Change Your Image
Asmus Teis
Reviews
Ponette (1996)
The Ending (SPOILER)
You have to accept the ending on the child's terms. The entire film is spent at the child's level, so when the ending comes you have to believe in children's logic. Ponette doesn't see her mother coming back to life briefly as illogical, so neither should we. When you return to an adult's perspective, it is obviously a dream or a hallucination. It is quite natural for those who have lost a loved one to imagine that loved one returning in a dream state and telling you to move on, so I think it is quite realistic. I wish though that this was made more obvious; the ambiguity is a flaw. Perhaps it is for the children's audience; the ending is trying to work to both adults and children.
That little girl truly is amazing. She makes me want to see Chocolat again because she has a big role in that. Definitely a talent for the future!
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Was anyone else bothered by the way abortion was presented in this film?
When I saw this film a few years ago in the late 90's as a teen, I was floored by the irresponsibility that the teenagers in the film had in their approach to sex, and then especially with Jennifer Jason Leigh's character's nonchalance at having an abortion. I am a male, and thus cannot comment from personal experience, but I would think that the decision of whether or not to have an abortion would be a slightly bigger decision than it is to her in the film? Her conversation with the baby's father is as such: "I'm pregnant." "Whoa. I guess you're wanting an abortion?" "Yes. And I want you to pay half and drive me to the clinic." I also would think that the abortion itself would be more traumatizing than it is presented in the film; Leigh's character tells all her friends immediately what a b****rd that guy was for not driving her to the clinic. I don't consider myself to be sexist in any way, but I lose respect for a woman with such a nonchalant fatalistic approach to sex. Perhaps the book describes this better? I'm not sure. But I don't think the film sets a very good example.