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SixOfTheRichest (61)
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Not necessarily. Some people just aren’t meant to be parents and not all mothers are maternal. Beth was in adoration with image.
Like you commented, it is a cold hard fact that favouritism is impossible to avoid. It’s about personality and parents do need be very careful, but it will still rear its biased head. That is just human dynamic and the nature of the beast.
What parents do need acknowledge, is that their children are only a reflection of themselves.
Beautiful and understated performance by Sutherland. A true master.
While Calvin may have been a little blindsided by Beth’s nature and a tragedy exposed all her fissures, what a blessing for any male to have a father like Calvin.
I find Beth sympathetic in the sense she couldn’t wholly acknowledge or take full accountability for her family situation.
It was implied by the character herself, when she was consulted by Sheila.
<blockquote>If you look beyond the gore, every seven pages required, you will see that this is a movie about women struggling for power in a man's world. She and I designed this ourselves as a reason to do it. Look closely: Michael Ironside is seen in quarter light in the first part, then half light, then full light. He represented the forces that were holding back women at that time.</blockquote>
VH is one of my favorite slasher thrillers from the era in which it was made. It delivered the goods in terms of suspense, atmosphere and violence. The film wasn't overtly graphic, yet it was protracted and disturbing violence. It made the violence ugly and terrifying and it takes a lot of skill to get this right.
I also feel the film could have also been trimmed by about 5mins in the editing room to tighten it up a little. This is a minor quibble though.
As far as your statement goes about writing the film to make a point about the struggle of women for power in a man's world is a bit of a stretch though. Are you inferring women want the same sort of power as men? This film is about a misogynist killer only and it was underdeveloped in representing Colt's resentment and only depicted this in some rather vague flashbacks. All I can make out of it, and I have seen the film umpteen times, is that Colt begrudged his mother for throwing hot oil on his father and for leaving them.
Taking on the domestic violence theme is also not indicative of how most men treat women and while Deborah was fighting for justice for an abused woman at the start, it hardly conveyed any profound or nuanced ideology about abused wives and what they should get away with to get out of the toxic relationships.
Deborah Ballin was a headstrong and feisty woman. Grant acted the part very well, but the film is still veneer and ultimately only a horror suspense film made for shock value, nothing more, nothing less.
<blockquote>The speech the husband makes to her at the end is brutal. I don't blame her for leaving.</blockquote>
Beth was being blamed for being the way she was. She got called out and by the only person that could do it to her.
She left because her husband fell out of love with her. He finally saw what she was doing, in other words, she was a narcissist who couldn't cope with the truth and reality, nor able to process it in a way to see how damaging she had become to those close to her. It is subtle, but she was toxic.
<blockquote>And after all,responsibilities are as important as emotions.</blockquote>
Beth wasn't being responsible, because she allowed her family dynamic to crumble all around her after Buck's death. She didn't seem to comprehend that one son had died, another tried to deliberately die and all she cared about was her image as though she could control everything that happens around her.
I don't feel you understood Beth's character. She wasn't a horrible person, but she couldn't really love, well not in the way her husband could. It took a lot of courage for Calvin to express what he did to Beth. The irony is here, Calvin told her he didn't love her anymore. He fell out of love with her.
His surviving son's own state of mind was more important to him and it should have been to Beth as well. It wasn't!
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