MovieChat Forums > Hungry Hearts (2015) Discussion > A few things...

A few things...

posted 8 years ago by bingobingo25
25 replies | jump to latest

First of all, I thought the film was pretty decent. The acting was pretty stellar (from Mina and Anna, anyway. I'm not a big fan of Adam Driver...), and the concept is very eerie.

I do have a few questions, though.

Spoilers are coming up, just so you're all aware.

1) How was Mina able to get the baby at the end? Her claim of abuse aside, Jude did have medical proof from a professional that his child was incredibly unhealthy under the mother's care and anyone at the hospital or even their friends can testify that her behavior (insisting on seeing the baby right after she gave birth to him, refusing to let him leave the house, giving him laxatives, etc.) was highly erratic and proof of some serious issues on her end. Her only argument is that he beat her. I really don't understand how that works, or why he didn't call social services and go through everything the proper way instead of "kidnapping" the baby. Can someone explain this?

2) Does anyone else think that part of why she became so unhinged and became obsessed with the baby's "purity" was because he was born out of a rape? I mean, there is absolutely no denying that Jude raped Mina. She explicitly said several times "Don't finish in me" and even tried to push him off, but he kept going. Do you think part of her anxiety about being a mother was because of her anxiety about her husband being controlling? She had to go back to Italy and he nipped that in the bud by getting her pregnant. I hate the old trope of rape being the definitive answer to a woman's problems, but I think in this case it was realistically portrayed and could actually make a little sense as to why she was such a mess.

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

Watch that scene again. She asks him not to finish inside her and then he keeps going and she starts pushing him saying, "Stop! Don't finish inside me! Stop it!"

That's rape.

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

No, I watched it on Netflix and she said "DON'T come inside, no no no."

I had the subtitles on because my house can get a little noisy and it was a quiet film and it explicitly said "Don't" as well.

Even if what you said is correct, her "no" T the end would mean she took away her consent and he raped her. She didn't want to get pregnant.

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

It says on Wikipedia too that he impregnated her against her wishes.

I went on there just now to see if it mentioned her being raped in the plot summary and it said "Jude initiates a sexual encounter that ends with him ejaculating inside her, despite Mina specifically requesting otherwise."

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

Yeah, it lead me to believe that maybe Mina was already unhinged but losing control of a situation like that lead her to obsessively controlling her son's life and well-being?

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[–] Whorls 8 years ago

I think because in the original English, she says "Come outside" so it may sound, with her accent, like "inside."

I never thought about the prospect of her being a bit traumatized after that scene, though, or I just forgot. It was kind of understated. I don't like perpetuations of the stereotype either, but her behavior may have been a result of that.
She did want herself to be "clean" on the inside, afterwards, as well as the boy, as evidenced by her avoidance of most food. She also didn't want a cesarian or even ultra-sound, but that could've been part of it, too, in a way.

I was still surprised he lost custody so easily, though. The fact that she was an unfit parent was clear, but not that he was. It seems always to be what's best for the child, and the state of a spouse is a different case entirely. I've heard some judges rule that a battery is more or less irrelevant in a child custody battle (weirdly).

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

Yeah, her obsession with cleanliness and purity was really disturbing. I mean, she really and truly believed every word that she was saying. I think that was what was so frightening about it and lead me to believe that something about the situation was traumatic to her.

That blows my mind that it was documented by the baby's doctor that he was malnourished and that the mother was behaving strangely, and yet she was still granted custody.

I don't understand why a third party (Jude's mother, maybe?) wouldn't be granted custody (with the parents allowed to visit) until everything is settled legally between the parents.

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] aliplate 8 years ago

I also wondered what the significance of that was. I mean, they wouldn't have made a point to show it if it didn't have some significance to the plot, right? I hadn't considered it a rape though. I mean, she consented to the sex, right? It was definitely a manipulation to keep her there, though. I also wondered at the end who was crazier her or the grandma. Like when she was cooking the hamburger and Mena came in and she just left the baby there to go care for the dogs? WTF? And then the beautiful day Mena shared with the baby the day she was murdered. It made me feel like even though she was misguided and hurting the baby through undernourishment, she was really a very loving mother and Jude could have brought the baby somewhere that wasn't so completely offensive to her lifestyle with deer heads everywhere. Right? Or am I wrong? She was behaving very pretty insane although never at any point got violent. Very interesting film! I have been thinking about it for two days! :)

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

Well, that's not how consent works, though. She consented to having sex, but withdrew that consent once she asked him not to finish inside her. He heard that and ignored it, so it's rape.

