MovieChat Forums > Breathe In (2013) Discussion > it was Sophie's choice (** SPOILERS **)

it was Sophie's choice ( SPOILERS )

posted 9 years ago by TxMike
3 replies | jump to latest

My wife and I enjoyed this movie, we found it on Netflix streaming. Discussing the themes afterwards this is what I came up with.

Sophie, even though she was only 18, was the "user." We saw it early when she had the boy take her to Manhattan for a good time, it appears he spent a lot of money on her, but she wouldn't even give him a polite goodnight kiss. She had no interest in him, she only used him to get what she wanted.

Similarly I don't believe that character had any love for anyone, and certainly not the father of the house. Oh she had an attraction to him but mostly she viewed him as a means to get what she wanted, she was unhappy with life and saw running off with him as an adventure, after all what does an 18-yr-old from England have to lose? She had no concern that she might be wrecking the lives of a whole family.

Of course it would all have been moot if the father had been well-adjusted, he would have turned it off before it got anywhere. But the script sets him up as at least somewhat unhappy in his situation. Still I found it quite a stretch that a man of his age, a top professional musician with a graduating daughter, would run off with a girl his daughter's age even with some unhappiness in his marriage.

Still, we found it to be a good movie that generally treats the subjects in a realistic and mature manner. But it was all Sophie's choice, without her the family would not have suffered the way it did.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

[–] Suntory_Times 8 years ago

No the family wouldn't have suffered, only the one person would have continued suffering. He was clearly unhappy with many areas of his life and his wife simply didn't listen to him and was immediately dismissive of his wants.

Sophie also goes with that boy thinking they are meeting with a group, he clearly is simply trying to get her drunk to sleep with her (notice how he isn't drunk at all in the car and later brags about sleeping with her, despite not actually). We likewise don't know if he bought all her drinks or just the first one, we do know that he lied to her and then tried to force himself on her. It doesn't matter if he bought her a million drinks, she doesn't have to give him a kiss or anything else. She doesn't owe him anything.

Sophie got far less out of the relationship then Keith did. Keith did risk more, but he absolutely was the one who was unsatisfied whereas Sophie was lost and trying to find her place and reason to be in the world (not unsatisfied, just uncertain). So if you really look at this as one person being a user (an assessment I wouldn't agree with) Keith seems to fulfill this more then she.

The inclusion of your wife to me suggests you where not really wanting to dig to deep though and you really seem to have a very negative view of Sophie that isn't warranted by what is in the film. Perhaps you didn't want to side with someone who was breaking up a relationship when discussing this with your wife?

Film Reverie: http://filmreverie.blogspot.com.au/
My film diary: http://letterboxd.com/filmreverie/

[–] LadyAnnaMedusa 8 years ago

Totally agree with you Suntory_Times...

What 'wife' would agree with her husband that a very drunk girl owes a kiss to the guy that, not only deceived her into going into the city b/c he obviously made it out to be a group thing, but also that he 'deserves' a kiss??? She was wasted and still not interested in anything physical w/him and he pretty much tried manhandling her. He wasn't taking no for an answer when all she wanted was to get away from him. I hope for your sake, OP, that your wife is fictional and you're just making this BS up to justify your own nonsense, because I have a very hard time believing that in this day and age, that a fellow woman would think a female would have to 'put out' as a thank you for a guy buying her a drink.

Character is what you are in the dark.

[–] antcrynoveru 8 years ago

Well said LadyAnn!