Eva was never allergic to being a mother of course. Going on, she again asks the question of responsibility and says, "I don't know. The kind of clothes one chooses is also indicative of ones social status. One may ask how one of the main instincts of every living thing, the need to reproduce, could be frightful. ", Did Kevin internalize her hatred of him, or is she just feeding into his innate instability? Maybe everything else is intended to be a flashback, and the timeline begins when she finds out what Kevin did at his high school. A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the relationship between a mother and her evil son. The film loops in time, proceeding mostly chronologically, with some dips forward and backward. Despite his crime, she sells the house to pay the legal fees, moves closer to the prison so she can visit him, and continues to support him. The film ends with the emotionally blank mother visiting her son on the second anniversary of his crimes, just before he's transferred to an adult prison. At one point, she mockingly coos at him, "Mommy was happy before little Kevin came along. This comes to a head when Kevin has learned that pooping his pants is the quickest way to his mother's heart, and the time she shows him the most attention - but that attention is always disgust. Kevin and Eva look similar, and in many scenes, Kevin and Eva wear similar clothes. When he breaks his arm? Kevin is seen at three ages. We gather she didn't want to get pregnant, isn't sure why she's married, is a mother who tries to mask hostility with superficial kindness. We Need to Talk About Kevin Jump to Edit Summaries Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. Directed by Lynne Ramsey It is a world where any attempts to offer a message of mercy, conversion and redemption must be done deftly and authentically, because at the end of the day, sometimes the community wont rally around you and more often than not Mr. Potter carries the day. ROHAN: Since Jentorra and most of her freedom fighters make it out alive, have you heard anything about coming back for more Quantum Realm adventures down the line? Franklin himself lives in a state of demented decency, deceiving himself that his family are living acceptable lives. It is true that there is nothing unusual about giving birth to children in order . For instance, the ball game Eva plays with a toddler Kevin: when Kevin successfully rolls the ball back to her, her praise is strained and brittle. Site Map | So, you kind of draw from that, but then, you also think about just putting yourself in that position too. Eve disobeyed, she ate the apple and she was punished by becoming not only human but also a mother. Kevin poops in his pants, and thinking this act to be deliberate, Eva throws him to the ground, breaking his arm. The film moves without any pattern between past, present and who knows when. Besides their physical likeness, Eva and Kevin also share a certain coldness, which plays into Eva's self-hatred. it's difficult to accept why Eva keeps visiting her son in jail, at one point even asking why he did it. It must be something like this to have a nervous breakdown. Swinton is excellent as Eva, the reluctant mother tormented by her psychopathic son, and director Lynne Ramsay handles the disjointed time structure well, but that's about all I can commend about it. Keep your comments focused on the film. Shortly after, Eva goes back to the house. There are several red flags in the movie that indicates Kevins volatile dispositions, but an accurate diagnosis is not possible. ROHAN: You're on a cast with Paul Rudd, David Dastmalchian,William Jackson Harper, and so manyfunny people. He proves it when he poops himself twice in a row and she breaks his arm in a fit of rage, what he calls, "The most honest thing you ever did to me." Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. What makes this all worthwhile is the fact that Tilda Swinton is simply an astonishing actress who can bring off anything. Ultimately what it winds up giving us is perhaps the most important truth of Christianity, namely that God is the hope to be found in the midst of the smoke and ashes. Not sure I get the fuss about this one. Was he acting out to punish Eva? Hes a friendly and vibrant young priest and a gifted preacher. From the beginning, Eva is detached from motherhood. So, I think TV being as fast paced as it is, and as kind of chaotic as it can be, it doesn't always set you up for being able to walk into a film where you've had plenty of time to look into everything and prepare. The colour red is a recurring motif in the film. ROHAN: Was there anything major cut that you remember shooting? Rather, Ramsay's film is an extended treatment of the optics of grief and guilt. When Eva gets pregnant for the second time, Kevin feels that he has become estranged from the family and grows jealous. Lionel Shriver's source novel is a quirky, disturbing take on the high school killer story. Speaking with O'Brian following the film's release, she shared her experience on working on the biggest project of her career and how she and director Peyton Reed crafted an elaborate backstory for the leader of the rebellion. Go do something. It was definitely a challenge to play the straight character to these guys, but it was also kind of like, okay, this is my role. While we are not sure whether Kevin consumed the eye itself, we know from the book that Kevin keeps Celias glass eye as a