MovieChat Forums > Sunset Song (2015) Discussion > Ewan's change (spoiler)

Ewan's change (spoiler)

posted 8 years ago by indialm
7 replies | jump to latest

His demeanor upon returning home was completely & totally unrealistic to me right off the bat as it was presented.
PTSD isn't something that makes you go from being an angel to a demon with the ones you love be at the drop of a hat. Especially not first returning home from the war. It's more insidious than that. It presents itself subtlety at first with small things and then grows into big explosions like the one he displayed upon entering the house right away. This was either poor writing or bad editing on the part of the filmmakers/writers and so unrealistic it took away some of the enjoyment of the film.

[–] borninthewrongcentury 8 years ago

Yeah I felt the same. I am thinking perhaps they wanted to speed up the timing simce they didnt have time to get into it by that point. Though they could have shortened more of the beginning of the film to make room for that.

Because like you said it was a bit too off the cuff of sudden and you are just standing there watching like WTF did that come from?

[–] neverstandinalone 7 years ago

I just finished watching for the first tme, and I'm in full agreement.

***Learning can be a series of successes, but it can also be a slow refinement of technique.***

[–] looker7 7 years ago

I watched this film for the very first time last night and Ewan's sudden dramatic transformation just struck me as very unrealistic and unconvincing; it caught me completely off guard and was curiously at odds with an otherwise impressive script and great writing. Thankfully, though, it didn't mar or impair what was, imo, and excellent movie adaptation of an iconic book.

[–] m-madel 7 years ago

I haven't read the book so I don't know how it's handled in there, but I interpreted the meaning in Terence Davies' screenplay in an entirely different way, as I noted in my response to the OP:

************************** SPOILERS FOR SUNSET SONG **************************

Ewan wasn't returning home from the war when he came back; he was only back from enlistment/basic training - he hasn't even gone to France yet (they didn't send men back and forth in those days).

The reason he's acting that way is a ploy: to make his wife angry at him in order to spare her feelings (and her social place in the community / claim to the farm) for what he plans to do when he gets to France: desert (and possibly be executed).

[–] minyuette 7 years ago

And you know, in my mind that's the most logical explanation except that he raped her. Even if he was trying to get her to hate him so she could move on who rapes the person they love? I just... no. It ruined the movie for me.

[–] m-madel 7 years ago

I understand that, and I would never condone his behavior. But in context, the movie takes place just 47 years after the Married Women's Property Act of 1870 was passed in the UK - which finally allowed married women to be the legal owners of the money they earned and to inherit property. Before then, women were basically 'owned' by their husbands - nothing they had or earned belonged to them.

So the attitudes of society (and men in particular) would have been very slow to change, and his behavior would have likely been perceived, by other villagers, as crude and vulgar, but not as rape.

[–] m-madel 7 years ago

I think you have some facts wrong and thus misinterpreting their meaning:

PTSD isn't something that makes you go from being an angel to a demon with the ones you love be at the drop of a hat. Especially not first returning home from the war.

************************** SPOILERS FOR SUNSET SONG **************************

Ewan wasn't returning home from the war when he came back; he was only back from enlistment/basic training - he hasn't even gone to France yet (they didn't send men back and forth in those days).

The reason he's acting that way is a ploy: to make his wife angry at him in order to spare her feelings (and her social place in the community / claim to the farm) for what he plans to do when he gets to France: desert (and possibly be executed).