MovieChat Forums > The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2014) Discussion > can anyone help here? WHICH one & other ...

can anyone help here? WHICH one & other inquiries????

posted 9 years ago by shoutingagain
3 replies | jump to latest

I rented this from library and it's title is JUST... the disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.
Period.

No him, her or them.

Again, I called after returning it having read HERE there were THREE! I had NO idea. They confirmed (after pulling it back off shelf) it simply states title without ANYTHING else.
Boy, are they going to have some possibly angry or curious renters call them.

Now I sit wondering WHAT I saw.
Which one?!!!!!!!!!!!

SPOILERS ahead........!!!

Due to movie, I would think it's HER or them since it seems to reflect her journey & perspective (at end looking at empty room as it flashes the 3 of them in color at better times).
So I'd think it MUST be her or THEM.

But one post said the Wet scene in car (where he's drenched) she ASKS if he cheated & said on another one, HE offers that up.
In one I saw, HE states he did as he pushes her away (then naturally she pushes him off but ALL the while insisting she's not upset when he irritated, argues she MUST be).

So that's tip one to my viewing.

Also in version I saw, the kid says CATCHED but there's no correction from anyone.
Someone wrote in one version there is.

And lastly (and I don't think I can be wrong..I rewinded to see ending again). Final scene does start with her walking thru park BEHIND him but she never calls him....if you watch closely (and I paused it) the LAST frame appears where she is STILL behind him & taking a turn right & he left (to assume she does NOT reach out to him. Viewer doesn't even KNOW whether or not she sees him...he's THAT far ahead, I thought not. So not much taken from that except they go on apart. But obviously that scene MUST be when she's back from France).

I have no idea. A bit disjointed. I understand the artistic license but heck...though I GET IT, he's saying it doesn't matter...still I WONDERED how the heck their little boy died!
Anyone have theories? (as it is NOT disclosed or explored, Suppose to be immaterial to story but I don't like that choice myself).
was it HER fault, his, no ones???????
I mean ONE telling scene, her sis says she has concerns over her watching her son for the night but immediately backtracks to add "of course I KNOW he's fine with you but don't want to intrude".... spoken SO quickly as to suggest she was involved or there when her own son died.

So please ANY help, I'd be grateful.
AT least WHAT did I see?????? I'd have guessed a million bucks it was HER but another post did say HER has protagonist ASKING if he cheated & that is NOT how it went in one I saw, he absolutely threw that out there (while I sat here wondering WHY the hell he would do that THEN of all times? maybe repair relationship FIRST).

Thanks in advance anyone & everyone.

[–] Tisha89 9 years ago

Hello shoutingagain.

You saw Them. Regarding your other question, Ned Benson talked about it in an interview with EW:

Talking about the exact thing that happened, I noticed – at least in Them – that it’s not specified how their child died. Was there a reason behind that?

I didn’t think it was important. I think it’s funny that that’s one of the things that frustrates people, that we didn’t tell you exactly what happened. But is that really important? The story is about the relationship, and I know exactly what happened to that child and so did the actors. And so did everybody involved in the film. And the closest I get to it, and I allude to it in a very sort of analogical way, but it’s the moment where she is releasing that firefly and she asks it to wake up. And you know, the child died of crib death. But what does it do if all the sudden I have a scene where people are like, “Oh, yeah, by the way,” and like I turned to the audience and say the child died of crib death? I’m just gratifying the audience on something I don’t think they necessarily need because this isn’t about what exactly happened to the child. It’s about what happened to these two people and their love and their relationship. And the child died. It doesn’t matter how the child died. It’s a horrible loss. I just don’t think that when something happens, and you’re in a group of people, whether it’s family or friends, you talk to each other in a way where you tell exactly what happened. Because everybody knows exactly what happened, and we’re after the fact. So it didn’t seem like something that would organically pop up within the storytelling. I wanted to show that it’s a bunch of people sort of delicately dancing around a very difficult subject.
http://www.ew.com/article/2014/10/17/interview-disappearance-eleanor-rigby-ned-benson

"I'm not an actor to be a personality." - Jessica Chastain

[–] shoutingagain 9 years ago

thank you SO much Tisha89. Now I know what I saw.

