Full Transcript for Notting Hill: Deep Thoughts About Fame, Disability Representation, and the Romance of Cringe-worthy Dialogue

00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:56.240 So, in part because Julia Roberts's Anna Scott is the more powerful, I'm putting quotes around that, of the two, which flips the usual gender dynamic. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.920 The kind of sexual relationship between these two characters, she leads. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:06.720 And that's sort of unusual for us to see even in even in movies. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:11.040 It's often the woman is being pursued in some way. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:19.279 And often in in this time frame in the late 90s, there was part of the pursuit often got kind of icky, you know, especially in in retrospect. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:30.879 And so, in that sense, that this movie misses some of the yuckiness of the late 90s because Julia Roberts is the more powerful of the two in the pairing. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:39.120 The montage that you remember with uh Ano Sunshine is one of several montages that I think are done really, really well. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:49.839 I think that the movie makers understood their medium in terms of storytelling and really used the montage, often paired with good music. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.519 They use a Elvis Costello version of the song She twice as well. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.600 That it's really, really well done, like really great storytelling. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:11.360 We have a beautiful model of love with the friend characters, and one of them is a wheelchair user, and that is important to the plot, but is not like that character's sole characteristic. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:17.040 And so I think that that also leads to really positive disability rep, if you will. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:26.160 What's not so good is that I think the Anna Scott is kind of toxic, and we're meant to sort of like overlook that. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.399 It maybe in part because she's a woman. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:40.639 We also, that line that we've already referenced several times, clearly Curtis was in love with that line because he made Julie Roberts say it, and then he made Hugh Grant repeat it, and it just isn't that good. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:50.879 So there are moments, especially dialogue that Julia Roberts has to say, that's just not good writing, which is disappointing in this film where there are other moments where they understand the medium so well. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:07:03.279 There's also the case talking about Anna being toxic, the one moment when Will, Hugh Grant's character, actually like defines some boundaries to protect himself, which I think is a healthy thing to do. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:08.879 The movie treats it as a huge mistake, and then that leads to the shenanigans that we all love watching. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.040 Those are some of the postcards. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:15.120 There's some other stuff that maybe we'll get to or maybe we'll save it for the shit we forgot to say. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:21.279 But let me remind you and our listeners of the basic plot, and then we can dig into some of those things. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:44.720 Our two protagonists are Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts, and the very first few moments of the film is a montage, as I said, to this Elvis Costello song that cuts red carpet, I think actual footage of Julia Roberts with her in character as Anna Scott to try and convey this idea that she is this mega superstar. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.199 And then we meet Will f William Thacker. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.519 He does a little bit of a voiceover as well. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:54.240 So Hugh Grants, William Thacker is just an ordinary middle class guy. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:08:01.839 He lives in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London, hence the name of the movie, and he owns a small bookstore. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:06.160 It's a travel bookstore, which apparently does, in fact, exist in Notting Hill. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:17.040 And I have always wondered about the business model because that seems so difficult to have, let alone have an employee. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:17.839 Yeah. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:24.639 Apparently it got sold fairly early in the 2000s because it was just too narrow a focus. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:27.600 So now it is a bookstore that does besides just travel. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.759 At least that's what the interrupt seem to tell me. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.839 Anyway, he owns this bookstore. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:33.519 It's a travel bookshop. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:38.559 One day, by chance, Anna Scott comes into the bookstore and buys some stuff. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:45.600 He is kind of falling all over himself because he's nervous, but he never acknowledges who she is in this exchange. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:52.080 She buys a book from him, and another customer does ask her for her autograph. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.399 But Hugh Grant's will like doesn't fall all over himself. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:56.960 He doesn't fall. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:02.480 He falls all over himself because he's awkward, not as like, oh, Anna, I love you so much. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:04.799 He doesn't do that that fans usually do to her. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.799 They run into each other again, quite literally, when he bumps into her and spills orange juice all over her. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:14.399 And he offers his home as a place for her to get cleaned up. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:16.480 They're thrown together again. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:22.960 And as she's leaving his place, she kisses him. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:29.200 And it's unclear to me why, except he is, you know, Hugh Grant, who's charming. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.399 And as I pointed out, he did not fall all over her. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:36.080 In that moment, I was watching carefully in this rewatch. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:43.279 She leans in and kisses him, and he accepts the kiss, but stays with his hands in his back pockets. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:47.120