souvenir after assailing her. I got to try some fight choreo, but all in all, yeah, it helped me prepare, I will say I was much more excited to be a good guy instead of a lame, side character, bad guy. The novel by Lionel Shriver relates the story through a series of letters Eva writes to her husband Franklin. He completely denies the reality of Kevin's personality and identity, and thus any agency over their relationship. Ramsay simulates these associative memories, jumping back and forth between the past and the present. The moments of Grace are, as they should be, not in moments like the dinner scene but in the unexpected. Ramsay builds on Shriver's idea of internalised blame with how Eva sees herself following the tragedy. The cast ensemble, with Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, and Ezra Miller in a menacing role, cannot be praised enough. An important film that attempts to delve into the psychology behind the high school massacres we seem to read about in the news on a weekly basis. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver. The light outside disappears. However, we dont really know why Kevin kills his family. As a baby and toddler, he is merely colicky, irritating and would try the patience of a saint. We Need to Talk About Kevin is already playing in NYC; it opens today in LA, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix and is rolling out nationwide. Her emotional state doesnt change even when Kevin is born. But by the time he is a seven year-old, he starts to act in ways that seem in excess of whatever defects in mother love he may be getting. Children seldom get that attention, though. Haunted by the past, Eva's memories are triggered by sounds, objects and everyday minutiae. Now I'm not so sure." Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. She frames Eva's discomfort against overjoyed mothers showing off their baby bumps in a pre-natal yoga class. Her only crime was perhaps hurrying into the role before she was ready. Some of the content presented on our sites has been provided by fans, other unofficial websites or online news sources, and is the sole responsibility of the source from which it was obtained. Being a child somehow means they're inherently innocent. Matters worsen when she becomes pregnant with a daughter. The real horror in We Need to Talk About Kevin is society's dogmatic conception of motherhood,and the pressure to live up to it. KATY: It was really different, obviously, than the comic book version. His attitude towards his son is warmer, but underneath there's no more depth than there is with Eva. The flaws of this largely overwrought story belong not so much to Ramsay as filmmaker as to Shriver's source novel. I think Jentorra felt a little betrayed by her, and there was no real reconciliation with them at the end. 1 'Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum' (2018) Image via Showbox. The film opens to the sounds of sprinklers tch-tch-ing, before the first shot reveals a half-open patio door whose curtains are wafting with the wind. To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right. How difficult was it to play the straight woman when everyone around you gets to be fairly silly in the early scenes? for disturbing violence and behavior, some sexuality and language, Berlinale 2023 Highlights, Part Two: Reality, Manodrome, The Adults, Inside, Golda, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson Feted at SBIFF 2023, Revisiting Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Tragically Common: Jamie Dack, Lily McInerny and Jonathan Tucker on Palm Trees and Power Lines. It seems that Kevin wears old and small clothes to bring her mothers neglect to the worlds attention. We cling to guidelines like the length of Tilda Swinton 's hair to figure out where we are. Kevin replies that he thought he knew why but now hes not sure anymore. The condition causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech. Despite the fact that Eva is a travel writer of particular renown, she is bound by an understanding of mother/child relationships that do not correspond with her own relationship with her son. In We Need to Talk about Kevin, Eva is literally on trial for parental negligence. Fun Fact: Ezra Miller is not a great person, Did not expect Steve Brule to be Kevin's father, can't help thinking how twisted but how well so much of this film would work with a laugh track [2]. This terrifying South Korean found footage horror movie directed by Jung Bum-shik follows an internet broadcaster who reunites a team of . In the next sequence, he appears in a loose white shirt. Thats the underlying message of We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lynne Ramseys remarkable allegory on the transcendent nature of relationships. So, seeing Kathryn, to me, her character Cassie was just someone who didn't understand the reality of the situation. Kevin was never the apple of his mothers eye, which he realized from early childhood. Therefore, when Kevin shows Eva the scar from the childhood accident, he tells her that it is the most honest thing that Eva ever did to him. Be respectful! For instance, post-partum depression similar to hers is very common and probably didn't do as much damage as she ascribes to it. Kevin's killings, meanwhile, are the absent, invisible center of Ramsay's film. KATY: Oh, I'd love to come back. Now, mommy wakes up every morning and wishes she was in France! Try refreshing