MovieChat Forums > Pieta (2012) Discussion > Anyone feel this was like a modern A Chr...

Anyone feel this was like a modern A Christmas Carol?

posted 10 years ago by tkksilvergun
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Just watched this recently, trying to work my way the director's films (enjoyed them all so far). I was struck by how this has an almost Victorian feel to it, and the plot echoes Dickens' A Christmas Carol in a few ways. His mother is like one of the ghosts from that story but in reverse: she has come to show him the error of his ways by pretending to redeem him, rather than redeeming him by showing him the error of his ways. That he does indeed act in a way that suggests his understanding and need for redemption aligns him with Scrooge further.

Love the weird S & M Buddhist streak to Kim di Kuk's films, this took it to new heights for me (although I've still to see about half of his work, including Bad Guy). Can't wait for Moebius!

[–] TheManInOil 8 years ago

It's a very different story. Scrooge was a man who had every opportunity for love and happiness and discarded them all. His past, present and future are all abysmal, not because he was abandoned but because he rejected others.

In this story, the man has never had a real relationship (and presumably no opportunity for one). He isn't shown the error of his ways so much as simply made to feel the pain he has caused.

I guess you can see it as a reversal, but there's really not a lot of parallels there.

I think the story is far more about the bond between mother and child and how each needs the other - which A Christmas Carol doesn't remotely touch upon.