So he is not escalating this intimacy at all. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.399 He's sort of taken by surprise and just like kind of lets it happen. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:52.960 Anyway, she goes, he thinks he's never gonna hear from her again. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:10:02.000 Turns out she calls him, and his ne'er duel weirdo flatmate, Spike, neglected to give him the message. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:07.679 So he shows up at the Ritz and ends up being mistaken for a reporter in like a press junket. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:12.639 He says he's with Horse and Hound magazine because there happens to be one of those lying around. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:22.320 And it's one of those like, let's embarrass the British guy kind of a moment, because he ends up having to talk to all of the actors about this film that he hasn't, in fact, scene. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:27.200 But in the end, his consolation prize is that he has asked her out. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:30.639 She initially says no, but then she says, Oh, my plans have changed, I can come. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:34.879 And he takes her as his date to his little sister's birthday party. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:50.000 And this is the scene, apparently, that was the genesis for Curtis, where he had friends that he would hang out with and he imagined bringing someone really famous and how two of them wouldn't even recognize her or and one, you know. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:58.960 And so Will's younger sister has this embarrassing, you know, parasocial crush on Anna, and she's like just all over the place. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:05.919 And his best friends Max and Bella sort of recognize her and are trying to be cool but are not doing a great job. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:16.799 And then his friend Bernie, who is a failed stockbroker, like doesn't recognize her at all, has no idea who she I do remember that part where he was just saying, Oh, you're an actor. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:17.440 Oh, well done. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:21.919 You know, I have some friends who went into it and like the the wages are criminal. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:23.840 Like they just don't get paid enough. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:24.320 Right. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.480 And then he says, How much did you make for your last film? 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:27.919 She says,$15 million. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:32.080 And he's like, Oh, well, that's fairly good then, isn't it? 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:42.159 I will say that that is I can see where that would feel so refreshing and charming to Anna having that conversation. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:47.039 Like that, that's kind of like she's experiencing dramatic irony in real life. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:47.519 Yeah. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:56.159 And then just when you are everywhere you go, you're mobbed by people to have someone not recognize you and just talk to you like a normal human being. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:57.279 It's gotta feel great. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.360 But and then also have the chance to be like, this is hilarious. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:02.960 You know. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:09.279 So that dinner is a little bit of a montage, but we see Anna, you know, getting along with everyone. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:12.799 And then and we learn a little bit more about his friends. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.360 Uh, Bella, as I mentioned in the in the header, she's a a wheelchair user. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:22.240 And then, you know, they spend another time together, not and they're having a great time. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:25.279 And then she invites him up to her hotel room. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:27.679 She says, give me five minutes, and then he follows. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:31.279 But when he gets there, her boyfriend is there. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:33.600 A little cameo by Alec Baldwin. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:42.960 So he's uh, you know, another Hollywood actor who mistakes him for room service, and it's a very unpleasant moment. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.799 They don't see each other for a while. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:13:03.440 You know, there's a another montage, then she shows up at his house months later because somebody has found nude photos of her from 10 years ago, and it's in the British tabloids, and she doesn't know where to go, and so they spend the day together and it's really lovely. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.960 And they do end up spending the night together in the same bed. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:16.480 In the morning, the house is mobbed because Spike mentioned at the pub that she's there, and they they have words where he's like, It's not a big deal, it'll blow over tomorrow. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:18.639 And she says, like, you don't know. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:20.159 You've had this for 10 minutes. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:21.360 I've had it for 10 years. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:29.120 It's I'm gonna regret this forever, which he finds very hurtful that she said that and and sort of says, Well, I feel quite the opposite. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:31.200 I will never, I will never regret this. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:34.879 And they don't see each other again for a very long time. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:40.960 And then we have, you know, the Ano Sunshine montage that you remember. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:54.320 The movie makers show us that like a a year goes by by having him, he's walking through the streets of Notting Hill, and he stays the same, but like everything around him, like the seasons change. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:14:01.840 We see a pregnant woman in the beginning, and by the end she's holding a baby and all the different fruit vendors and stalls and things. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:06.559 And he's told by one of his friends that she's in the country. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:12.720 She's recording on Hamstead Heath, and he thought he was over her, but he goes to see if he can see her. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:18.080 He ends up seeing her, he gets headphones to listen because the actress are Mike.

