MovieChat Forums > The Hours (2003) Discussion > Was Richie 'abused' at the babysitters h...

Was Richie 'abused' at the babysitters house?

posted 13 years ago by LarryLestersBuns
17 replies | jump to latest

I've seen "The Hours" many times and every time in the scene when Laura leaves Richie at the babysitter, something seems off. I mean, he REALLY doesn't want to stay there. He gets hysterical when shes pulling away, the lady is manhandling him on the staircase and on the car ride back he is really quiet. Perhaps Im reading too much into it, but did the lady seem like she was hiding something when she was talking to Laura after he'd made a beeline for his mother when she came back? I think maybe I am reading too much into it. Something just seemed really wrong. His reaction was a bit unusual for a little boy whose mother was simply going off to run errands. Maybe she left him all the time and the feeling of abandonment was already affecting him. We don't know since this depicts one day in her life. Either way, the Richard character was heartbreaking. The way they flipped between his childhood and adult years was a bitter contrast, especially when he kills himself, a dying broken man eaten by his hatred and regret, and then it switches back to when he was an innocent child having dinner with his parents and listening to his father dote on Richie's mother. This movie was so powerful.

What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It was death. I chose life.

[–] Wardman3 13 years ago

Interesting angle, and I have questioned it too. However, I feel that it is not the case. I think Richie is just so intuitive and that he knows his mother is about to kill herself. This is why he doesn't want to leave her side. He is so attached to her and seems to know her moods.

[–] LarryLestersBuns 13 years ago

Perhaps that is why there are so many moments when he is staring at her or when he said, "mom, I love you" in the car out of nowhere. It was so evident that he loved his mother, even though he died hating her. Such a sad contrast.

What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It was death. I chose life.

[–] Wardman3 13 years ago

I agree. I am not the weepy type ( a guy thing lol) However, the scene where he is screaming "mommy" and Laura crying in the car really gets to me every time.

[–] LarryLestersBuns 13 years ago

That whole scene gets me - Richie screaming for his mom, the notion (seeing this the first time) of what she is about to do, us thinking she is saying goodbye to Richie for the last time. The one part that chokes me up every time is when she turns her back on Richie and starts crying, but she turns to wave at him with a smile on her face so that he won't see how upset she is.

What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It was death. I chose life.

[–] Afilmman 13 years ago

I have seen the movie several times and read the book twice. There is never any mention of the baby sitter abusing him and it would be really a reach since that has nothing to do with what the story is about and would just serve to muddle it.

Richie grows up to be a poet and so he is very intuitive. In his very young mind, he realized that something isn't all there with his mom and somehow can sense that she won't be around for long. Add to that the fact that he is four, at that age, your mother is your whole world and he is very attached to her. I never once thought that Mrs. Latch (Love that name for a baby sitter. Probably just me) was diddling little Richie behind the scenes.

[–] Wardman3 13 years ago

I didnt think so either, but I did entertain the thought but I never though he was being abused. I did quickly understand Richie's intuitiveness. I was a very precocious child and was completely aware of things that most 4, 5 , 6 year olds would not know. I was the youngest and I, too, was extremely close to my mother and was always in tune to her moods. I completely empathize with the young Richie.

[–] ruffian82 13 years ago

No, he just "knew" something was off with her from the moment he awoke that morning. What a wonderful and terrible time the aftermath of WWII was for the world. Too long to go into here, but for some of the older members of the board, I wish you'd tell me:

-with all the grief, tragedies, ironies, ration books, danger, was the rest of your life an anti-climax or the chance to be born again into a second chance?

-Imagine being empowered as a woman just twenty years after we finally got the vote, told how bright we were, how strong we were, how we kept the Allies going; only to be told over and over again upon the mass return of soldiers to forget all the strength and ability to make decisions on our own that we'd learned, and make sure that our men felt they came home to what they had fought for. What that what they fought for, for half the population to forget their skills and earning ability, so be suddenly ashamed if they went to work, or to realize they would shame their husband?

-Imagine being told to shrink back into a little woman, a woman who needed to ask her husband not because they needed to consult as lovers and lifelong mates, partners, but because "he understands these things better than I do." Not a decade before, they were turning out planes at a rate we can't seem to duplicate.

[–] mrsgeny 12 years ago

Wow, ruffian82. That's one of the most insightful posts I've read. I never thought of post WWII era this way. And I work in the "Empowerment" fields.
Thank you.

About Richie being abused by the babysitter, I also find this highly improbable. These scenes convey poignantly the torment and anguish he feels for being abandoned by his mother. We can imagine what happened in the minutes, hours, years after she left for good... indeed we saw the result.

[–] TracesOfLove 12 years ago

"No, he just "knew" something was off with her from the moment he awoke that morning. What a wonderful and terrible time the aftermath of WWII was for the world. Too long to go into here, but for some of the older members of the board, I wish you'd tell me:

-with all the grief, tragedies, ironies, ration books, danger, was the rest of your life an anti-climax or the chance to be born again into a second chance?

-Imagine being empowered as a woman just twenty years after we finally got the vote, told how bright we were, how strong we were, how we kept the Allies going; only to be told over and over again upon the mass return of soldiers to forget all the strength and ability to make decisions on our own that we'd learned, and make sure that our men felt they came home to what they had fought for. What that what they fought for, for half the population to forget their skills and earning ability, so be suddenly ashamed if they went to work, or to realize they would shame their husband?

-Imagine being told to shrink back into a little woman, a woman who needed to ask her husband not because they needed to consult as lovers and lifelong mates, partners, but because "he understands these things better than I do." Not a decade before, they were turning out planes at a rate we can't seem to duplicate."

I'm not older but from my point of view is that this happens over and over in slightly altered ways. Like the 70's feminist movement was wiped out by the 80's and changed the true ideals of feminism and turned it into something more hateful. Instead of women being stuck in the housewife role they are conditioned to be sex objects. And it's not just the women but men cannot be strong now either. I've seen men who are in just as bad shape as Laura Brown! And we are all being dumbed down through education, propaganda and entertainment.

...even in a valley without mountains the wind could still blow.

[–] PotassiumMan 11 years ago

Richie wasn't abused. He could just tell that something was very wrong his mother and when she left, he became frightened that he would never see her again.

[–] ashleythewriter 11 years ago

I think it's pretty obvious that he was just worried about his mother.

[–] bruno-32 10 years ago

Anyone recognized the baby sitter for Richie? it was Margo Martindale of "The Americans" and the other zany sitcom at CBS.."About The Millers", I think that was the title.

[–] catjoescreed 9 years ago

And the wonderful "The Riches".

[–] TheGoforth 10 years ago

Of course he wasn't abused - he intuited that his mother intended to commit suicide and was desperate to stop her.

[–] lukas1985 9 years ago

He was 3-4 years old. He didn't intuited that his mother intended to commit suicide.

If you love Jesus Lizard and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!

[–] catjoescreed 9 years ago

Remember that Richie corresponds to "the poet, the visionary" in Virginia Wolfe's novel - the one that has to die.

[–] TheKeel (104) 3 years ago

The thought occurred to me once, too, because those behaviors are typical of how abused kids respond, but I agree that he really just had an intuitive sense about his mother's various intentions. Kids are good at that.