Am I the only one who thought it was little funny?
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marrnatalie — 19 years ago(June 18, 2006 01:49 AM)
i guess some people will find elements of it very darkly humourous, but i personally found scenes like where she puts the glass in the girl's pocket very sad more than anything, that Erika feels she has to do this, and she feels that a punishment like that will help her and make her feel better. I think that whole scene as well as being pivotal to the story itself (due to the scene that follows) is very disturbing because Walter knows what she has done, yet transforms it into her love for him and immediately chases after her, not bothered at all about the other girl now.
One part i couldn't help but to giggle at was after they have met each other in the bathroom and Walter runs and springs about like a little kid and slaps Erika's cheeks, even though this is pretty sad and cruel too, and just highlights his arrogance, while Erika is just this little fragile thing standing alone in the toilets, and then of course he yells something along the lines of 'you'll get better next time' excuse my quote.
I think Haneke uses comic moments like this to really make his audience feel uncomfortable, as he does in his other films. Try 'Funny Games' if you haven't seen it alreayd, which is so brutal and cruel yet so funny in places at the same time, which makes you feel pretty sick with yourself afterwards. Haneke makes the viewer feel like they are always on the side of the torturers, which is deeply disturbing. -
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acekas — 17 years ago(March 08, 2009 11:06 AM)
Ok, as far as I could understand, the guy never came! Erika did turn him on, but stopped just short of him coming, and then asked him to put it away! Hence the discomfort, hence the jumping around trying to get the "thing" down. He said "It'll be better next time; practice makes it perfect." Practice of being teased and then left with an erection.
The movie, I thought, resembled real life so closely. The guy encounters something he doesn't understand, and he shuns it. "You need treatment", "You stink", and what not. That was a bit uncalled for. He didn't understand her perversion, he wasn't comfortable with it, he could have just told her so, and left her; he had no reason to insult her the way he did. But that is never what happens in life. you come across something strange, you have to burn it on the stake, so to speak. Well, yeah, I understand his love was hurt, but that didn't justify his behaviour. But I guess that is how people behave.
He came back to her, I don't think it was love which brought him back; neither his sexual desires which had arisen upon seeing her perversion. It was his hate which brought him back, the need for revenge for what had been done unto him. Haah
Well, that is how I could interpret it.
Funny? Naah, I didn't find it all that funny.I could see the woman's frustrations all through the ones which were driving her crazy, leading her to do the "funny" acts she did. -
ingemund — 19 years ago(September 21, 2006 09:14 AM)
I was going to post about this but I'm glad other people have already
I kept finding bits of it funny, and I'm willing to accept that this is because I've been desensitized to certain forms of violence, which might have been one of the things the director wanted us to realize.
But I got the feeling that it was OK to laugh about it a little. It's interesting that I wasn't alone in feeling this. -
naicirk — 19 years ago(October 01, 2006 11:49 AM)
I, too, found this film to be comical, if not hilarious. The first time I saw it at the cinema, I left giggling. I did not find the film to be disturbing either, mainly because I have lived with a family just like that; the difference was that it was a single mother and her two daughters. This mother that I knew slept with her youngest daughter, who was seventeen, and was suspiciously effusive when displaying her love to her daughter publicly. I was unaware that this was taking place until I got an eyeful quite by accident.
Seeing this film was, in a way, a source of comic relief: sometimes it can be utterly amusing to see how far humans will go to be mentally skewed and dysfunctional for the sake of inspiring pity in others. That is how I interpreted the filmand the novel of course. Yes, everything she does to her students and to Walter is cruel and a reflection of the abuse she endures at home, but luckily, not all people choose to be sociopaths. And what she does to herself is priceless! I need not mention the infamous bathtub scene, but the scene that ellicited the most laughter from me was the ending. She walks back home bleeding and staining her concert attire. How ridiculous and pettish is that?
Also, Haneke stated in an interview that this film is supposed to be funny because the spectators can see an aspect of themselves in Erika. Hmmm -
fuchsiasattic — 17 years ago(January 28, 2009 08:47 PM)
The only part I found myself laughing at (and i feel kind of bad for laughing at it!!) was at the end. (SPOILER ALERT, JUST IN CASE PEOPLE HAVEN'T SEEN THIS!!!!) right before she stabbed herself, it just came out of nowhere.she had the strangest look on her face. And I can only imagine that somebody would make such a face before they stabbed themselves, I think it was just so out of character after seeing her face so stone the whole thing, and then she makes this weird goofy expression out of the blue
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bothwell-4 — 17 years ago(February 14, 2009 12:40 PM)
It did make me laugh as well. I spent several minutes throughout the film giggling to myself and going "wtf? she's a loony!"
It wasn't really disturbing to me either, probably because I'm used to Japanese horror films and I've read stuff like Justine by de Sade and The Story of O, so none of it was completely new. One thing that was interesting was its display of what's sort of the same effect as in the Stanford prison experiment, and how easily 'normal' people can slip into the role of abuser, given the right conditions. So it was interesting, but it was also very, very funny in places. -
GleamingMemory — 17 years ago(March 04, 2009 02:15 PM)
I didn't think it was funny at all - I did find a certain dignity (and sadness, yes) in Huppert's character at the end when she stabs herself. She does it with such assurance and conviction. It was almost as though she was saying, "I'll destroy myself before I ever give you the opportunity to destroy me first!"
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Ras-Al-Gul — 16 years ago(September 11, 2009 06:04 AM)
The 'funnyness' comes out when observing how 'the amant' is becoming increasingly exasperated with the behavior of his 'beloved'. When looking at her in isolation her actions are chilling (well, except for the sniffing of the spunked tissues in the pornbooth).
Most hilarious though, was her untimely escape over the ice with her skirt on her ankles, that was priceless
In this sense Haneke fully succeeded in his intention to make the viewer feel uneasy with his own reactions to the experiences of the main characters. Especially the end scene, when she is stabbing herself is pure horror. It is to the credit of the marvelous actress Isabelle Huppert that Haneke pulled of this script.
"Your focus determines your reality" -
tigerbos — 16 years ago(November 06, 2009 09:21 PM)
Yes I thought it was a rip roaring barrel of laughs, that's for sureparticularly the part where she vomits after he's laid on top of her with his dk down her throat. I'm sure there's plenty of women out there who felt like vomiting after a guy has stuck his ck in her mouthyippy yi yay ya'llnow you know how most women really feel about it and it's there in all it's glory for all to see!
A lot of alliteration from anxious anchors placed in powerful posts! -