00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:22.720 She's acting in a Henry James piece, which he had told her maybe she should do. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:25.360 So there was there's a little like echo there. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:34.000 And she knows he's there, but she's talking to one of her co-stars who asks about him, and she kind of dismisses him out of hand. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:35.919 Oh, he's just a guy from the past. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:36.879 I don't even know why he's here. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:38.159 It's kind of embarrassing. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:39.440 So he leaves. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.639 She shows up at his shop and says, I was sorry that you left. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:47.440 She brings him a present, which she tells him not to open while she's standing there. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:53.919 She says, I'm supposed to leave, but if I didn't leave, do you think we could spend some time together, like a lot of time together? 00:14:54.159 --> 00:15:00.639 And that's when he says, May I respectfully say no, because I'm gonna, you're gonna throw me aside again. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:02.080 I know it's gonna happen. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:08.240 And your face is everywhere, and your films and your like I can't I can't get away from you, and I just don't think I can handle that. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:16.960 And that's when she delivers the line, like, yeah, I'm famous and you're not, but also I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:22.720 If uh anyone's watching the video and is counting, I think I'm at uh seven eye rolls at this point. 00:15:49.990 --> 00:15:53.429 Yeah, it's and it's delivered with complete sincerity. 00:15:53.589 --> 00:15:55.349 Like I'm not mad at Julia Roberts. 00:15:55.429 --> 00:15:55.589 No. 00:15:55.750 --> 00:15:59.750 Like I think she delivered the line as well as she possibly could have. 00:15:59.909 --> 00:16:00.949 It's just a shitty line. 00:16:01.029 --> 00:16:07.269 And even before that moment, like there was something I can't remember what in regards to, but she says, Oh, it's nonsense. 00:16:07.349 --> 00:16:10.069 I didn't realize how much nonsense it was, but it's it's all nonsense. 00:16:10.149 --> 00:16:16.229 Like she says the word nonsense three times, which maybe the writing is supposed to indicate that she's feeling nervous in front of him, but I don't know. 00:16:16.309 --> 00:16:19.829 It just didn't like watching it this time, I'm like, what is she saying? 00:16:20.069 --> 00:16:28.149 Anyway, he stands firm, but then we cut to he's sitting around with all of his friends that we've met throughout the whole film, explaining what happens. 00:16:28.309 --> 00:16:33.990 He says the line again, and initially they're all saying, like, no, you made the right decision, that's good. 00:16:34.389 --> 00:16:37.589 And he's opened the present, and it's original Mark Shigal. 00:16:37.990 --> 00:16:42.629 He's opened the present because he's when she was in his home, we she was like, I can't believe you have that post. 00:16:42.709 --> 00:16:53.990 There was a poster of Mark Shigal, a wedding, one of his wedding paintings, and they joke about it, and he's opened the present, and it's a that painting, and they think it's the original. 00:16:54.309 --> 00:16:57.109 So his friends initially are like, No, you did the right thing. 00:16:57.269 --> 00:17:02.149 But then Spike, the weirdo flatmate, is like, oh, you prick. 00:17:02.389 --> 00:17:04.549 He he has a qualifier, I can't remember. 00:17:04.789 --> 00:17:07.190 And then he's like, Oh no, I've made a terrible decision. 00:17:07.349 --> 00:17:28.150 So then they go into this like high-speed race against, you know, cross London to try and catch her before she leaves, ending with a final uh press conference scene where he asks if there's any chance that she would be more than friends with the guy because somebody else has asked about him. 00:17:28.309 --> 00:17:34.869 And she seals the makes known to everyone by having one of the reporters that ask how long she'd be in England. 00:17:34.950 --> 00:17:36.950 She said, I'm leaving immediately. 00:17:37.190 --> 00:17:44.230 And she tells her manager to ask that reporter to ask again, and her answer now is I'll be here indefinitely. 00:17:44.389 --> 00:17:46.230 And so now everybody's taking pictures of him. 00:17:46.389 --> 00:18:04.149 And then the final, final scene is another montage of the two of them together, their their wedding, and then the two of them together on the red carpet, as you remember, and then ending with them in a a garden sitting on a bench where she's pregnant, lying down, her head resting in his lap, and he's reading a book. 00:18:04.389 --> 00:18:07.430 And that's to uh Elvis Costello is she is again, isn't it? 00:18:07.669 --> 00:18:08.629 Again, yes, it is. 00:18:08.789 --> 00:18:12.230 There are other like little pieces, but that's the gist of rom-com. 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:14.710 Let me start with what's good. 00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:17.829 There's a reason that so many people love this film. 00:18:18.069 --> 00:18:37.029 I think that by making the woman the more powerful member of the couple in a heterosexual romance, it allows the sexual tension between them to feel cleaner because there's no sense of coercion. 00:18:37.349 --> 00:18:44.869 Now that depends on the assumption and understanding that, like, of course, he wants to be with her. 00:18:45.029 --> 00:18:49.669 That I just want to name that, which it it doesn't feel like a difficult ask. 00:18:49.909 --> 00:18:55.750 That does not only because she's Anna Scott, but because she's Julia Roberts, right? 00:18:55.829 --> 00:19:01.909 She's like a beautiful woman and who actually shows some of her personality, not just her pretty face, like from the beginning. 00:19:02.069 --> 00:19:10.950 So from that first interaction in the shop, she gives a hard time to the other customer who asks for her autograph in a way that's

