What did she mean when she was telling Muriel that her mother made the ultimate sacrifice for her father and would have been happy in the end? She sort of sounded rude but I couldn't grasp what she was trying to say.
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"The Ultimate Sacrifice" always refers to dying. Deidre and Muriel's father Bill were so slimy in their relationship right under the Mom's nose. Deidre was repulsive...in her ignorant (at best we can HOPE she was ignorant!) way, she tried to make Muriel's Mom out to have given her life sacrificially for the father's happiness. In the context of a light movie - Deidre and Bill were savages.
shareMuriel should have slapped her when she said that.
shareI thought deirdre in saying this was blaming the mother for how the family had turned out and for the father been an unhappy man, deirdre was on the father's side remember so she would have shared the view that everything that had gone wrong was the family's own fault and nothing to do with the father. In essence she was saying that now the mother was gone, things would improve for the family as she was no longer pulling them down.
Muriel of course was wise enough to realise the truth- that it was the father's negativity and behaviour which had sent the family into despair. In the last scene with the father she tells him this and it appears he too realises he is at fault for the way things turned out and that only he now can begin to try to put things right again and support his children rather than berate them. The writing for the film was completely outstanding in places.
She meant dying and deflecting attention from Bill's crimes. It was because Betty died that the press turned sympathetic toward the family (that is why the reporters are there in the funeral scene).
It was a wicked thing to say, and the viewer is not meant to side with Deidre. Deidre was implying that the mother was pathetic, and good for nothing other than a sacrifice for Bill (and for her). Deidre is too dim/selfish to realize how awful this sounds, in fact, the "comedy" is that she thinks she's being nice when she says it. But it's meant to reveal how little empathy Deidre had for Betty, and to trigger Muriel's rising realization that she treated her Mother the same way (which culminates in the funeral scene when Muriel runs out of the service).
As a bit of extra background, the name "Deidre" means "melancholy." Whether this is an intentional hint from the writers or just a coincidence is up to the viewer to decide.
Nice comment; I agree.
shareShe meant dying and deflecting attention from Bill's crimes. It was because Betty died that the press turned sympathetic toward the family (that is why the reporters are there in the funeral scene).
It was a wicked thing to say, and the viewer is not meant to side with Deidre. Deidre was implying that the mother was pathetic, and good for nothing other than a sacrifice for Bill (and for her). Deidre is too dim/selfish to realize how awful this sounds, in fact, the "comedy" is that she thinks she's being nice when she says it. But it's meant to reveal how little empathy Deidre had for Betty, and to trigger Muriel's rising realization that she treated her Mother the same way (which culminates in the funeral scene when Muriel runs out of the service).
As a bit of extra background, the name "Deidre" means "melancholy." Whether this is an intentional hint from the writers or just a coincidence is up to the viewer to decide.
wow, that's very interesting. That is exactly what I took form what Deidre said but I was slightly unclear about why Muriel suddenly ran out of the funeral. What confused me a little is that it seemed like Muriel would be overcome with emotion by the fact that her wedding was said to be one of the happiest days of her Mother's life, yet she didn't even notice she was there. Yet she didn't actually seem that upset about it....But I suppose it was a big turning point within the film.
Just a small point, but the name is Deirdre, not Deidre. I think you are rght though, in thinking the sorrowful connotation of the name is deliberate.
shareJust another small point but the name is Deidre Chambers. What a coincidence that there is a site that actually has her character name listed so close to the message. Hate to be pedantic but you are correcting someone when they were correct
shareMaybe it's the Australian accents but I hear her called Deirdre too. Doesn't matter what IMDb says.
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