So i thought the reason Claire always rode in the car that way was because of her back pain. But at the end of the movie it occurred to me that it was because she didnt wanted to be reminded of the accident that had killed her son. was i slow to pick up on that, or did it take others a while to get it? and then at the end of the filem she finally came to terms with it.
shareMaybe, but I don't think so. I think it was just because of the pain. She sat up at the end because (like the therapist in the pool suggested) she wants to get better and lead a normal life.
shareAt first I thought it was because of the pain as well, but as the movie progressed I realized that was not the case. My thought was that she did that because she didn't want to see what was coming. Perhaps maybe the accident was a head on collision and when driving in a car while staring out the windshield she continuously saw the other vehicle coming at her. Then during the scenes of her laying there and seeing all of the trees etc I thought maybe she did that to see what her son's last views may have been before the accident assuming he was in the backseat.
shareI disagree with the other comment. It absolutely had to do with the car crash involving William H Macy's character. Her sitting up at the end /was/ her facing her fears, but it was quite literally tied to that car crash and facing the road.
shareShe couldn't sit upright without being in dire pain. This was shown in other ways throughout the film. She was squirming around in the restaurant booth during the breakfast scene, for example. At the end she repositioned the car seat to face her pain and get better, just as she told her physical therapist. She was ready to move on.
shareNo I think the OP is right. I thought this the first scene that showed her in a car. And when they were controlled at the border, Silvana told her "you should sit up, you know you can sit up alright". I took that to mean it is not only because of her pain.
shareHer house keeper asks Aniston's character early on in the film why she doesn't sit up in the car when it doesn't hurt her. It has to do with not facing the accident, not her pain.
shareI'm also in agreement that it was because of the car crash.
shareMaybe it was both?
Maybe it was like a, mind over matter type thing?
It was painful, or so she thought. The reminder of the car accident bought on the physical pain.
I didn't pick up on it as I wasn't aware that had been a car accident until quite a way through the movie. (Did I miss a bit) I didn't even click that she had had a child when they gave the toys away!
'I say I'm dead.. and I move'
It was even a line in the movie that she should sit up in the car because "it doesn´t hurt".
So the lying down had to do with the crash that killed her son.
Yeah i got it from end as well, didn't came to my mind earlier, even asked wife just after I figured it out since she did not get the car accident reminder reference even in the end. It's not difficult to follow, first you are off the screen told she lost child, then in Macy scene you are told it was accident and then in very end you are told why she was always lying in car not actually because of health, I liked subtlety how they implied these three things without telling you straight to your face like in some dumber movies.
shareThey clearly showed several scenes where she was uncomfortable sitting upright. However, it could be "symbolic" of getting over the crash as well. I really don't think this movie was that deep though. Good movie though.
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