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot more going on under the surface when it comes to this film. I don't think it's as simple and boring as "she was crazy." I think there could be more going on. Maybe it was post-pardem depression?

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[–] coupleofflakes2 8 years ago

I don't see this scene as a rape at all. She didn't "withdraw her consent" to have sex, she just didn't want him to come inside her.

If she didn't want to get pregnant maybe she could have taken some measures to prevent that? Like birth control? Women need to take at least part of the responsibility.

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

That is withdrawing her consent. For God's sake, she told him to stop once she realized he was going to finish inside her. It's date-rape. She consented to one act, but not the other. That is how consent works, the second someone is questioning something you're doing and asking you to stop, you stop.

She tried to take responsibility by asking him not to finish inside her because they apparebtly weren't using other forms of birth control. She then further took responsibility by having the baby instead of aborting it.

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[–] KellyKellyK2 8 years ago

Oh yes, because not aborting during pregnancy is taking responsibility lol. Thats a load of crock if I ever heard one.

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[–] rcwoodwinds 8 years ago

No, it's not withdrawing her consent.

There is a difference between telling someone not to cum inside you vs. telling them to stop completely. Watch it again, never does she ask him to stop completely - she simply asks him not to cum insider her - that is not rape. You claiming it is rape, trivializes the bigger issues with the character of Mina (you're also trivializing the real issues of consent).

The fact that you're hell bent on claiming it was rape, says a lot more about you than it does the movie.

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

Kelly, she would have been just as responsible if she had an abortion. That's up to each individual person. I'm very pro-choice. She CHOSE to keep the baby. That was her own form of responsibility.

Um, that is how consent works. She asked him not to finish inside her. He should have pulled out. She even started trying to push him off because he kept going so he could manipulate her into staying. I mean, is it a coincidence that he does this like right after she told him she was going back to Italy? If you're having sex with someone and they say "No," "Don't," "Stop," or any of those other words, that means you stop whatever you're doing. I mean, if any of my partners ever said anything like that, I always stopped. It's not that hard.

How does this say anything negative about me as a person? Really? It was date-rape. Rape isn't always a violent act. It usually is a lot more like how it was in the film: it starts out consensual, and then gets kinda weird and awkward because one person says "Hey, stop!" but the other person just doesn't because they assume it started out consensual so it still is. That's why there are so many "blurred lines" kinda cases all over the news. People just don't understand consent anymore. I'm more concerned with what this says about you as a person if you can't just understand consent.

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[–] scriptus 8 years ago

Using your logic, if a girl lies to the guy about her taking pill, it's also a rape, but the guy is the victim? He'll be a father without giving his consent?
I know girls who claim loud that they did it in order to get pregnant and trap the guy, so they are rapist?

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

She said "DO NOT COME INSIDE ME" and then tried pushing him off. That's completely different then lying about being on the pill. Sounds like you're the one with flawed logic here...

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[–] scriptus 8 years ago

Your logic is colored by some belief that somehow women are never responsible for anything. As many narrow-minded feminists, you put women on child level, denying any responsibility in their actions. And it is the same thing, you force fatherhood on someone who's not consenting to it.
End of discussion, there's nothing an intelligent person can do or say while dealing with double standards.

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

LMFAO. I think you're the one lacking some intelligence here.

As a feminist, I firmly believe that both men and women should be held accountable for their actions...it just so happens that in this particular situation, he violated her and her body. I pity you and whoever you're sleeping with if you can't figure out how consent works. It's not as hard as you're making it out to be. You're just looking for an excuse to defend rape.

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

And he DID consent to fatherhood, btw. That's why he got her pregnant. He wanted her pregnant so she'd have to stay with him.

I think you watched a different film.

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[–] kobrakai1 8 years ago

I think that maybe she had issues with disordered eating before she met Jude and getting pregnant just added to the stress and made it worse.
I feel like her hair being weirdly dull and limp even from the begining (considering i don't think that's the actresses natural hair) is an indication that she already had anorexia or maybe orthorexia.
From the way she mentioned her father I want to say that maybe he was abusive when she was a child. Maybe sexually abusing her.
So she projected her control issues onto the baby after he was born

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[–] bingobingo25 8 years ago

Yeah, I was curious about whether she had a history with eating disorders and compulsive eating, too...

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[–] popzzz 7 years ago

Watch it again.

She clearly says "Wait cum inside" and then "cum inside" and then "cum inside"
and then says "no ... no" but it was too late at that point because he already did as she asked him to.

I watched it over and over and unless we are watching different versions that’s what was said.

I didn’t see a rape.

It all looked very normal to me.

And she did NOT try to push him away as some suggested.

.....  What are you looking at??? 
.

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