this page.If the problem persists, contact our support contact our support For the first portion of the film, the leaps back and forth in time caused needless confusion. She finally gets her excuse to abandon Kevin but doesn't act on it. Therefore, the sense of clothing provides a link between the otherwise antagonistic mother and son. His reply: "You don't want to kill your audience.". Is it possible for her to move on from something so traumatic? Powered by WordPress.com VIP. If this were an act of self-penance it might make sense, but there's no real sense Eva is doing it out of guilt either. Sometimes Zuzu's petals are all you have to hold onto. Eva's point of view is obviously not reliable, and her segments are intended to portray that she's entered a cycle of deep self-abuse over having raised a psychopath. The ending of the film leaves Eva's fate up in the air. Don't use this space to complain about the average rating, chart position, genre voting, others' reviews or ratings, or errors on the page. She has a career as a writer put on hold, while her husband Franklin (O'Reilly, at his most oblivious) carries on. The truth to motherhood is a harsh one. What is lupus, an autoimmune disease diagnosed in Selena Gomez causing her weight gain? She mentions that she believes he'll be released in five years. The red paint of vandals stains her car and the front of her house. However, the story's unflinching refusal to provide answers for who was responsible carries over. It's why vandals paint Evas house in red, and neighbours take out their anger on her. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver plays with the deepest fears of the majority of people. Did you work with her individually on creating some of that dynamic since Jentorra is someone that's been in this fight a long time versus Cassie who is just beginning her fight against Kang? Go. This review of the film was originally published on December 22, 2011. I bring what is actually happening and the severity of what's actually happening to level out, I guess, this part of the movie, because on the other side, you got Kang and Janet are being very, very serious too on that side of things. Swinton told me of a line in the script that wasn't used, wisely, I believe. The camera zooms in, but the scene cuts just before we can get a peek on what's on the other side of it. Does she ever. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined. Neither parent punishes him or seeks outside help, leaving him to his own devices. And of course from there, we learn he perpetrates a mass killing at a school. We Need to Talk about Kevin in fact needs to be talked about, as what it is attempting to do by marrying the darkest, most nihilistic components of contemporary cinema with a redemptive message is groundbreaking. KATY: Yeah, I was so jealous, because I really loved it. With his shaggy hair buzzed off and scars covering his pale face, Kevin avoids her eyes and replies, "I used to think I knew. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a. In a film otherwise devoid of hope, these subtle suggestions give the audience a sense of comfort. Only with her because his father was at work whole day and saw his son for like an hour a day. Plus, she also touches on a potentially big deleted scene that would've seen her cross paths with Krylar (Bill Murray) and teases possible beef with Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). He answers, I used to think I knew why, and now Im not so sure. This small act of hesitant humility is followed by Kevins embrace of his mother which can only be likened to the embrace received by that infamous scriptural progeny upon his arrival home. We Need to Talk About Kevin : r/books. Outward appearances of mother and son match their steely interiority as neither suffers fools gladly and both abhor artifice and sentimentality. There have been a lot of discussions nature vs. nurture, but I've been thinking she was not ok during pregnancy, usually postpartum depression starts after birth. Genres: Psychological Drama, Family Drama. While she's on the run when we meet her, it's the arrival of Scott (Paul Rudd) and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) that brings her right back into the thick of the action. See production, box office & company info. None of this is done in a straightforward fashion. Votes are used to help determine the most interesting content on RYM. All logos and images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies. Eva believes that some defect of maternal affection had something to do with Kevin's development. edition that "We Need to Talk About Kevin" asks an explicit question, "Yet I hope that this question is no more resolved in the book than crude oppositions like 'nature vs. nurture' are ever reconciled in real life.". He is loving and affectionate with his father, Franklin (John C. Reilly), and has a way of making it clear that it's a deliberate charade designed only to hurt Eva. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined. The point here is not to understand Kevin at all. She obviously feels complicit and takes on the role of communal scapegoat as a way to expiate her own guilt as well as to grieve the loss of her family. Artifice and sentimentality something like this to have a nervous breakdown take out their anger her. Into Eva 's self-hatred loops in time, Kevin feels that he thought he why! 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