very cheeky and charming. 00:19:11.109 --> 00:19:20.710 And so, but I think by making the woman the power, the more powerful person in the power imbalance, it makes that sexual attraction cleaner. 00:19:20.869 --> 00:19:32.710 And that's a commentary, I think, on our culture and a little on like sort of what we're expected to stomach in a rom-com, or not just stomach, but actually like want. 00:19:33.029 --> 00:19:33.509 Enjoy. 00:19:33.589 --> 00:19:33.909 Yeah. 00:19:34.069 --> 00:19:34.470 Yeah. 00:19:34.710 --> 00:19:41.509 By making her the more powerful person, it allows us to enjoy that in a cleaner way without having to be like, yeah, but does she really want that? 00:19:41.750 --> 00:19:44.789 Because she is the one who is initiation. 00:19:45.190 --> 00:19:46.710 She can she can leave at any time. 00:19:46.789 --> 00:19:47.509 And right. 00:19:47.750 --> 00:19:54.069 There's no question about whether or not she actually wants to be there at any point because he has no power over her. 00:19:54.389 --> 00:20:01.109 I will say there's like we you talked a little bit about how some of the lines that Julia Roberts had to deliver weren't good. 00:20:01.269 --> 00:20:04.869 There's one that I really like, which is after they've spent the night together. 00:20:04.950 --> 00:20:10.549 And she said, Rita Hayworth used to say they go to bed with Gilda and they wake up with me. 00:20:10.629 --> 00:20:12.069 And he he's like, Who's Gilda? 00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:13.509 She's like her most famous role. 00:20:13.829 --> 00:20:14.710 Do you feel that way? 00:20:14.950 --> 00:20:19.109 And I appreciated that because it humanizes the power that she has. 00:20:19.349 --> 00:20:23.589 Because there is always going to be that fear that like this is just parasocial. 00:20:23.829 --> 00:20:24.149 Yeah. 00:20:24.309 --> 00:20:25.909 Yes, I completely agree. 00:20:26.149 --> 00:20:28.869 So that piece feels it felt felt really good. 00:20:28.950 --> 00:20:38.069 It was like a romance that even though I didn't quite understand what they liked in one another, neither did I feel like anybody was being like agency removed. 00:20:38.309 --> 00:20:48.309 Um, I will say the montages, as we've already noted, I think are really like a lesson in using your medium to tell your story. 00:20:48.389 --> 00:20:53.430 You've only got 90 minutes for this movie, but the action takes place over several years. 00:20:53.589 --> 00:20:54.710 So how do you do that? 00:20:54.869 --> 00:20:57.909 And I think Curtis's montages are really lovely. 00:20:58.149 --> 00:21:04.950 Like it allows him to speed up and slow down time in ways that feel seamless to the viewer. 00:21:05.269 --> 00:21:13.190 And that's something I just want to hold up as like different medium have different rules and different abilities and different strengths and whatever. 00:21:13.349 --> 00:21:20.950 And being able to slow down and speed up time in that way in ways that don't feel jarring to the viewer, I think is

um proof of his craft. 00:21:21.269 --> 00:21:27.109 And allowing the music to speak, specifically in the Ain't No Sunshine one. 00:21:27.269 --> 00:21:28.389 We don't need any dialogue. 00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:29.589 We don't need anything more. 00:21:29.750 --> 00:21:37.269 Like Bill Withers is singing what he's feeling and gives us the like it's been an entire year for him with no sunshine. 00:21:37.509 --> 00:21:47.430 I think the giving the protagonist love interest, Hugh Grant, giving him these friends in Max and Bella, who are clearly still very much in love. 00:21:47.589 --> 00:21:55.990 We learn almost all the way through the movie, or probably two-thirds of the way through the movie, when we learn that Bella was is a former flame of his who fell in love with his best friend, Max. 00:21:56.149 --> 00:22:00.149 And Bella has she slipped and fell about 18 months ago. 00:22:00.309 --> 00:22:05.750 We learn from the initial dinner when Anna meets her and became paralyzed from the waist down. 00:22:05.909 --> 00:22:11.029 But the the love between the two of them is just really beautifully rendered. 00:22:11.109 --> 00:22:19.109 And it gives Hugh Grant and then and also us as by proxy sort of a role model for what love can look like. 00:22:19.269 --> 00:22:22.710 And I think that that's fairly rare in rom-coms. 00:22:23.029 --> 00:22:26.069 We're sort of like meant to know what it's look looks like. 00:22:26.710 --> 00:22:29.109 Like based on the zeitgeist or whatever. 00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:33.990 But this film actually like gives us a model, which I thought was I really, really like on Rewatch. 00:22:34.149 --> 00:22:37.190 In particular, the fact that she's a wheelchair user. 00:22:37.269 --> 00:22:44.710 And in the scene that I'll talk about why it bothers me, but the scene we're racing across London, everybody piles into Max's car. 00:22:44.869 --> 00:22:46.629 Max is driving, and he looks around. 00:22:46.710 --> 00:22:47.829 He says, Where's Bella? 00:22:47.990 --> 00:22:50.629 And the sister, honey, says, She's not coming. 00:22:50.789 --> 00:22:52.389 And he says, like hell she isn't. 00:22:52.710 --> 00:22:53.990 I mean, I think he says sod that. 00:22:54.069 --> 00:22:55.349 But he goes and gets her. 00:22:55.589 --> 00:23:00.309 He makes somebody else get in the backseat and he he has to carry her, picks her, she can't transfer herself. 00:23:00.389 --> 00:23:06.309 So he picks her up out of her wheelchair and puts her into the front seat and puts her wheelchair into the trunk, into the boot, and they go off. 00:23:06.389 --> 00:23:24.309 But that sort of like, we're not doing this without her moment, I think is part of, again, the role model that Will has, but also we the viewer have as like what love can look like, even through the hardship and inconvenience and what have there's another moment. 00:23:24.710 --> 00:23:34.470 It's the moment when we learn that she uh used to be Will's girlfriend, uh, because he spends the night at

their place and we see Max carry her upstairs, and he's so tender with her. 00:23:34.549 --> 00:23:37.509 And there's two things that I that I appreciated about that. 00:23:37.669 --> 00:23:41.269 One is like the that role model of love, like that you're talking about. 00:23:41.430 --> 00:23:45.990 But the other being that presumably they're still in the same house where she had her accident. 00:23:46.309 --> 00:23:47.669 Yeah, she fell downstairs. 00:23:47.909 --> 00:23:51.269 She fell downstairs, and clearly their bedroom is on the second floor. 00:23:51.509 --> 00:23:57.349 So this is not a permanent home for them because at some point Max won't be able to carry her upstairs. 00:23:57.509 --> 00:23:59.509 And again, overthinking. 00:23:59.829 --> 00:24:02.470 But that is what real life is like. 00:24:02.629 --> 00:24:05.349 You know, she had this major change to her life. 00:24:05.509 --> 00:24:14.869 They are not necessarily going to have the money or the ability or the time or or whatever to buy a different home, or maybe that place is close to all of their friends. 00:24:15.029 --> 00:24:23.109 And it's just the disability representation in that is that it can happen to anyone and that in some ways it changes your life, in some ways it doesn't. 00:24:23.269 --> 00:24:31.109 And there are some things like that doesn't mean like, and then boom, you have a home that is perfectly set up for your new abilities. 00:24:31.269 --> 00:24:35.269 Uh, you know, you're gonna have to cobble things together, make do. 00:24:35.509 --> 00:24:37.509 Max is gonna have to carry you upstairs every night. 00:24:37.669 --> 00:24:49.430 Because we get so little disability representation, the fact that this is realistic in a way, and it's I mean, not, but it gives us this like your life changes and also it doesn't. 00:24:49.589 --> 00:24:53.589 And accommodations aren't going to just magically appear. 00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:54.789 Just I appreciate that. 00:24:54.950 --> 00:25:07.589 I I appreciate that I I think Richard Curtis must have loved ones or friends who are disabled because he had in forwardings and a funeral the younger brother who was deaf and spoke the assigned language. 