just declaring his feelings for her. Maybe she should have made it clear to all her students that she is not there to find a husband in the first place.
Anyways as brillant as she is, I don't think she is a perfect saint and I don't see her as an innocent woman. She may have been kind in releasing her slave when he nearly raped her but I think she was just being a bitch.
It wasn't like he stood on stage saying "hey everybody, I *beep* my teacher all night long and she loved it! Every aching inch of it!".
THANK YOU... At least one person who tries to understand what this was like from the perspective of the woman...
God, do you even realize, people, that what he did was not only embarrassing to her, it was also really dishonest?
She had clearly told him that she wasn't interested in having a relationship with him, let alone marry him. She valued her independence more than anything else.
And what does he do? Publicly declare his love for her, hoping that he will embarrass her into accepting him. That's manipulative and rather low, really.
Once again, we're back to the same question: when a woman says no, she means no. But people will always blame the woman for being a "bitch".
I don't know whether the menstrual blood was a way to show him she wasn't that "perfect lady" he was fantasizing about, or a way to repay him with the same humiliation he had put her through, or maybe a bit of both.
But it wasn't in any way worse than what he did to her.
The thing is, only in this movie, does the embarrassing incident of a young man publicly expressing his love for Hypatia take place.
It is recorded that was the way in which Hypatia spurned potential suitors(some of whom WERE her students, but, not Orestes) in general: By giving them her menstrual rags. She believed in Neo-Platonism, which basically taught that the body was evil.
If you love Mary and Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make your signature!
Honestly, it is courageous and I don't read it as particularly aggressive.
It sure is embarrassing at least in modern eyes, but who didn't make cringe-worthy declarations of love? (I know I did.)
He sees very well that she's not reacting as he wishes (the "stop talking" line) and goes on nonetheless. He's not forcing anything on her, he's declaring intent and making quite a fool of himself (and not of her) in the process, knowingly.
Sure, he should have understood that she wasn't particularly interested when she invited him to pursue another muse. But then he's in love and he has probably decided that if he does something really out of the ordinary to prove her that he was serious maybe she'll change her mind. And that he goes on when he understands it won't work shows that he's also doing it to remain true to himself. That's how he behaves for the rest of the story, making her know that he loves her and contenting himself with the both of them (and everyone around) knowing it.
I don't read her period blood answer as especially aggressive or out of bounds, either. She's making herself very clear, publicly as he did (and yes, she's not sparing his feelings but it feels a bit like she knows he can take it), but what she says is basically a variation on "it's not you, it's me." You tell me you love me, I tell you you won't love this real me who's not interested in things of the body.
she already had told him in the begining of the movie when he professed his love for her in the libary (davus overheard/interrupted) she declined and told him to pursue music and then he made a spectacle out of it at the theater which was making a mockery out of her.
shareI have the movie on DVR and I rewound it to that particular part. Here's her exact words to him once he opens the cloth:
"It is the blood of my cycle. Orestese(sp), you say that you have found harmony in me. Well I am suggesting that you look elsewhere because I think that there is little harmony or beauty in that. Don't you agree?"
There's no telling what she was trying to say. It just hit me that she may have been telling him to not find harmony in a woman because women bleed and it most certainly is not beautiful. Harmony can be found elsewhere such as education etc.
If you interrupt me again, I'll strangle you.
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She was rejecting him because she wasn't interested in romance. And it was to take his pride down a notch, because he had made a spectacle of himself in public trying to win her. He was a Roman governor in training, and had a lot of pride in himself.
shareIt's simple. It was a period film.
shareLOL - twoflorins!! That was spot-on.
share*This* is what we would have lost when IMDb put the kibosh on the forums. Bless you moviechat.org!
And I wasn't paying attention at that scene so I first thought she was coming on to him. "I know you're into me, so here's something I've rubbed on my vagene." Kind of like giving him a pair of her undies.