Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Remember Me Discussion Group



How does Diane's relationship with Ally seem to be developing and does this scene show us a different side of Diane?
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4 comments:

LTavares2011 said...

I think Diane is just getting to know Ally but it seems she likes her and the way that she is making Tyler happy, relaxed and she is changing some attitudes of Tyler: Diane was surprised by knowing that he is washing the dishes, for example.
Diane perceives that her son is really interested in someone and that someone seems to be a good influence for him and what more can a mother desire? For her it is a hope that finally he will be fine, more understandable.
Particularly, I don`t think this scene shows me a different side of Diane. She is a good person, always polite, pleasant, for me she is not really strong, she avoids facing Charles and their problems, perhaps wanting to spare the ex-husband because she knows that he also suffers a lot but unconsciously she ends up leaving Tyler and Caroline very alone (not physically), living in a world apart, taking care of their own wounds and that is not good, not for that long.

July 20, 2010 at 10:24 AM
jessegirl said...

It's nice to see Diane laughing with Ally, bathed in that low afternoon light, such a mellow scene. These two women, both, interestingly, in social work, can really help each other. I think Ally was really fitting into Tyler's family and I think her long time influence--had things turned out differently of course--would have been really beneficial. I think if this camaraderie between the women would have continued, Diane would have been more relaxed about Tyler and he, in turn, would have become more physically affectionate, more at ease, less feeling the burden of being both himself and Michael for his Mom.

Fantastic though Coulter's restrained use of physical contact between characters was--it served his desire to avoid maudlin tones and succeeded in that--the result was that the audience (me anyway) wanted so much to see the physical contacts, the hugs, kisses, big and small physical gestures of affection. Perhaps that was Coulter's purpose too, to make the audience participate in the creation by having us take thing further in our minds, yes? If so, good call, because it worked. We always want this physical connection for the characters because they all seem to need it so much and we want them to get it, but they seem incapable of following through so often. So we imagine.

July 20, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Anonymous said...

I didn't think anything of it, really. I just perceived it as Diane getting to know Ally and joking around and laughing together.

July 20, 2010 at 4:13 PM
WhyIstheRumAlwaysGone said...

I love your analysis @jessegirl. Yes, I think Ally could really have fitted in Tyler's family. She got along well with his father, with his little sister and clearly she connected with Diane. Their similar career choices would certainly have helped. I love how they joke about Tyler's supposed inability to wash the dishes (btw, it's probably not true - how would the two boys ever cope in the flat?), but it's nice to see them already showing this ease and complicity and to look at them laughing affectionately at Tyler's small defects. They're both of them relaxed and natural and I think this is the only time in the film when you see Diane really laughing and happy. The sweet, golden light, and the beautiful feminine kitchen enhance this atmosphere of happiness.

July 21, 2010 at 5:10 AM

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