00:25:07.669 --> 00:25:12.470 And then in this he has this, and it's it's clear he has taken care with these characters. 00:25:12.789 --> 00:25:13.109 Yeah. 00:25:13.269 --> 00:25:17.750 In my research for this morning for recording, yeah, I saw him talk about that scene. 00:25:17.909 --> 00:25:34.149 Apparently they did 19 takes to get that right, and he said he's not sure that they would've it would happen today, like that there would be I didn't understand why he felt that he would not be able to do it today, but he was really glad that he was able to get that scene in of Max carrying Bella up the stairs. 00:25:34.389 --> 00:25:43.109 The other thing that the last thing that I'll name that I think is pretty good about this, it kind of goes along with the power dynamic that I named at the first. 00:25:43.269 --> 00:25:55.829 When we talked about my big fat Greek wedding, one of the things we talked about that was so refreshing was that the love interest, Ian, the man, is like his friends, his male friends are giving him a hard time. 00:25:55.990 --> 00:25:59.909 This girl's family says jump and you say you get out the trampoline. 00:26:00.149 --> 00:26:03.589 And Ian, Ian says, Yeah, she's worth it. 00:26:03.750 --> 00:26:05.109 Like, yeah, that's what I'm doing. 00:26:05.269 --> 00:26:18.869 And I think that Hugh Grant's character does that also to a certain degree, where when Anna says, I'm gonna be right regretting this for years, and he says, Well, if you don't mind, I'm gonna, I feel the opposite. 00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:34.869 I'm never gonna regret the time that we spend together, which is he's able to say because she's a because of the power dynamic, with without any qu kind of qualification or us even remarking that it's unusual in the way that it was unusual in my big fat Greek wedding. 00:26:35.029 --> 00:26:45.269 And still, I think it is notable that a human response to that kind of like she was being mean, like it was not a kind thing to say to him. 00:26:45.430 --> 00:26:51.109 And not that she was unprovoked, but but his response did not armor up. 00:26:51.269 --> 00:27:13.829 And that model, I think, is also really useful for us to see as viewers, to see a man in that kind of crosshairs not arm her up and just reiterate his care and enjoyment and and I don't want to say love because I don't know that they love one another at that point, but like of the other person. 00:27:14.149 --> 00:27:25.589 And especially considering the fact that it is so common and was back then too, for a man who has been rejected to say, Well, I I'm not interested in you anyway, you're fat and ugly. 00:27:25.909 --> 00:27:26.230 Yeah. 00:27:26.389 --> 00:27:31.750 It's so common that, you know, hey, you're so good looking, you're so great, I want to go out with you. 00:27:31.909 --> 00:27:33.669 No, thank you, you bitch. 00:27:33.909 --> 00:27:36.869 You know, like that is like the knee-jerk reaction. 00:27:37.109 --> 00:27:43.109 Hugh Grant, never, not once, does he have that you bitch response in this film. 00:27:43.269 --> 00:27:44.629 William Thacker just doesn't. 00:27:44.789 --> 00:28:04.230 I mean, he does say, like, I don't know if I can take this again, but at no point does he indicate that she is somehow less than or unworthy or anything because of the way that she's even when like he is coming up to spend the night with her and she's like, You gotta go, my boyfriend's here. 00:28:04.389 --> 00:28:09.269 Um, even then, he just kind of is sad and rolls with it. 00:28:09.589 --> 00:28:14.309 That's it, that's actually that moment when with the Alec Baldwin cameo is interesting. 00:28:14.389 --> 00:28:22.950 I was reading some commentators who were, you know, point the the we can move into her toxicity, pointed out like they

never deal with the fact that she was cheating. 00:28:23.109 --> 00:28:26.389 She never apologizes for like using him to cheat. 00:28:26.789 --> 00:28:30.389 She apologizes for w the way things went down and for behaving badly. 00:28:30.549 --> 00:28:32.149 That's the language she uses. 00:28:32.710 --> 00:28:37.509 Doesn't she doesn't she say like, I didn't know if he was my boyfriend anymore or something like that? 00:28:37.829 --> 00:28:41.750 She says I wasn't sure if he would ever show up again or ever fly in again. 00:28:42.069 --> 00:28:42.309 Okay. 00:28:42.549 --> 00:28:48.710 She does say I wasn't sure, you know, like her defense is I didn't know he would be there, which is not really a defense, right? 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:51.909 I mean, and and I was thinking about this. 00:28:52.149 --> 00:28:53.190 This is a woman. 00:28:53.430 --> 00:29:02.950 She says when she's at dinner at with for his sister's birthday, every time she has her heart broken, it's spread across all the tabloids for everyone to see. 00:29:03.190 --> 00:29:04.470 I was thinking about this this morning. 00:29:04.629 --> 00:29:05.029 It's true. 00:29:05.109 --> 00:29:09.269 She doesn't say, I have a boyfriend and like I want to sleep with you anyway. 00:29:09.430 --> 00:29:10.629 She's not upfront about that. 00:29:10.789 --> 00:29:13.829 On the other hand, she's been living a life for the past 10 years. 00:29:13.990 --> 00:29:16.549 She'll need to tell people about her private life because they know. 00:29:16.710 --> 00:29:32.389 And so the fact that he didn't know that Alec Baldwin, that's not his name, but the fact that Will Thacker doesn't know that the character played by Alec Baldwin was still a romantic partner was not something that Anna could necessarily know that he wouldn't know or assume. 00:29:32.549 --> 00:29:39.349 I think she could have probably assumed that he knew that Alec Baldwin was in the picture because everyone knew all her business. 00:29:39.509 --> 00:29:42.149 It's one of her biggest complaints throughout the movie. 00:29:42.309 --> 00:29:50.549 I don't know that that ex- I'm not suggesting that excuses her behavior, but I do think that it changes a little bit when I watch it with that in mind. 00:29:50.710 --> 00:29:52.950 The moment when she's like, you gotta go, he's here. 00:29:53.109 --> 00:29:59.430 She's assuming a shared knowledge, which is not accurate, but it was not unfair of her to assume. 00:29:59.589 --> 00:30:12.950 I never had a problem with that aspect of it because, well, they make Alec Baldwin like he's on he's playing the most vile version of himself of what we think about Alec Baldwin in this. 00:30:13.109 --> 00:30:14.549 And so he's so unpleasant. 00:30:14.710 --> 00:30:22.230 And based on what she said at the dinner and then what she says afterwards, it really seemed like, and again, it's been a long time since I saw it. 00:30:22.389 --> 00:30:27.829 I always got the impression that they had a relationship, but it's

