MovieChat Forums > A Canterbury Tale (1949) Discussion > premarital sex

premarital sex

posted 13 years ago by streaky-4
6 replies | jump to latest

Hi -

I apologize in advance for offending some with this question !

Is it fair to assume that Alison and her fiance had been intimate? Sex was never implied, but they were not kids and they slept next to each other in the caravan, no doubt.

It may seem juvenile to ask, but it might affect the intensity of Alison's loss (if they had done it, and also if they had held out and hadn't had the chance).

Sex and passion are timeless, and Alison was certainly uninhibited in other manners.

Know what I mean?

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

I do indeed know what you mean. When I first met her I mentioned this to Sheila Sim (Lady Attenborough) - albeit in more discreet terms

I pointed out that Alison and her boyfriend had been living together in the caravan. She said she hadn't realised quite how much of a liberated lady Alison was

Steve

[–] eden_echo 12 years ago

Like most girls in wartime with their soldier boyfriends.

“If you're gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.”

[–] Steve Crook 12 years ago

If not most, then many. "What did your mother or grandmother get up to during the war?" It's a question I often ask when we're talking to people about this film

Steve

[–] ilahilda 10 years ago

I just saw the film, since they were engaged for 3 years and there was a war going on, I'm assuming they were romantically involved as well. Too bad they never showed her fiance. I'm glad for her he was not killed. That was sort of a shocking scene for the times of her comparing notes with her two male comrades while lying on the bed. Considering in the 40's, married couples had separate beds in films.

[–] Steve Crook 10 years ago

Considering in the 40's, married couples had separate beds in films.

Only in American films. Maybe that was another thing they cut in the initial American release

Steve

[–] PlaintiveMelody (245) 7 years ago

I do not think the loss of the person one loves romantically can be judged based on whether or not the couple had sex. Loss of a romantic relationship can be just as painful if they never had sex. I don't understand why love is measured in terms of physically intimacy. Surely everyone knows that people can have sex with people they neither love nor like, and be very much in love with someone they never take to bed.

It has no bearing on the intensity of the loss.