MovieChat Forums > To Die For (1995) Discussion > Larry was dishonest with Suzanne

Larry was dishonest with Suzanne

posted 11 years ago by darcyflav
15 replies | jump to latest

When Larry had that one sided discussion with Suzanne in the living room of their condo about his expectations for their marriage little did he know what he would set into motion. Suzanne sits stunned and submissive in her chair as Larry tells her what their life is going to be like from then on, attempting to separate her from the dream that has defined her for as long as she can remember. True, Suzanne does everything out of selfish motives, but here we see Larry has been equally false, marrying her without really believing in her aspiration to be a news woman, verbally supporting her in her dream for only a short time, then pulling it away when she feels she might be getting somewhere.

In no way does this justify Larry's murder. As tight knit as the Maretto family is he knew on some level there was not going to be any future plans to move out of state to the big city for Suzanne's career aspirations. He wasn't honest with her from the beginning of their relationship I'll bet. She had every right to feel let down and pushed aside by Larry.

How could he decide, after a year of marriage, that she has had her fun playing the weather girl down at the cable station, and she must now give that up so she could work with him at his father's restaurant?

[–] Noelle111 11 years ago

I just re-watched this on Netflix and I totally agree with you. If you took away the story of the manipulation and murder, then I would say that Larry was a complete jerk. When he started throwing kids in the mix, I was "like dude you have not even been married a year." Then the scene at the family barbeque when she is talking to Larry's mom and she is shocked that Suzanne was not ready to have kids and might want to pursue her dreams in New York. When they started dating all he kept telling people was how she was going places and going to be famous, and then when the "I do's" came it was not a option anymore. Makes you wonder if Larry was not using Suzanne to just have the blonde trophy wife all along.

[–] MsLadybird99 11 years ago

Larry (and his 'family') was no prize. After that stupid conversation, where he negates all of her career ambitions, she should have grabbed her little doggie and anything else that wasn't nailed down, and hit the road.

[–] whoanelly (1592) 4 years ago

That would have been a better option than murder.

[–] vestdennis 11 years ago

Making it as a successful newscaster or TV journalist is highly competitive. It always has been & even more so now with all of the networks & local stations down-sizing. And it's obvious she wasn't going to be satisfied with a stint at a mid-market station (Tulsa or OKC). She wanted the bright lights and headlines. The chances of that happening are slim and almost none. Even giving blow jobs (as gorgeous as she was) or jumping in the sack isn't going to get that kind of gig- there are simply too many pretty gals who majored in "communications" in college.

And unless you land a good gig in a major market the pay is pretty lousy. Many mid-market stations pay average or below & the chances of moving up are slim. I don't know how many times I've seen local reporters bounce from one station to another. It's hard to keep up with where they are now.

Yes, Larry should have supported her career ambitions- especially since she was young and had some time. Had she been slugging it out for five years or more with nothing to show for it I can understand it. Her best bet was to move to a bigger market with more stations (other than a local access station) and work as an intern if nothing else.

Newspaper reporters make even less, especially with many papers cutting staff, pages, raising prices, cutting back on days printed, etc. Some make the jump from print to TV/radio but it's obvious she wasn't going to work as a beat reporter covering the local city hall meetings or crime beat.

[–] ablack90 11 years ago

I totally disagree with you that Larry was in the same league as the sociopathic and narcissistic Suzanne. He was just earning an honest living as best he knew how, with no false pretense about himself. Perish the thought he should want children with the woman he adored.
Suzanne was indeed a witch and I cheered when Larry's sister danced on her grave at the end.

[–] MsLadybird99 11 years ago

He didn't just tell her he wanted a child (Tell her? - Like she has no say?), he starts dictating the direction of her career, such as it was. Her dreams of being Diane Sawyer with her stupid weather reports and interviews with teenage morons was never going anywhere, but that doesn't mean the decision to let it go wasn't hers. Introduce and videotape local losers, like her husband, as a career in mass media? Lol..

She should have grabbed what wasn't nailed down, left him, and let the lawyers do the talking (from very far away since they were a mob family). Killing her clueless husband? Bad.