it wasn't anything anymore. 00:30:28.069 --> 00:30:30.549 Because it was, it was always he was in charge. 00:30:30.710 --> 00:30:35.269 He was the one who would fly out, and he was the one because and she talks about she had been abused by previous boyfriends. 00:30:35.349 --> 00:30:39.349 So like I always took that as like he's someone who is used to getting his way. 00:30:39.430 --> 00:30:41.750 And so when he wants her to be his girlfriend, she is. 00:30:41.909 --> 00:30:43.349 And when he doesn't, she isn't. 00:30:43.509 --> 00:30:45.109 And so she never knows where she stands. 00:30:45.190 --> 00:30:48.869 And so she considers herself a free agent unless and until there's more information. 00:30:49.029 --> 00:30:52.950 But again, this is based on like very, very old memory of the of the movie. 00:30:53.190 --> 00:30:54.549 Even if that's the case, though. 00:30:54.710 --> 00:30:57.829 If that's the case, why didn't she say, like, hit the road, Alec Baldwin? 00:30:57.909 --> 00:30:59.190 We're not why are you here? 00:30:59.349 --> 00:31:00.470 I don't want you here. 00:31:00.629 --> 00:31:01.430 Go away. 00:31:01.509 --> 00:31:03.990 In instead of letting him humiliate Will. 00:31:04.470 --> 00:31:05.990 Well, it's it's it really did. 00:31:06.069 --> 00:31:07.829 I felt like she was like a little afraid of him. 00:31:08.069 --> 00:31:08.789 Yeah, maybe. 00:31:08.869 --> 00:31:09.430 Yeah, yes. 00:31:09.589 --> 00:31:12.389 I don't know that we're meant to think that she's afraid of him physically. 00:31:12.549 --> 00:31:21.669 She does say someone hit her, but Yeah, I not that I think that she's afraid of him physically, but like when an actress is tarred with the brush of difficult, she loses opportunities. 00:31:21.909 --> 00:31:24.869 I think you're reading into that for this particular moment, though. 00:31:25.029 --> 00:31:26.789 I mean, this is her romantic art. 00:31:27.109 --> 00:31:27.990 This is her private life. 00:31:28.149 --> 00:31:39.589 And and in the end, in that press conference, somebody, a reporter says, Is your year off have anything to do with the rumors about Jeff and his new co-star? 00:31:39.829 --> 00:31:40.869 She says, Absolutely not. 00:31:40.950 --> 00:31:43.509 And then the reporter says, Do you believe the rumors? 00:31:43.669 --> 00:31:46.470 And she says, Well, you know, it's not really my place anymore. 00:31:46.629 --> 00:31:50.549 So she's saying, like, we're not together, but the rumors about Jeff tend to be true. 00:31:50.710 --> 00:31:55.269 She's not afraid to like give a dig at the press later. 00:31:55.509 --> 00:31:56.149 Fair enough. 00:31:56.309 --> 00:32:00.309 So it's not that I disagree with your read on their relationship. 00:32:00.470 --> 00:32:09.430 It's that I think that there is sufficient evidence about this character that if that's even in your read, she should have sent him packing. 00:32:09.669 --> 00:32:11.109 Let's talk about this line. 00:32:11.269 --> 00:32:17.109 This line has

been mocked, has been spoofed, has been quoted so many times. 00:32:17.269 --> 00:32:18.629 Let's talk about it. 00:32:18.789 --> 00:32:19.990 A reminder of the scene. 00:32:20.149 --> 00:32:21.589 She shows up at the bookshop. 00:32:21.750 --> 00:32:23.909 He has found her and then disappeared. 00:32:24.069 --> 00:32:35.669 She shows up at the bookshop with an original Mark Chigal for him wrapped in brown paper, saying, I've had this and I've wanted to give it to you, but I behaved so badly twice that I felt I didn't feel okay. 00:32:35.750 --> 00:32:39.269 You know, I was afraid that you wouldn't want to see me, but then I saw you. 00:32:39.430 --> 00:32:40.149 And anyway. 00:32:40.309 --> 00:32:45.109 And he says, You're a superstar, and I'm just a little old me, and I can't take it. 00:32:45.269 --> 00:32:46.549 And then she says this line. 00:32:46.710 --> 00:32:47.269 That's true. 00:32:47.349 --> 00:32:51.349 But also, I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her. 00:32:51.509 --> 00:32:52.789 A lot of people really love this line. 00:32:52.950 --> 00:32:54.389 Neither you nor I love this line. 00:32:54.549 --> 00:32:58.789 Richard Curtis loved this line, or he wouldn't have made Hugh Grant repeat it. 00:32:58.950 --> 00:32:59.909 Let's talk about it. 00:33:00.069 --> 00:33:05.269 Like, why is it so beloved to so many people, including the person who wrote it initially? 00:33:05.430 --> 00:33:07.589 And why do you and I find it cringeworthy? 00:33:07.750 --> 00:33:25.509 I think it's the case that in the same way that we talked about Curtis when we talked about Four Weddings, there's a degree to which there's this like wish fulfillment projection that was true of Andy McDowell, uh, her character in Four Weddings, and I think is true of Anna Scott here. 00:33:25.669 --> 00:33:31.029 There's this kind of deep fantasy of like being the chosen one, right? 00:33:31.349 --> 00:33:39.029 For and being the chosen one for, you know, this person who everyone in the world looks up to and lusts after. 00:33:39.190 --> 00:33:44.069 And we've seen this over and over again that this is true for of this character. 00:33:44.309 --> 00:33:51.190 And to have her be like, no, I'm just me, and I'm and you're just you, and we could just love each other. 00:33:51.349 --> 00:34:08.789 To me, it feels like fantasy, which I think is why I find it so insipid, because it is like dripping, like treacly sweets is like the word that comes to mind in such a way that I don't see it and go, oh, I see it and go, what the fuck is that? 00:34:08.950 --> 00:34:09.670 Who are you? 00:34:09.829 --> 00:34:10.150 What? 00:34:10.470 --> 00:34:11.030 I agree. 00:34:11.190 --> 00:34:12.309 I definitely agree with that. 00:34:12.470 --> 00:34:19.909 I also feel like it is building the lily because if she had said you're right, that is all true. 00:34:20.070 --> 00:34:24.950 I am Anna Scott, but I'm also just a girl, that I think would have hit different. 00:34:25.190 --> 00:34:26.710 If without the rest of the line. 00:34:26.869 --> 00:34:27.750 Without the rest of it. 00:34:27.909 --> 00:34:32.550 Because and it's still going for which what Richard Curtis is going for that you're describing. 00:34:32.789 --> 00:34:36.310 But by like standing in front of a boy asking him to love her. 00:34:36.630 --> 00:34:37.510 People don't say that. 00:34:37.670 --> 00:34:38.550 Yeah, nobody talks like that. 00:34:39.350 --> 00:34:40.470 Nobody talks like that. 00:34:40.710 --> 00:34:46.150 If she had said, like, I'm just a girl playing he loves me, he loves me not, that's a thing that people do. 00:34:46.310 --> 00:34:53.670 Like, so she's saying it as if it's this very basic thing, this basic reality, but it's not, it's made up. 00:34:53.830 --> 00:35:01.670 If she had just said, but I'm also just a girl, and like, please see me, that I think I would resonate with. 00:35:01.990 --> 00:35:12.710 Or if she'd come back to what the line that you brought up, back to Rita Hayward and Gilda, if she had said, like, oh, that's true, but you didn't wake up with Gilda, you woke up with Rita. 00:35:12.789 --> 00:35:23.670 And I and that's you know, somehow like a tag back to that moment, which you named as feeling like resonating with truthiness in a way that a lot of Anna Scott's lines don't. 00:35:23.830 --> 00:35:25.110 And I think this one too. 00:35:25.269 --> 00:35:31.190 I I I think you're right that if she had said in a less, it's just melodramatic. 00:35:31.430 --> 00:35:33.910 Who says asking him to love her? 00:35:34.070 --> 00:35:36.230 Like, who says that? 00:35:36.470 --> 00:35:36.710 No. 00:35:36.870 --> 00:35:40.310 I I think that's also like, I think that's also part of what bothers me. 00:35:40.550 --> 00:35:44.789 But if I say to a romantic partner, I love you, I'm giving a gift. 00:35:44.950 --> 00:35:45.510 I love you. 00:35:45.670 --> 00:35:48.710 I'm not actually asking, of course, I hope that he says it back. 00:35:48.870 --> 00:35:51.190 But if he doesn't, then he doesn't. 00:35:51.350 --> 00:35:53.910 I only have control over my side of this. 00:35:54.070 --> 00:35:59.350 So that asking him to love her also reads untrue in that sense. 00:35:59.590 --> 00:36:02.150 That like, that's not how love works. 00:36:02.470 --> 00:36:03.350 Love me. 00:36:03.750 --> 00:36:09.430 Well, and that actually that's part of the reason why I when you were doing the synopsis, I brought up the Mark Chigall painting. 00:36:09.590 --> 00:36:17.670 Because, and I know this is not how Richard Curtis intended it, and I know this is not how people see it, but it feels like asking you to love me. 00:36:17.830 --> 00:36:21.030 Here is a gift, here is what would make it worth your while. 00:36:21.190 --> 00:36:33.190 There is it's a saying, I'm just a girl asking a boy to love me, that's her still being Anna Scott, international superstar, because just a girl standing in front of the boy she loves. 00:36:33.430 -->

