MovieChat Forums > My Old Lady (2014) Discussion > SPOILERS So Dad is the cad but Mom ...

SPOILERS So Dad is the cad but Mom takes the heat... SPOILERS

posted 9 years ago by DeepCinema
7 replies | jump to latest

I see so many movies where the male is the problem but the female is depicted as the REAL problem:

DOUBT where the Priest is the self-serving patriarchal poop but the Mother enables him.

FORCE MAJEURE where the Dad is a selfish lout but Mom is berated as a harridan.

And now THIS: where the Dad is a marriage-long cad & infidel, but the atrocious fact that his wife blew her brains out in front of their son gets emphasis as cause for his PTSD and failed life...

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

Well, I agree Dad was a cad. But Mom should have divorced him, not killed herself. She should have thought of her son. and I don't think Kline does absolve hus father from blame. He is pretty bitter about him.

[–] DeepCinema 9 years ago

Sounds like the Mom was in Princess Di's position of marrying a man who's already passionately involved with another woman. And, given the Kline character's age, this would have been in a day & age when divorce was strongly frowned upon.

I can imagine the whole scenario being a huge blow to her self-confidence: Newly-wed and pregnant and her groom far afield. If you can't have romance at that stage of the game, when can you? I can imagine the increasing isolation grinding her down. And now she's expected to be a noble Mom to her boy when nothing's coming her way as her partner's love is siphoned off overseas.

You're right: the son doesn't absolve his Dad from blame. But the old man's story of double-parking is pretty hackneyed compared to the damage done when a boy returns home to witness Mom literally blowing her brains out.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

well, i don't think divorce was that taboo n the late 50s/early 60s, especially in america. to kill herself and leave her son bereft seems a terrible thing to me. both his parents treated him badly.

[–] benman46 9 years ago

Cad!! I didn't realise people still used that word. Infidel just doesn't make sense. Hey Ho.

[–] DeepCinema 9 years ago

Of course "infidel" makes sense: the Dad was unfaithful. And "cad" is a great word! Just because so much of our culture is Dumb and Dumbered Down, doesn't mean we should all follow suit.

[–] benman46 9 years ago

An infidel is somebody who has a religion different from the norm, or has no religion at all. You're thinking of infidelity. Not the same thing.

[–] TheManInOil 8 years ago

What on earth are you talking about?

It was clear that the mother's suicide was the fault of the father. In the end he forgives the old lady but tells his father he's only gone from 1/100 to 3/100.

His father is very clearly the 'villain' of the piece.

You are imagining emphasis where it isn't. You have issues.