So, so pathetic.
Muriel!
The way she behaves during the wedding. Ugh. All of that ferocious smiling and gloating because she was "getting married". She had been living in a world of delusion for years, though. What, with the "friends" she had, the tremendous inferiority complex, and idealizing marriage as some escape as though it was the one and only thing to change her life and make her happy. It's like she was so obsessed with the status that comes from being married and so consumed by self-doubt that she genuinely didn't grasp the fact that it was an arranged marriage SHE sought out with a man that doesn't even LIKE her. What did she think was going to happen later with this guy who can't even stomach her? The brain works miraculously. I mean any logic that contradicts her fantasy is completely annihilated.
/start rant
I know women kind of like this, though. They want a boyfriend or husband just because of what kind of image it would project to others. "Someone wants to be with me. I'm worth something". Meanwhile no one actually cares and the guy treats them awfully. Cheating, using all of their money, disrespectful, etc. But they're in a relationship! which is all that matters at the end of the day, right? My older sister is friends with a woman who told an acquaintance that she was engaged to a guy when they had never even dated. Slept together a few times but he hadn't spoken to her in several months. She lied, why? Because she thought it made her look a certain way and she was sure she wouldn't be found out because she told this to someone she barely sees. Well it got back to my sister since the world is so small. They haven't talked about it and my sister hasn't told anyone (besides me) but she told that psychotic lie to someone she's not even close to in order to seem successful and someone actually close to her now sees her as pathetic. She begged the guy to help her get pregnant to which he stupidly agreed and now there's a kid out there who didn't ask to be here with an absentee father and a *beep* mother all due to her quest for self-worth and a connection with this guy who literally hates her.
/rant over
Muriel never tried to change anything for herself. She expects the world but does nothing to make it happen. I understand with her upbringing. I mean with a father like that and a weak mother I can imagine it's hard to have any motivation or develop any sense of "I can".
It was cringe-worthy, though. So horrible to watch her cheesing throughout that wedding ceremony and him looking like he was well overdue for a diaper change.
With all of that being said, this is one of my absolute favorite movies.
Ever.