Why move?!


It was never clear to me why they wanted to move in the first place. Yes, they lived in a place with no elevator and had to climb 5 flights of stairs for 40 years. Yes, they were getting older. Yes, poor Dorothy had trouble climbing the stairs. However, all through the movie they never harped on these as the main reasons for moving. They never complained about the 5 flight of steps or getting older or having health problems. Did it ever occur to them that the reason Dorothy developed a back disk problem was because they forced her to climb all those stairs? They just didn't articulate from the start why they wanted to move. Diane Keaton's character seemed to be the one that wanted to move, but why?

Coincidentally, my spouse of 40 years and I are contemplating moving out of our two-story townhouse. We've talked about why we should move many times. We want to move to a 55+ community. We want a one-story home. We want to get away from noisy neighbors. We need to relocate to a place where our allergies aren't as pronounced. And after 35 years in the same place we want to cash in on the home equity we've built up.

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Note in the 55+ community there will NOT be a lot of stairs.

It seemed to me they just wanted to "test the waters" realizing that one day 5 flights of stairs are going to be problem. They seemed to just be looking for an elevator because they wanted to stay in NYC. Then they just got caught up in the realty games and negotiations. My wife is a lot like the Keaton, if she sees something she likes, then wants - MOVE OVER!
In the end your question is answered "Why Move?" - so they don't.

I saw a lot of my own relationship in the couple.

Ric.

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I saw a lot of my own relationship in the couple.


That kind of realism is what makes the film work—a tribute to the actors (Freeman and Keaton) and a director smart enough to not get in their way.

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The movie made no sense. Because the 'move' made no sense. There was absolutely no reason to sell their apartment....if all they're going to do is buy a similar apartment a few blocks away. What kind of sense does that make??

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The move did make sense because in their advancing age, they wanted an apartment with an elevator and maybe some more room inside.

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It just doesn't make sense that an older couple with no kids, no jobs, and no ties would want to stay in those living conditions. For a million dollars they could have a beautiful large house, in a nice community, just about anywhere in the US. But instead they are spending a million for another small, old, ugly, crappy apartment (in downtown NY). Makes no sense to me.

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It just doesn't make sense that an older couple with no kids, no jobs, and no ties would want to stay in those living conditions. For a million dollars they could have a beautiful large house, in a nice community, just about anywhere in the US. But instead they are spending a million for another small, old, ugly, crappy apartment (in downtown NY). Makes no sense to me.


Well, that is the ironic moral of the film ... about what really matters.

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Okay lol. I'll give them that; money didn't seem to matter to them.

The problem is, nothing seemed to matter to either of them. I was saying in another thread that this movie didn't do a single thing for me emotionally. I didn't feel anything between Freeman and Keaton. Maybe if Keaton said she always wanted to live in a nice house....or if Freeman said he always wanted a sports car....anything....maybe some emotion could have been brought out. But this movie took things to the extreme as far as having no plot. A dialog driven movie is fine....but the characters have to have some emotion, and there has to be something interesting about it. It can't just be about a boring/annoying apartment sale. I disliked this movie very much.

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The film is more European in the sense that 'nothing happens' and the emphasis is on the passage of time rather than action in space. In a more typical American production, perhaps the alleged terrorist would have been legitimate and would have kidnapped the Keaton character, forcing the Freeman figure to round-up a bunch of fellow aging actors (say, Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger) to form a civilian SWAT team and stage a daring rescue. In order to facilitate that rescue, the Freeman figure may have sold his beloved Brooklyn apartment in order to purchase a chopper and a drone.

I am being facetious and not suggesting that you would have required quite that kind of plot, but you can also see my general point.

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I think that movie is called RED.

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Please don't reveal the end of the movie in the comments. Or at least warn us first that you are putting in a spoiler. Makes me mad.

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Somewhat perversely, the Alex character sums up the problem with this story when he is talking to his wife late in the film and he refers to the events on TV, and suggests that all they had been doing was wasting time when what really mattered was the sort of thing that had been happening as a sub story in this movie.

Well, I felt my time had been wasted too. Not only first world problems writ large, but in the end 'like a roller coaster ride, ended up back where we began'.