Maybe those of you who saw 2 or 3 of them can tell me if you feel all are warranted.

And thank you TOO for answering my other question.

While in certain respect I agree with that decision (and it's clear for obvious reason), I would add it CAN be argued that in WHAT manner this child died does in fact impact their journey & our emotion toward the unfolding of this story.

yes, true enough, every single child's death is beyond tragic, & often unbearable to the parents; and yes, I gather that alone is what we are to focus on (witness her response, trying to cope with the unimaginable)....in that the aim here is to chronicle the aftermath, not all that shatters us makes for simple understanding. So yeah, seeking some mending (or... not mending), I was on board to take in just life afterward as I found to be the story.
That was clear.

HOWEVER.... often IF something happens (the circumstance) & IF one feels responsible, it helps edify our insight into things.
(again feeling potentially responsible...either rightfully or not--doesn't much matter! One feels how they FEEL, it doesn't have to make sense).
Take one example for instance. At 14, my brother died (at 16) in an accident & now some 30 years later, parents long gone, I fleetingly wonder ALL these years about what my parents TRULY experienced (as of course they shielded their pain & sorrow BEST They were able, for the rest of us).
Who knows, my lovely parents---who, without question, were model, loving & attentive parents, couldn't ask for better---might have unconsciously, certainly undeservingly & quite illogically, blamed themselves for whatever reason.
It happens, the "IF only I...."
Doesn't have to make sense. We often don't as people, we are prone to our thoughts, reactions, emotions & afflictions.

Sounds irrelevant to this plot maybe but I somehow connect it in a sense.

So with this story, I strongly felt it might be nice to know general circumstances to better identify with whatever other struggles they battle beyond just grief. In this case, since I NOW know it was crib-death, it colors things in a small way. I'd have expected a rational response (if such exists) might include overwhelming helplessness. Even anger might surface. The invariable... WHY us?
Because who wants to even entertain thoughts that something like THAT is possible? Though let's be clear too, intellectually we know it is. That this --& a host of countless other myriad, frightful things CAN & do happen. Sadly, life is full of challenges & crosses to carry.
I thought that is exactly what I saw here & I did actually feel for them.

I dunno, from my reading, many seem irritated with her but how can you judge how someone reacts to tragedy? Can we ultimately control this? I dunno...we can try but in reality, I don't think so.
So for me, kinda surprised to read others lacked patience where compassion seems of order. It can represent many persons story & probably does more than we might imagine. Isn't that one objective of story-telling (the lens to our world experience)?

I think for most, we live life believing (and it's good model to assume!)...well, NO point in worrying about something we can't control.
IF such thoughts still invade our harmony, mentally (much as we worrywarts suffer), you have to work to sweep them away.
Of course bad things happen, to each & everyone (and surely await us if not already having manifested).
I bet many hope such fate (like maybe THIS or what I experienced as a kid) is just something that happens to "other ppl" (a frequent lament I hear when volunteering, such as when someone gets cancer or whatever).
.
And since I'm rambling with NO focus at all.... on totally unrelated note, I was fully invested & riveted in Hurt's character's story of her almost drowning as a baby. That IS life, how fragile, unexpected & abrupt it can be. Simple but brilliant addition. Who can't relate to such a anecdote (I almost drown in Cancun dragged out by a riptide on my honeymoon...this few fleeting seconds of sheer unadulterated terror. Life is full of surprises).

Have NO idea what brought ALL that on,😱 but thank you again. Knowing both those things helped me!

[–] thecherrypop 9 years ago

As far as the death is concerned.
I like that this film literally happens right in the middle of a day/days in the life of.
It doesn't rely on endless exposition through conversation to explain history. In a real life conversation of this, the death wohldnt be detailed and told step by step of what happened, but instead talked a or through emotions and feelings.