remember the mentions of someone stalking the younger sister. sent her a letter that they made a reference to when she went to the post office. further the guy is seen bothering her after one of her classes?? in any case this 'red herring' was not followed up, suggesting there was more to this movie that ended up on the cutting room floor. any thoughts???
shareNa , It wasn't the post office at all but the place where uni teachers get their mail (like private mail box for everything university related)
and he was not a stalker but rather a very inept student who couldn't actually made it into year 2 of uni after 3 attempts.
One of the deleted scene on the DVD is that very student having a meeting with Léa about his grades complaining and all and her receiving the call from her doctor friends ( which is an alternate version of the doctor's call in the movie)
I think that type of harassment is an occupational hazard for teachers and university lecturers. When not particularly intelligent or motivated students and their parents have a sense of entitlement because they believe that their child is "special" and is being unfairly treated.
I think it was just to give us a sense of what she had to deal with in her daily life at work just like the scene where they are grading papers. All part of being an academic - probably the most mundane but necessary part.
Ignorance never settles a question
Benjamin Disraeli
I was annoyed at this subplot too--I didn't understand its purpose and it painted the younger sister in a very unflattering light. She wouldn't even talk with the student, it seems. Upon reflection, this movie is really about isolation and the difficulties of understanding another's life and troubles. No one can really understand Lea's or Juliette's life, even as Lea tries to reach out to her sister. And Lea in turn makes no effort (or can't understand) why this student fails so often, and she spurns his efforts to talk with her (just as her sister at first refuses to respond to Lea's efforts to converse).
Hope this is clear. I might be reading too much into it, but the student was a repeated presence in the film. He's not just there to show how complicated her life is--his life might be pretty complicated, too. Is he removed from his family and friends? He needs help. What might he do, out of desperation? She is not there for him, just as she wasn't there for her sister (or wasn't allowed to help her sister).
I think that the Bamakalé sub-plot is supposed to demonstrate that Léa is not the perfect saint that she could be mistaken for based on the rest of the film. I agree that it is not the strongest part of the movie.
shareI like what she tells Bamakalé over the phone: "Computers don't lie."
Cold...