~~

[–] The_Sedgwicks_Daughter 11 years ago

That's abit rude to say -Ladybird99

As a journalism student I'd say it's definitely hard to make it into the industry and get recognized for your efforts on a large scale locally or globally, so at least she was starting out small and somewhere. You could say she was definitely trying and she did make it on TV even though it was only on a small cable channel around her neighbourhood. She seemed like a driven and motivated person, but it is fair to say she let it go all pear-shaped.

[–] daughterofolaf 11 years ago

I completely disagree with the OP. it seemed pretty clear that they never actually talked about any of these life issues prior to marrying. It didn't seem anyone was lying or dishonest, it was simply that they never talked about it and wanted different things. There is equal blame there. He didn't force her to give her dreams up or to do anything. Divorce was an option in the real world but not to either of them apparently. She even said that.

Not to be an ass but her dream was completely ridiculous. Obviously some people make it in that biz but that's like 1% of the people who go for it a d Suzanne did next to nothing to put herself in the situation of having her dream to anywhere.

"I'd like to confuse bok choy with cabbage, sir."

[–] Snyder2277 11 years ago

I didn't get that it was a one sided conversation. I get that she tuned him out and wasn't listening to him at all because she felt what he was saying wasn't important at all. And like someone else on here said god forbid he wants children with the woman he adores yeah he's so horrible, no he wasn't horrible at all. He was a good guy. She was a brat, she was selfish and narcissistic and felt whatever he had to say wasn't important. I was happy when they got rid of her justice was served.,,

[–] manofsteel4455 10 years ago

All of them are always looking to be the next Barbara Walters.

[–] shukti 8 years ago

I'm watching it now, and I feel like the family pressured Larry into pressuring Suzanne. That was not cool. They should have talked all this out before marriage. For all we know the family stirred things up even more. He might have been fine with her "career" if the family hadn't started up. I think Larry was pushed by people because he was a decent guy. He wanted to please everyone. Suzanne was a subhuman creature, but I think any woman with a career might have had a problem in that family.

That said - you don't have your spouse offed! She was evil. Whoever the poster was that said you get out and have your lawyer fix it long-distance - yeah, that.

"We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here and we want them now."

[–] Mosquitha 8 years ago

Well it was the typical case of two young people marrying too early and then finding out that they want completely different things in life. I have seen this happening many times. One partner is stable, wants a stable relationship, kids, mortgage, and a safe plan for the future, the other has artistic ambitions, or wants adventure in life etch... The problem is that most of the times the "adventurous" partner is financially dependent on the stable one, he feels he deserves a better life but at the same time cannot go anywhere without the economical stability the other gives. Susan do not want to divorce him because she needs his support, she likes her beautiful house and the comfort. She thinks that by killing him she can get to keep all that plus will get extra advertisement as the beautiful innocent widow on TV.

[–] Terrygg (544) 8 years ago

Yeah but how many times does one person in the couple turn out to be a narcissistic psychopath? lol

[–] Terrygg (544) 8 years ago

Larry would never think to speak to his wife that way and was just taking advice from his bitch of a sister. His sister never liked Suzanne to begin with. She didn't think Suzanne would ever amount to anything worthwhile and she was totally supportive of her brother and his dreams and aspirations. So you can very well sense that in that scene, Larry's words and attitude were straight from his sister's point of view of the situation. It's like she was speaking through him. Larry's sister was the one that set the whole resentment towards Larry and Suzanne. When the shot of Suzanne perception of Larry narrows down to a point, you know that she falls out of love with Larry and thinks less of him as a person.

[–] Boromir (10126) 5 months ago

It's funny to call Suzanne submissive—she's really just shocked that anyone would dare to disobey her. If I remember correctly, she even claimed that no one had ever said 'no' to her before. It’s clear from the film that Larry needed to act decisively and assertively for Suzanne to take him seriously and actually listen to what he had to say.

I agree with the off-topic point that Larry was selfish for suggesting a new career path after only a year of marriage. It's too soon to talk about making adjustments due to financial or other constraints. He could have suggested she take on a part-time job to help with the household finances. On the other hand, I distinctly remember him asking her what she thought, and she simply said "I will think about it", and immediately plotted her revenge to kill him. She didn’t even try to have a conversation, so we never got to see how Larry would have responded.