MovieChat Forums > Inside Llewyn Davis (2014) Discussion > How Are People Still

How Are People Still

posted 9 years ago by Soodinum
4 replies | jump to latest

making this mistake?

There is no "change" with the cat in the end of the film. LD blocks the cat before it can get out, but this is not a nifty/deep change from the scene at the beginning when the cat escapes.

At the beginning, the cat escapes the morning AFTER he gets beaten up out the back of the club. At the end, he blocks the cat's escape BEFORE he gets to the club (where later, he is beaten up).

'Then' and 'than' are different words - stop confusing them.

[–] nystulc 9 years ago

Nonetheless, he gets beat up twice. The scene at the end is subtly different from the scene at the beginning, making it impossible for it to be the same scene. It's just that the same s*** keeps happening to him.

Jean: The same s*** is going to keep happening to you. Because you want it to.
Llewyn: Is that why?
Jean: And because you're an ***hole .....

[–] Soodinum 9 years ago

Ridiculous. It's the same beating by the same guy. Of course there are differences. In many films where a scene is repeated, it contains some differences. Not EVERY director goes for an exact copy at that point. It's a legitimate and long attested reality that a repeated scene can have some differences for whatever reasons the director wants.

'Then' and 'than' are different words - stop confusing them.

[–] nystulc 9 years ago

Ridiculous. It's the same beating by the same guy.

Same guy? Sure. That's why Llewyn says "au revoir" (French for "till we meet again"). But the guy just said (again) that he was leaving this cesspool and never coming back. So why did Llewyn expect to meet him again? Because this has happened before, that's why.

It's deliberately surreal.

Of course there are differences. In many films where a scene is repeated, it contains some differences.

Here, there are so many differences it must be deliberate. Like the guy standing in an entirely different location (instead of leaning against the wall) when he says a certain line. Like dialogue getting omitted in continuous shots with no cuts. Like Llewyn ending his performance with a different song.

And the final "au revoir" clinches it.

[–] DoctorShemp 9 years ago

Ok there's no way you can argue that the two beatings were LITERALLY different occassions. That would be insane. Clearly the way the beginning/end scenes are portrayed is simply designed to spark discussion, and is ultimately more metaphorical/surreal than literal