MovieChat Forums > The Limey (1999) Discussion > A movie based on a relationship you dont...

A movie based on a relationship you dont see...

posted 20 years ago by MrPureCinema
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I’ve only watched a quarter of this film so far so I may be wrong in the judgement that the movie is based on Wilsons love for Jenny and we never SEE their relationship.

For their relationship to have any emotional value, for us to be on wilsons side, to empathize with him its crucial that we SEE WHY we want him succeed in his revenge so much. If we care about Wilsons and Jennys relationship, we’ll care about wilson reaching his goal. But If you dont show his relationship with jenny then we are left flat and unemotional about wanting him to succeed.

This problem really bothered me the first quarter of the film. Hopefully they get to a flashback or some way of SHOWING the relationship so I care about Wilson getting his revenge for Jenny, otherwise I dont.

[–] TV Boy 16 years ago

I know I'm responding to a four-year-old post, but I just watched the film again last night. Here's what I got from it. Wilson was no Father Of The Year. He was a career criminal. Never put his daughter near the top of his priority list, and thus, didn't really have a relationship with her. In fact, his most vivid memory is her threatening to call the police on him. Avenging her death was kind of a cockeyed notion of finally being a "real" father. Protecting her. Loving her so much that he'd kill for her. It's rubbish, of course. By the film's end, he realizes the only thing he'd taught Jenny was to chase down father figures that were just like himself. In Valentine, Wilson sees a reflection of himself. Ultimately, discovering Jenny was a lost soul. Killing Valentine wouldn't help that.