MovieChat Forums > The Winslow Boy (1999) Discussion > Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton

Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton

posted 15 years ago by pmvk
6 replies | jump to latest

It is clear where this is leading up to, when these two characters first meet. Because of the way he is secretly watching her in his office, hiding at the door for a little moment. And because of the way she is watching him from the Ladies’ Gallery in the House of Commons. (At this moment she is about to eat an apple – another reference to the Bible: the apple as a symbol of sexuality.)

Suspense is created by the fact that a romance between them seems absurd and impossible: He is a conservative who spoke against women’s suffrage. She is 1) already engaged. 2) a suffragette fighting for women’s rights and reading left-wing literature 3) She has a very bad opinion of him: She considers him “an avaricious, a conniving and unfeeling man” who is “always speaking against what is right”.

A romance between them seems doomed before it gets a chance to start: When they first meet she is supposed to humbly apologize for the fact that they are late (that’s what her father wants her to do). She doesn’t. Instead of apologizing to Sir Robert, the first things she tells him is that she smokes (in those times women were not supposed to smoke; therefore the suffragettes did it). And she reproaches him with the fact that he prosecuted a man whom she considered innocent and who later committed suicide. She tries to provoke him by frankly showing him that in spite of his brilliant skills as a lawyer she does not at all think highly of him. He immediately understands and reacts in a rather cold and distant way, yet entirely keeping his cool.

[–] pmvk 15 years ago

In this film things are not always as they appear to be. It is about concealing things and unwillingly revealing them. The director wants us to permanently ask ourselves: What are their motives? What the hell is really going on there?

So why does Catherine Winslow behave like that in Sir Robert's office? It doesn't make any sense. They want to contract him as a lawyer (at least this is her father's wish who wants her to apologize for being late). Why does she provoke Sir Robert instead of trying to be nice and charming to make him take the brief?

I think that in this moment she is actually fighting against her own instincts, against the fact that she feels strongly attracted to him. When they shake hands and he passes close to her, she looks furtively down at his body and then her eyes follow him. The expression of her face stays a mystery.

I interprete her prickly behaviour against him as an unconscious effort to protect herself. She doesn't want to feel attracted to him because her better reason tells her that he has got a bad character, but most of all she must protect herself by all means against the humiliation of falling in love with him, because after all that she knows about him she can't expect him of all men to be interested in a woman like her.

[–] cmk-7 15 years ago

I think she's trying to show him that she's his equal in intelligence and to let him know that even though she knows he's a good lawyer, she disagrees with him on just about everything. Also, she sees him as someone who is only interested in what benefit taking a case will do for him.

On the other hand, I think he sees her as a daddy's girl dilettante who has never had to work a day in her life and who can afford to be involved in her "feministic activities" because she doesn't have to risk anything.

[–] pmvk 15 years ago

But what are her motives? They go to Morton's office because Mr. Winslow desperately hopes that Morton will take the brief and Catherine is supposed to politely apologize for being late. Her offensive behaviour only makes sense if she wants Morton to refuse the brief. That would be a lack of respect against her father and I don't think she would go that far. She probably doesn't do it on purpose but can't hide her antipathy because of Morton's political positions (and as an unconscious reaction against feeling strongly attracted to him). Anyhow in his office they behave like cat and dog and as if they couldn't stand each other.

It's interesting that the athmosphere between them has changed when they meet again in her father's house. There is a very subtle flirt going on between them. Why? She still thinks that he is an "avaricious, a conniving and unfeeling man".
I think she can't help feeling flattered that he noticed her presence in the House of Commons and that he makes her a compliment. She is not aggressive any more and it seems that, whatever her brains may think of him, the rest of her body rather likes him.

[–] cmk-7 15 years ago

I don't think she was trying to get him not to take the case. I think she was trying to show him that she was his equal and that she wasn't in awe of him the way everyone else seemed to be.

I think they each came in with preconceived notions about what the other was. She saw him as a hidebound conservative only interested in fame, glory and money and he saw her as someone who played at being radical just as long as it didn't interfere with her life of relative ease. In the end, I think they both saw they were wrong about each other.

[–] rebkad 14 years ago

Yes, she was trying to impress him, to make sure he knew he couldn't take them for a ride. He has rarely been approached by a woman as an equal like that imo - he responds to it as an equal, but is also attracted to it.

[–] kaskait 8 years ago

I think that in this moment she is actually fighting against her own instincts, against the fact that she feels strongly attracted to him.

Oh she was attracted to him LONG before her brother's case. Remember when her father spoke about him, she was so quick to bad mouth him and knew his cases. She even threw that in Robert's face as well.

I think Catherine admired him from afar and also fretted about his anti-suffragette leanings with her friends. Of course, never thinking she would actually meet him. He is a Lord after all.

So it was surprising to her that he was attracted to her as much as she had been to him. It put her off her game and she comes across as more abrasive then she actually is in life. He KNOWS that too, her reluctance amuses him.