861 45 Years

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
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cdnchris
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Re: 861 45 Years

#26 Post by cdnchris » Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:06 pm

Now I have to go back to and read it again when I get home but I took her more as saying it's not obvious what the significance of the sound is until later, not necessarily what the sound is.

bakofalltrades
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Re: 861 45 Years

#27 Post by bakofalltrades » Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:39 pm

cdnchris wrote:Now I have to go back to and read it again when I get home but I took her more as saying it's not obvious what the significance of the sound is until later, not necessarily what the sound is.
I think you're both kinda right. I gather that she may not have immediately recognized the sound during the credits, but it became clear during the scene. After "rhythmic clicks" and "unidentified sounds," she ends the paragraph with, "Those clicks, it turns out, prefigure a watershed discovery that will shatter the assumptions of at least one of these two about the foundations of their companionable marriage."

Admittedly, that was my experience as well. It wasn't until the scene happened that I pieced it together with what I heard during the opening credits. (It's been a very long time since I've heard a slide projector.)

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Re: 861 45 Years

#28 Post by cdnchris » Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:57 pm

Yes, that sounds correct. Again, need to re-read it, but I believe that's how it played out: not sure what the sound is at first, but only realize the significance of the sound later on.

As to the film, there is one aspect I took a bit of an issue with:
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The revelation that Katya was pregnant was a real punch-in-the-gut moment, probably one of the more intense moments I've experienced from a film in the last few years. But almost immediately after I had to question that. Unless I'm confused about timelines or I misunderstood what happened to her, did Katya really try climbing a mountain when she was pregnant (and she looked to be at least halfway through)? I guess Katya could have been in incredible shape but that doesn't sound like it would have been pleasant. I asked my wife and she sort of mockingly laughed at the idea of doing that, though admitted climbing a mountain wasn't her idea of a good time anyways.

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Re: 861 45 Years

#29 Post by swo17 » Wed Mar 08, 2017 2:20 pm


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Roscoe
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Re: 861 45 Years

#30 Post by Roscoe » Wed Mar 08, 2017 2:37 pm

bakofalltrades wrote:After "rhythmic clicks" and "unidentified sounds," she ends the paragraph with, "Those clicks, it turns out, prefigure a watershed discovery that will shatter the assumptions of at least one of these two about the foundations of their companionable marriage."
Thanks for pointing that out -- I guess it's a sign of my age that I knew right away what that sound was.

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Re: 861 45 Years

#31 Post by bakofalltrades » Wed Mar 08, 2017 3:28 pm

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Glacier Guides' website has this to say on glacier climbs/tours while pregnant: "This is, of course, a personal choice, we have often had pregnant women on our trips and we have also gladly refunded our guests that had booked well in advance of finding out the happy news." And, well, who am I to argue with a quote from Glacier Guides?

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Re: 861 45 Years

#32 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:40 am

I know this is based on a different source, but after watching the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode The Crystal Trench, the resemblances in plot points and ideas are uncanny even if organized differently. It feels like someone watched that ep, switched some variables around and made a story with similar themes out of it albeit with (obviously) a different tone, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was an indirect inspiration.

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dustybooks
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Re: 861 45 Years

#33 Post by dustybooks » Thu Mar 25, 2021 12:29 am

Just revisited this for the third time.
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The slide projector scene in the attic is absolutely one of the most effectively eerie and emotionally crushing moments I can recall in a modern film. I have found it more and more difficult to watch each time (four counting when I listened to the commentary) and feel a sense of impending dread before it happens. This isn’t a thriller, despite the uncanny Hitchcock connection twbb mentions, but I think it joins Hitchcock’s canon of non-supernatural ghost stories, like Vertigo and Rebecca, thanks to this scene. The rest of the movie doesn’t lean into that tone at all but I think that choice works tremendously well. The manifestation of “youthful” emotions and jealousies in much older adults is so smartly realized by the script and the actors, as is the tendency toward platitudes and superficial presentation of contentment in the massive party sequence at the end. I think it’s such an elegant, haunting film.

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