MovieChat Forums > Still Alice (2015) Discussion > Did them being rich help or hinder this ...

Did them being rich help or hinder this story?

posted 10 years ago by Intothenightalone
64 replies | jump to latest

Movies are about struggle and conflict, and them having lots of money, nice beach houses, expensive tastes etc made it sorta less engaging. Don't get me wrong, I liked their lifestyle, but storytelling is about people who are in conflict with their world.

Their money made things a lot more "comfortable". Cellphones to leave reminders. Expensive doctors. Maids. Imacs to leave death messages/communicate with child.

I felt like I wanted some subplot about the money... maybe he's about to go bust and needs her to keep working. Maybe they want the daughter to give up on acting and help out, like the others are secretly doing (perhaps).

It could have been used as a device to talk about the fact that even "rich people" live paycheck to paycheck and being destitute is often only an illness away.

[–] ofuoku71 10 years ago

The fact that they were rich didn't take away from the fact that Alice had Alzheimer's.

[–] jondoe888 10 years ago

HELPED! Much more palatable, and easier to watch. Imagine this movie in a trailer park, or tenement. The same goes for '50 shades'...

[–] Intothenightalone 10 years ago

50 Shades of Gray - Trailer Park version... yeah, that wouldn't really be good.

[–] lilactime2014 10 years ago

Ooh, OP, I can hear bitterness and envy that only true socialism can bring. I thought being a top-notch University lecturer made it all the more poignant. She was a language Professor and, by the end, all she could say was a garbled "Love". Now much as I feel solidarity with you Brother for the redistribution of wealth to the masses, how would it have worked, that a top (senior) Professor married to another high-functioning intellectual would be poor? It is what makes the story. See, even really clever middle class achievers can be struck down. Fame, wealth and opportunity will not save you. The story would have lost half it's message if they showed it happening to people who remain poor through a series of bad luck and bad decisions.

"If you get this disease there is no hope, however well off you are" is a more powerful message than "If only I could afford insurance then I would be able to beat this disease" That's a different illness and a different film. Something like Grisham's "The Rainmaker".

'tler

[–] Melissaslist 10 years ago

You know I thought the same thing. I was surprised to have felt this way but I did. They had what most would agree to be an idyllic life. Beautiful family, beautiful home, beach house, amazing careers, kids with top notch educations...

Doesn't make it any less tragic, but I suppose the story might have been perceived as more powerful if the backdrop was the average family and how THEY would cope with this without the same financial resources. It was hard not to look at them initially and say "oh how awful it must be to have a blemish on your perfect lives. Welcome to the real world".
Of course it's no less tragic or devastating, but just answering the OP's question that I did feel it effected the story.

[–] jprahn01 10 years ago

I would not call them "rich." They still had to work. I think they were firmly upper-middle class. Rich is doing whatever, wherever, whenever you want because your money is working for you.

That said, I think they're economic status neither helped nor hindered the story.

[–] sage2112 9 years ago

I think you're describing "filthy rich". At least to me. "Rich" is a very relative term.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Intothenightalone 10 years ago

Why are you yelling?

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] rapzip1 10 years ago

Yes it did. They are not only upper class, but too rich for the story, "top 1%" people. Full Professors in their 50's at Columbia make $300k, and the Mayo Clinic job (Institution director level) makes 500k to 7 digit, in addition to the consulting or board memeber compensation from companies. It was too distracting.

[–] Yorick_Brown 9 years ago

How can one be too rich to tell a story about suffering from a terrible illness?

And these are self-made people anyway.

When the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?

-Benjamin Francis Leftwich

[–] Samuraibro 8 years ago

No one is "self-made".

[–] Yorick_Brown 8 years ago

Where do you get that idea?

We try but we didn't have long
We try but we don't belong...

-Hot Chip (Boy from School)

[–] andyd-1 10 years ago

it helped that they could have a medical diagnosis, presumably a poor US person wouldn't have got all those scans etc