...Swank says goodbye to her boys, and falls on her knees to the ground. Then the scene just instantly changes. It's as if she either collapsed from exhaustion, overwhelming emotion, or just tripped. The camera didn't zoom in for a face shot, and it was a really odd choice in direction/acting. Made me laugh.
Oh, and like virtually everyone else has said, this was such a Lifetime movie. Harrowing true story, though.
I'm finding it difficult to respond to this simply but i'll try. ABSOLUTELY NOT did I "laugh" when she has to say goodbye to her kids. I think the scene is WAAAY more visually dynamic because they don't NEED to "zoom in" for a face shot. It was blatantly obvious that she was overcome with emotion which is understandable given the situation she was in. It's ludacris in many ways to mock this considering the story. An underlying storyline in the movie was about Betty Anne and Kenny's childhood and their sad upbringing specifically by their mother who was beyond "unfit." Betty Anne stresses after her first child is born, that she "doesn't want to be like her mother." Also, after the scene you find so funny, when her friend/classmate played by Minnie Driver comes over, she is distraught in bed saddened by the thought that she has become "unfit" like her mother because she has just lost her children. Given all this, I would think that scene you're referring to was pretty cut and dry.
sharejf0808, thank you! I could never respond to such ignorance as good as you just did.
shareNo, I did not laugh. In fact I had a lump in my throat after that scene. It was very effective and emotional. She just went through a divorce and now has seemingly lost her kids. The extreme emotion caused her to collapse on the sidewalk and sob like a baby. How in all the world was that funny??
Get me another beer, Dragon Lady! This one's empty. - Eastwood in "Gran Torino"
I thought it was very sad.
<3 1958-2009 <3 Gone too soon...
I think you were thinking of something else perhaps, when you saw that.
As Betty Anne helps her kids into their dad's car, and then pats on the windows, hollers, "I'll see you soon!" or something like that, and her voice is full of almost fake, self-assuring bravado because she's trying desperately not to lose it in front of them and is obviously not happy about them leaving.
Then after they leave, she collapses once they are out of sight. I am not even a Mom and I know full well that she was thinking, "That's it. I've nothing else to do now that they're not here." Besides her brother, it was very apparent in this movie that those boys were Betty Anne's whole life after the divorce, since her mom was a complete scuz who gave no more than 2 craps about her and her siblings.
So it makes total sense that she'd be lying in bed not showing up for class and feeling so bad that her friend has to come drag her out of bed.
I have friends who can barely stand sending their kids to grandma & grandpa's for the weekend!
------------------------------------
"I wanna be just like you. All I need is a lobotomy & some tights." -Bender, The Breakfast Club
OP is obviously a young person or a person that has not suffered any emotional stress or grief of any magnitude in there life.. When she did that I remembered the time my little girl left for her first week with her mom after we had split up. After the door closed I fell to my knees... It wasn't the only time either..
It's called real emotion and real life feelings portrayed realistically..
That's kind of what I'm thinking as well. Anyone that could laugh at that screen obviously has either never had children or treat their kids like the mother of the brother/sister in this film.
share