When she read the letter to the two brothers and said it mentioned Joshue, too, did she make that part up?
shareYes I believe she did to save his feelings, to allow him to feel included, it was what was needed at the time.
Just go with the flow like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream.
Yes, she used to lie, not to the upset the people very much.
shareYeah... she used to lie in a mean way. This time, if she is lying, she is doing it more out of love.
Personally, I have no idea whether she is lying or not!
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yes.
Didn't she leave the letter in the blue envelope on the table before she left? I took that to mean that she wasn't lying, since Josue could look at it after she left. Also, I think his name really was in the letter since it aided in her decision to leave as soon as she did. You can see she develped an affection for the boy. If his name was not in the letter she may have been more reluctant to leave, not knowing whether Josue was truly loved by the family.
shareyour mistaken in one way though, its not about the family to love him, cuz apart from the father and ana, they barely new his existance.......the father had gone and the brothers were nice people......
i think she lied to make him happy, but he called her bluff......i wasnt tht big a deal she thought cuz he gained a family nevertheless so she must have not bothered tht he'd kno the truth eventually.....
i think you guys are missing the point of the scene when she places the letters underneath the painting before she leaves, which i thought was remarkably powerful. if you recall from the beginning of the film, dora writes the endearment letter to be sent to jesus in her words because the mother could not find the words to express it herself. so in a sense, the letter in the white envelope is a lie. then, throughout the movie, you learn that dora is a nonchalant liar, and reluctantly takes on the role of uniting this family. this is clever because when josue asks dora in the end if she made up the part about the father wanting to reunite with the boy, you don't really know whether she is lying because of her character. but my reading is that it was a lie. in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if she made up the entire letter as she read it because it had the same naively romantic tone as the white letter.
there was so much powerful symbolism in the scene when she places the two letters side by side underneath the painting, as a way of suggesting that the family was united through dora's letters, written in her own words, as a way to rewrite the story of this family, and also as a way of rewriting her own past, because the lie is better than reality.
Beautifully said, gte411! I've watched this film a thousand times and reflected on every detail, and yet you've managed to gift me with new insight! It is very true that Dora desperately wants to believe that there can be such a good thing as a "good father." She evidently still loves and longs for her own father despite how poorly he treated her mother and her.
shareIt was a lie but the boy knew it as she realised that this new family needed to be together.
It's that man again!!
I think it's a lie, and at that point, the boy can tell when she's lying.
When he calls her bluff, she realizes she can now leave him, for her lies are no longer useful to him. She can no longer help him with them.