MovieChat Forums > Fish Tank (2009) Discussion > Do women give Connor a free pass because...

Do women give Connor a free pass because he's hunky?

posted 13 years ago by PurpleProseOfCairo
51 replies | jump to latest

(Spoilers)

Reading the contributions here I see comments such as "I should hate Connor more but..." and "OMG that scene in the kitchen in his jeans!" etc.

It made me wonder whether it was a good idea casting Fassbender. Had, for instance, Timothy Spall at his creepy best been cast as the boyfriend, I doubt if there would have been a single positive comment about him - he would have been universally condemned as an evil paedophile.

I'm not taking issue with anyone - it's a natural instinct to be sympathetic to characters sometimes, for whatever reason - it's just that this crime is usually regarded as unforgiveable and beyond the pale, yet some people seem prepared to cut Connor a little slack.

Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!

[–] Jonnydoe01 13 years ago

He's not a pedophile, he's an ephebophile... if he would have done something to the youngest daughter *then* he would have been a pedophile.

I just watched the movie and I am upset that he wasn't directly punished. The kid on kid napping was acceptable but I would have preferred seeing him being escorted in handcuffs. I honestly saw it coming. Very predictable movie.

Yeah he was sexy (from the neck up) but that doesn't mean he should get a free pass. I'm sure one of the reasons that it isn't/wasn't such a big deal to some is because the age of consent in the UK is 16, and for all we know Mia was only a day away from her birthday.

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 13 years ago

Sorry, you're right about the paedo thing - though if he were signing the Sexual Offenders Register after being convicted of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse, I doubt the torch wielding mob would make such a distinction!

I felt similarly unsatisfied that he wasn't adequately punished. In real life, a girl capable of abducting a child (ie, feeling that vengeful) would have been capable of going to the authorities and wrecking his life I'm sure. He was a very, very lucky man that she seemed simply to put it down to experience and move on.

Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gossipgirlrockstar 12 years ago

Yes. I feel like if he was old it would be sick. But since he was a pretty boy people were distracted by how hot they thought he looked rather than be appalled by his relations with a child. At least it seems that way. But if he was old trust me he'd be the "monster".

After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] b-ValarDohaeris 12 years ago

I looked up several interviews with Michael Fassbender where he said he was only given scripts scene by scene because the director didn't want him to know his story arc. He was initially only told the premise of a boyfriend to a poor mother living in a 2 bedroom flat with 15 and 11 year old daughters. He of course guessed that the Connor guy would probably end up doing something inappropriate so he deliberately played him from the start as just a nice normal guy. He didn't want the audience to get ahead of him. I think it was a brilliant decision on Fassbender's part.

His first appearance looking like sex on two legs in the kitchen with Mia clearly uncomfortable but also curious set off alarm bells right away. Then I would second guess myself because he would be so nice to her in a fatherly kind of way. Mia's increasing attraction to him made me believe she might come on to him but he would reject her in a friendly manner. I didn't know how to feel after that sex scene, he was so f^cking hot in that scene (wow!) and remorseful afterwards but he just totally took advantage of a 15 year old girl with no prior sexual experience. I started feeling super uncomfortable about him, when we find out that he was married with a family I completely turned on him. I could not find anything sexy about him from that moment on. After he slapped Mia I completely turned on him (she did deserve punishment for kidnapping and endangering a child but not by him). I think Michael Fassbender did his job perfectly, he changed his demeanor into a more slimy unlikeable one after the sex scene (starting from when he gives her that look and tells her to keep what happened between just the two of them). In re-watching the film I cannot forget nor forgive what he later turns into but I still appreciate his hotness in that first kitchen scene (but no long in the sex scene). So no free pass from me!

"I really can't think about kissing when I've got a rebellion to incite."
-Katniss

[–] Minja 12 years ago

I think you don't stand a chance against Fassbinder, he is so ridiculously sexy, and it's not that his body is so amazing, but it's just his whole appearance. There is something seriously primal and attractive about him, for me combination of those eyes and teeth. That aside, he's a genuine prick in this movie, his character really made me sick, but then again, Fassbinder is going to become popular, really popular because of that sex on fire subtle appeal.

[–] sofia2173 12 years ago

Minja i feel the same way about Fassbender, and i don't generally like hunky guys, i always think of the as full of themselves and i find that repulsive, but with him is like you said something primal impossible to resist!

[–] Suriname86 12 years ago

What's so brilliant about this movie is that Fassbender plays Connor in such a realistic way: guys like Connor don't act creepy and shifty-eyed when they want to seduce a girl; they charm their way into their pants. Connor even charmed me, as a viewer, so that when he does take advantage of Mia, despite seeing the events coming from a mile away, I'm still stunned. Like you said, it's more of a betrayal because he is so charming and affable and you almost want to believe he'll do the right thing and walk away. I applaud the director for portraying a statutory-rape scenario in a realistic way.

[–] qotl 12 years ago

I thought he was weird from the beginning. The fact that he witnessed the mom being a mean and crappy mother and stayed with her was a clue.

[–] haveyoumetchristie 12 years ago

I think I went into this with a little bit of a different perspective than a lot of the other women on this board, since I'm asexual and don't find Fassbender to be aesthetically pleasing (awkward phrasing, I know, but it's the best way I could think to say it), but I do think he's a very good actor, and that definitely showed in this film.
If anyone is interested, I reblogged someone else's review of the film on tumblr and added a little bit of my own to it here (which contains spoilers): http://aaandlovingit.tumblr.com/post/4550006344/fish-tank-review-note- added-by-aaandlovingit-contains

I do, however, get the general idea (based off of other posts I've read and the reactions Mia and her mother had to Connor) that his apparent attractiveness was used by him to his advantage. As others have said, I do believe that he could very well have been a serial cheater, so he could have used his looks and/or charm to get him out of other situations such as that one.

One last thing, though: I also agree that he should have been punished, and while I can kind of see why Mia would act how she did, I also feel that there should have been some other kind of punishment for both of them - Connor for what he did to Mia and her family and Mia for what she did to Keira (Connor's daughter). But then again, being on the outside, I may see it differently than those characters would have at the time of the events.

"Life is a holiday! Let us live it together!" - Guido Anselmi, 8½