Unlike the OP I get the imperative of moving to a stair free home to plan for advancing age. What I DON'T get is why a portrait artist thinks a view, which is entirely unremarkable fwiw, is so important. I also had a wtf moment when a young couple moved in on the ground floor. Surely a probably identical apartment (minus a 'view' and the stairs), in the same building would have been an easy and practical solution. Instead, the writer went for a cheesy re enactment of the central characters' coming to the building 40 years earlier. Except that the wealthy new purchasers hardly bear comparison to the struggling newlyweds of our story.

Just dumb writing really. Expecting audiences to find empathy for people trading in millions of dollars in real estate with no identifiable motivation or sense only shows how far some Hollywood figures have lost touch with the real world.

Could be worse I guess. Could have been a movie about arbitrage traders searching unsuccessfully for a new tailor.

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only shows how far some Hollywood figures have lost touch with the real world.


The film was independent; Hollywood did not want it because it was not "Hollywood" enough.

Except that the wealthy new purchasers hardly bear comparison to the struggling newlyweds of our story.


I disagree. First, let me note that people would naturally change some over the course of forty years, but the film shows the Freeman and Keaton characters hesitate over a sheer business transaction and instead appreciate the smaller, more meaningful things in life. They are now in a position to engage in high-end real estate, but they are doing so against their will, hence the modest tension and quandary that create the movie.

What I DON'T get is why a portrait artist thinks a view, which is entirely unremarkable fwiw, is so important.


The matter of the view is not directly tied to what he is painting. Rather, the view is a question of comfort, sunlight, perspective, familiarity, and pretty much anything other than a sheer economic transaction. In a sense, the view serves as a metaphor.

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Who doesn't paint before they put the apartment up for sale?

Do people really love living in New York that much, that they wouldn't take the $960,000 and buy a beautiful place somewhere else?

This movie was a snooze fest. It did have a few nice moments.



Too much, too soon, too long, too strong, too many,
to fix.

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Yes, there are plenty of those people that I personally know who would never leave New York City (if they can help it). Especially if you have no kids and reasonably healthy, the city has a lot to offer that are non-family-oriented (unlike the suburbs). Overall, this is not a movie for non-New Yorkers (or at least big city dwellers). You will never see/share our values.

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I was surprised they had to go so far for a vet.

What we got here is... failure to communicate!
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I know many people that have sold their homes without painting. Keep in mind that the NEW owners will have their own style and more than likely will want to paint a color more to their liking. We are not talking an apartment house (which it is common to paint) prior to renting to another tenant.

Personally I am NOT a city person; I grew up in Yonkers, NY so it was only a short train ride away. While I liked to visit the city; I could not live there.

But there are people that absolutely LOVE the vibe of the city, the convenience of walking or bike riding and they don't want to give that up.

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Well stated. Some people just don't "get it."

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Morgan's character was really huffing and puffing and practically dragging the dog up the stairs.

I don't think he had health issues so much as he was just getting old.

You don't think month by month and year by year he'd have more and more trouble and possibly fall?

They were going to have to move at some point.

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I'm younger than he is and I can't imagine facing five flights of steps every day! Ten really, up and down.

What we got here is... failure to communicate!
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Bad enough to do the stairs, however, imagine carrying in groceries, your laptop bag, etc. My fat butt gets winded just carrying ME up the stairs. :)

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Alex did mention (albeit off-handedly)that the stairs were starting to become an issue.

Also, during one of his inner-monologues, he comes to the realization that his artwork hasn't provided the income he was hoping for, and selling the apartment would provide enough money for him to "leave" to Ruth when he passes on.

Yeah, they're dead, they're...all messed up!

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When you get old you start to think about those things. Young people can't grasp that.

What we got here is... failure to communicate!
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Throughout the movie Diane Keaton was very protective of her husband. You could see this with the argument with her Mom, when Lilly attacked him and the discussion with the people that were trying to sell his paintings. They knew they were getting older and I think she was concerned about her husband doing the stairs.

The funny part was that all the places they looked at that offered an elevator was either not working at all (or they were very slow).

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