00:36:36.470 Yes, I actually think that would have worked for me. 00:36:36.630 --> 00:36:37.030 Yeah. 00:36:37.190 --> 00:36:41.269 The Chigal painting was not meant to be like this will make it worth your while. 00:36:41.350 --> 00:36:46.310 It was meant to prove that like she's been thinking about him because we know he's been thinking about her. 00:36:46.470 --> 00:36:49.030 We've followed his POV throughout the movie. 00:36:49.190 --> 00:37:04.230 And having her say that, you know, it was on the wall in her house it and she brought it with her, and it's just been sitting in the hotel room is a way to show us that she has also been thinking about him, but in an international superstar sort of way, because it's an original Mark Chigall. 00:37:04.630 --> 00:37:06.470 We're running a little short on time. 00:37:06.630 --> 00:37:13.430 Let's make sure that we in the main episode, I would like to talk about the boundaries and Will's boundaries. 00:37:13.510 --> 00:37:16.870 And then maybe we'll talk about the tabloids in the shit we forgot to say. 00:37:17.110 --> 00:37:19.269 Will has no boundaries. 00:37:19.510 --> 00:37:20.789 Like, it's interesting. 00:37:20.950 --> 00:37:34.550 I wonder if we could put this in conversation with Fish Called Wanda, where there was a romance across the line of difference between the British and American, and there was this whole like meditation about the different cultures. 00:37:34.710 --> 00:37:40.390 And I think I wonder too, like Curtis does this too with this pairing Hugh Grant with an American. 00:37:40.550 --> 00:37:43.830 I wonder if that's part of the boundaries thing that I'm about to talk about. 00:37:43.990 --> 00:37:53.510 If there's cultural pieces where there's the cultural mores in English-British culture is often self-effacing. 00:37:53.670 --> 00:37:56.310 You feel uncomfortable rather than making someone else feel uncomfortable. 00:37:56.470 --> 00:37:58.710 So I'm gonna I'm gonna put a pin in that idea. 00:37:58.950 --> 00:38:03.910 But this film, made largely for our American audience, I believe, Will has no boundaries. 00:38:04.070 --> 00:38:15.269 He allows himself to go through this junket with all of the co-stars from this movie that he's never seen, pretending to be reporter for horse and hound, instead of just being like, sorry, I just said that so I could see Anna. 00:38:15.430 --> 00:38:16.870 I I got what I need, I gotta go. 00:38:17.030 --> 00:38:18.310 Like, why did he do that? 00:38:18.470 --> 00:38:23.990 And then again, with Alec Baldwin, who says, you know, adios these plates and take the trash out. 00:38:24.150 --> 00:38:27.350 And so he picks up the plates like over and over again. 00:38:27.510 --> 00:38:34.870 Like, who knows who's manning the shop while he's hanging out with her all day after the nude photos have broken? 00:38:35.030 --> 00:38:38.789 Like, he just doesn't have any boundaries. 00:38:38.950 --> 00:38:43.830 And then he finally sets one when she comes back and

delivers the line. 00:38:43.990 --> 00:38:52.470 And all of the characters and the film make us see that he made the wrong choice by defining a boundary and trying to defend it. 00:38:52.710 --> 00:38:58.630 And I don't know, it's interesting because of the reversal of the power dynamic that I named first. 00:38:58.870 --> 00:39:05.510 I'm not 100% sure what the sort of lessons about romance that I was imbibing. 00:39:05.750 --> 00:39:09.670 So in 99, right, I was uh 22. 00:39:09.910 --> 00:39:11.830 Yeah, just fresh out of college. 00:39:11.990 --> 00:39:14.390 What was I imbibing there? 00:39:14.470 --> 00:39:23.590 Because the self-insert presumably would be as Anna as since because of gender, but I'm certainly no international superstar. 00:39:23.750 --> 00:39:35.990 But then, you know, so this lesson that his boundary setting was the wrong thing to do feels a little dangerous when extrapolated out as something that we were imbibing as a lesson about romance. 00:39:36.310 --> 00:39:52.230 I think that's that's interesting because like like you're saying, in some ways, that gives us like a an Ian from my Big Fat Greek Wedding showing that like, you know, if men aren't commitment phobic, they're like that's not a thing. 00:39:52.550 --> 00:39:58.230 A man who's truly in love with you will accept who you are and who your family is and and the circumstances that you're in. 00:39:58.390 --> 00:40:11.110 Um so there's aspect of that that you could take, no, I I really there's that quote that's attributed to Marilyn Monroe that she I don't think she actually said, which is like, if you can't uh handle me my worst, you don't deserve me at my best. 00:40:11.269 --> 00:40:13.030 And people, I think it's misattributed. 00:40:13.110 --> 00:40:17.510 I also think like people use it to be complete assholes. 00:40:17.750 --> 00:40:23.750 But there's that the the sense of I have seen Anna's worst and she's still worth it. 00:40:23.910 --> 00:40:27.350 And that's what I think the movie is trying to show us. 00:40:27.590 --> 00:40:47.670 But since we're not international superstars, the women who are watching this, we are more likely to relate to Will and feel like, well, he has a higher powered job, he has more stress, he has, he makes more money, I need to be willing to accept whatever. 00:40:47.830 --> 00:40:53.670 Um, because of how the power differential usually plays out in heterosexual relationships. 00:40:53.910 --> 00:40:54.310 Yeah. 00:40:54.550 --> 00:41:01.110 There's other stuff that I want to say, and actually, for the main episode, I will, I do want to mention, and then I'll do my synopsis. 00:41:01.269 --> 00:41:19.190 The big argument that the two of them have is after the tabloids have gotten the pictures of her as a young person naked, and now and then the all the reporters, the paparazzi show up at his house, and she freaks out. 00:41:19.269 --> 00:41:23.990 And he says, you know, today's papers are lined tomorrow's waistbins. 00:41:24.470

