MovieChat Forums > Adoration (2013) Discussion > 'Cause it was... so... casual.' This who...

'Cause it was... so... casual.' This whole movie is so casual.

posted 11 years ago by musawi-19
8 replies | jump to latest

I have quite a few issues with this movie, but this is the number one thing.

Everything is just so normal and perfectly fine. They all handle these affairs a lot more calmly and rationally than they should. The scene that made this click in my head is this one: The four are sitting at their little table after they came back from the swim, as they usually do, but unlike other times, it's painfully awkward. Nobody says anything, they just fiddle with the food while glancing awkwardly at each other. Ian gets up, Roz asks him where he's going, and he just says, "Your room."

Another overly casual couple of scenes were the "revealing" scenes. The first one, Harold goes to Lil, blurts out that he saw his mother the way he did. Just like that. No mumbling, no stuttering. 'Oh, yeah, my mom *beep* your son. Oh, well.' The second, Ian is a huge cry-baby about Lil and Harold's affair. Was he really not thinking of his daughter at all? I find that so, so difficult to believe, that he threw it all away so goddamn easily.

It didn't *beep* feel real at all. The acting didn't help.

Something else that bothered me was... well... this is sick. The concept of the movie is absolutely disgusting. Look, I can put up with romanticizing couples with large age differences - whether the older one was a woman or a man. This movie, however, doesn't stop at a mere age difference. These women raised these young men. They changed their *beep* diapers. They're both their sons mothers/second mothers.

While this movie shows the shame that Roz and Lil felt... it... it still puts the relationships in a good light, I think. Despite all the disasters it caused, it's still supposed to be a real, warm, raw thing. But it's not, it's just gross.

Adore is just a 50 Shades of Grey for naive, horny grandmothers.

[–] yauchiejo 11 years ago

Well the film is based on a short story called The Grandmothers, but I'm not a grandmother and I loved it. I didn't have any interest in 50 Shades so I can't comment on that one, but Adore was brilliant. I think it had a great plot and I think it was believable enough.

Yeah it's taboo but it was meant to be. It's a drama fantasy. Executed well, not sleazy at all which is how these films usually turn out!

And I think that Ian was truly in love with Roz and was never over her. I mean the dude almost drowned and killed himself in the ocean cause he was so distraught about it. He certainly convinced me.

If Others Disrespect Me Or Give Me Flack
Ill Stop And Think Before I React-
Adam Yauch

[–] filmfancy 10 years ago

Yeah it's taboo but it was meant to be. It's a drama fantasy. Executed well, not sleazy at all which is how these films usually turn out!

I agree, especially about it being a fantasy. From the moment when the two women are looking at their grown sons coming out of the water and admiringly call them 'young gods' it's like they want to return to their own youth. Or perhaps they are in love with an extension of themselves.

These intertwined relationships are complex, but unfortunately we don't get much depth from the screenplay. Naomi Watts and Robin Wright did what they could with the roles, but the film could have been so much better if it had explored the characters' psychology to any extent.

And all the pieces matter (The Wire)

[–] at7000 11 years ago

Are you familiar with Freudian psychology at all? Especially his writing on the ancient Greek Oedipus legend, and how it relates to male psychology? Please research it and you will have a much better understanding of the film.

Like it or not, Freud proved that males, even starting from the age of six, subconsciously want to murder their Fathers and have sex with their Mothers. Sick or not, this is a fact of science, so best you should come to terms with it. The human brain/mind and its ego, Id, super-ego, subconscious, etc. is infinitely complex.

Few films would have the audacity to tackle such a topic, and I applaud the film makers for that. You are right though about where the shock value lies- The cougar / boy-toy concept is hardly shocking to modern, worldly people. It does not even raise an eyebrow anymore.

However, the shocking thing in this film, is that they were engaging in Mother/Son "incest by proxy." I understand how this could be extremely shocking to people, most cannot come to terms with such a thing.

[–] mslady89 11 years ago

First, freud didnt prove that
Second, its not a fact of science, its a theory

That is all

[–] jbtjb1114 7 years ago

How did Freud prove anything? It's just a theory that's been refuted by many in the psychology community over the years.

[–] TheDark-Mustang 7 years ago

Well, that's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Eww, I wouldn't want to have sex with my mother. I have to admit that she's beautiful, because it's simply a fact in my mother's case and people would disagree with me if I said otherwise. But I'd personally find her disgusting before sexy. The thought of anything sexual with her...Nightmarishly Disgusting. And I've felt like that since I was a kid. It would be like physical and psychological horror. That Mr. Freud really seems like a doughnut, calling me a motherfcker and a murderer. Piss off.

But oh well, I guess we know where "momma's boy" and "daddy's girl" comes from? Hah.

[–] at7000 7 years ago

Of course, you sound well adjusted and have also accepted the societal conditioning that would make such a deed/act revolting for you. That is the interesting part, in healthy person, these impulses are very well hidden and will always stay that way.

They exist only in a very deep within the subconscious mind. In a very dark place of the subconscious mind. In healthy person they will never rise to the surface. But stay hidden and buried. Where they essentially belong.

[–] seekermatt 10 years ago

adultry is the new cool.
'they' revel in their disdain for marriage, except for some reason gay marriage.

in the sequel, maybe the little grandkids can grow up and have sex with their own fathers!
and mothers, and grandfathers, and grandmothers, and sons, and daughters, and grandsons, and granddaughters.
a 'progressive' wet dream.