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CalvinJarrett's Replies
I don't seem to remember any casseroles. I do recall her making fish for Cal and Conrad. Remember the "fish too dry" line? She made those homemade candy apples for the trick-or-treaters. She and her mother made sandwiches when her parents visited (or she, Calvin, and Conrad visited her parents). Oh, and she made French toast that she put down the garbage disposal because "you can't keep French toast."
I remember renting this movie sometime in the '90's. After the era of nuclear war panic films had passed. I had wanted to see what this genre had to offer. Not only was this movie the most hopeless film I'd ever watched I had to force myself to watch another movie in order to continue my hobby of film consumption. That's how bad I felt after watching Testament. I wasn't sure I could watch another movie - any movie, any genre. Happily, I enjoyed whatever I next viewed. Maybe it was a raunchy comedy? And I found my way back.
I think, yes, Allen was attempting to juxtapose Pearl's red dress and overall colorful attitude toward life against the family's blandness. But, beyond that, if you look back on 1978 "interiors," those color schemes were very accurate. Sure, people had earth tones in their '78 homes and apartments, but that was likely left over from 1974-77. If you were designing something new in 1978, and Eve was an interior designer, the color palette would look very much like the rooms in Interiors. They were wealthy New Yorkers/Long Islanders. They're not going to be living like it's 1974 in 1978. And when 1981 came around, I'm sure they swapped out all that furniture and repainted/wall papered their homes in the contemporary style of the early '80's.
I think that's the scene where Falk delivers that hilarious line, "Lady, take your hand off my hand."
Loved the party scene too. Done in a very cinema verite kind of way. I got a real kick out of the guy with glasses 'mansplaining' the rules of golf to a clearly uninterested female guest. He says something like, "If a player, his equipment, or [something else] comes in contact with the ball ... ," and the woman heads over to the buffet table completely unwilling to let this dork delay her from getting some of that carved ham (or whatever she had her eye on).
I think that's one truth that would not set anyone free. I think if she were to express that to Conrad it would only serve as an added impediment to their chance at a loving relationship. Conrad would always think that he is being loved by default and that if Buck were still alive she wouldn't give him the time of day. And he might be right.
They showed one scene in the beginning of the movie where Beth and Conrad tried to have a pleasant conversation with each other. Beth was wearing a brown suede jacket and she went outside to advise Conrad to put on a coat (or sweater) if he was going to relax on the patio furniture at that time of year. The two ended up having an awkward conversation mainly because they weren't taking the time to wait and listen to the other person or remember what the other just said. I always thought that the effort was there and that with practice they would end up not only loving but liking each other. They just needed practice. Sadly, with Beth leaving for Houston at the end of the movie, they may never get that chance.
You have to remember that Calvin's preceding line to Beth was, "He [Conrad] just wants to know that you don't hate him." Beth responds very defensively stating what she perceives as a truism, "Mothers don't hate their children." I think her brother was genuinely trying to support her. I don't think it was an "empty" gesture. He had the misfortune of choosing the wrong word "happy." Beth jumped all over that because she was feeling defensive again.
They may not "buy" that explanation, but they know enough about her personality not to pry any further and to accept her answer.