--> 00:41:28.230 And, you know, his point is like it'll blow over, it's not a big deal. 00:41:28.390 --> 00:41:30.070 And she says, This is my life. 00:41:30.230 --> 00:41:34.070 I've been living this with this for 10 years, and you've had it for 10 minutes. 00:41:34.230 --> 00:41:35.750 Don't tell me how this works. 00:41:35.990 --> 00:41:50.470 An interesting like sort of mirroring with real life is that Grant was arrested for lewd conduct when he was caught with a a sex worker in his rented BMW in LA. 00:41:50.630 --> 00:42:00.230 All the tabloids, you know, went crazy with this, with the his mugshot and pictures of the woman, the sex worker who went by the name Divine Brown. 00:42:02.310 --> 00:42:08.150 And um, you know, it was a kerfuffle for a moment, but that happened before this movie. 00:42:08.390 --> 00:42:11.110 So it didn't hurt his career, not really. 00:42:11.430 --> 00:42:16.710 Maybe it slowed it down for a couple of months, but you know, he did a an apology tour. 00:42:16.870 --> 00:42:21.590 He gave apologies on like Jay Leno and stuff, but it basically blew over. 00:42:21.750 --> 00:42:26.470 Yeah, exactly the way his character says that it will for God. 00:42:26.550 --> 00:42:29.190 And Anna's like, no, it's that's not how it works. 00:42:29.350 --> 00:42:37.510 And that I think is I just realized it this morning while while you and I were preparing to record, but there's something, it's a mirror, it's not identical. 00:42:37.670 --> 00:42:41.750 And I think the gender dynamic is why we hold on to those things. 00:42:41.830 --> 00:42:52.470 And what she says to what Anna says to Will is that every time anyone writes about me moving forward, they'll pull these pictures up and they might write about that too every time. 00:42:52.630 --> 00:42:57.430 And the thing is, I think that's probably true for a lot of female stars. 00:42:57.670 --> 00:43:07.190 But I had completely forgotten about Hugh Grant's mugshot until I was researching this movie in particular, and it happened to come up because of the resonance. 00:43:07.430 --> 00:43:15.430 And I just wanted to like name that so we could sit with that double standard a little bit that is kind of baked into this movie through the casting. 00:43:15.670 --> 00:43:17.830 Before we hit record, we were we were talking about it. 00:43:17.910 --> 00:43:24.950 I and I said, imagine if it were a female star who was caught with a sex worker when Hugh Grant. 00:43:25.269 --> 00:43:27.670 I don't know that her career would have ever recovered. 00:43:27.830 --> 00:43:33.430 I mean, look how long it took Winona Ryder to get back on track after getting caught shoplifting. 00:43:33.830 --> 00:43:40.550 Anna Scott's overwhelm and anger feels kind of appropriate in that moment. 00:43:40.870 --> 00:43:47.590 And then the like the resonance, the the fact that Hugh Grant's character is like, oh, it'll blow over. 00:43:47.830 --> 00:43:49.990 Well, it's really easy for a man to say. 00:43:51.110 --> 00:43:54.310 All right, let me see if I can reflect back what we talked about. 00:43:54.470 --> 00:43:59.910 This movie has some stuff in the prose column and some stuff in the cons column. 00:44:00.230 --> 00:44:14.470 So the first thing that I named was that because this heterosexual couple gives the greater power to the woman, it removes a lot of the ick factor that can sometimes come in rom-coms. 00:44:14.550 --> 00:44:25.030 Like, though I'm not sure I 100% buy that these two people actually care about one another, I never doubt that she wants to be a a part of whatever happens to be happening. 00:44:25.269 --> 00:44:26.150 Like she is has. 00:44:26.710 --> 00:44:27.590 All the agency. 00:44:27.830 --> 00:44:34.310 She does not have her agency curtailed by their romance, which is, sad to say, refreshing. 00:44:34.470 --> 00:44:44.630 I named that Curtis and his, you know, team understand their medium really well when it comes to the passage of time and storytelling. 00:44:44.870 --> 00:44:58.550 And so the montages that they use convey so much so quickly, it allows them to speed up time and then slow it down again when necessary without being jarring to the viewer. 00:44:59.030 --> 00:45:03.030 You reiterated that part of how he does that too is his score. 00:45:03.350 --> 00:45:15.990 Both the two, there are other songs in the soundtrack, but the two most obvious ones for montage are Elvis Costello singing a version of she and the Bill Withers A No Sunshine when she's gone. 00:45:16.150 --> 00:45:31.590 We talked about Max and Bella, the characters of Max and Bella being role models for what a healthy loving relationship can look like, both for the characters, for the character of Will, but also for the audience's proxy. 00:45:31.830 --> 00:45:35.190 And bonus bonus to that role model. 00:45:35.510 --> 00:45:38.310 We have one of the characters being a wheelchair user. 00:45:38.390 --> 00:45:45.269 And so there's also disability representation within a loving relationship, which is really, really rare. 00:45:45.590 --> 00:45:52.710 One thing that we didn't mention, and I do want to make sure that we highlight, Bella mentions at one point that she can't have a baby. 00:45:52.789 --> 00:45:54.630 They had been trying and they found out she can't. 00:45:54.950 --> 00:45:57.030 Presumably because of her accident. 00:45:57.269 --> 00:45:59.030 It's not clear if that's the case or not. 00:45:59.269 --> 00:46:00.150 It's not clear. 00:46:00.470 --> 00:46:08.789 But what I really appreciate is that it doesn't change in anything about the love that Max and Bella have for each other. 00:46:09.030 --> 00:46:14.470 There is no distinction, there's no change, there's nothing that is different. 00:46:14.710 --> 00:46:21.510 And so often women are treated as walking wombs, even in so-called loving relationships. 00:46:21.670 --> 00:46:28.470 And even in films where, like, uh like surprise, wow, miracle pregnancy when she thought she couldn't have a baby.

00:46:28.630 --> 00:46:44.789 They're, they're even in like positive representation, there it things are fixed magically rather than just being like, this is a tragic aspect of our lives, but we love each other and we are making a wonderful life together. 00:46:45.030 --> 00:46:55.670 That I also want to wanna highlight, especially since um infertility in film can also be handled really insensitively, often by like Miracle Baby or whatever. 00:46:56.470 --> 00:47:18.870 We also spoke about in the sort of good column the fact that much like Ian in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Will just has unqualified enjoyment, uh, his relationship with Anna, uh, so much so that, you know, he doesn't arm her up and like lash out at her when he is feeling hurt, which is very rare. 00:47:19.030 --> 00:47:28.630 Like in real life and in art, the expected response from when Anna lashes out would be for him to be to call her the B-word. 00:47:28.710 --> 00:47:30.230 That's just kind of how it goes. 00:47:30.390 --> 00:47:33.910 And at no point does he do that, even to his friends, even to himself. 00:47:34.070 --> 00:47:37.510 And so that feels very refreshing and worth noting. 00:47:37.670 --> 00:47:41.750 The flip side of it is, though, that he has no boundaries whatsoever. 00:47:41.910 --> 00:48:04.630 And when he actually does finally draw some lines in the sand, the movie, the characters within the movie and the movie itself seems to treat that as a mistake that he must fix, which we talked about sort of the potential downsides in terms of what lessons about romance might be conveyed with that reality. 00:48:05.030 --> 00:48:13.350 Anna is kind of toxic, like so many people with greater power and a power imbalance, kind of abuses it. 00:48:13.430 --> 00:48:17.830 She's not always kind to Will, and he just takes it. 00:48:17.990 --> 00:48:25.350 It's it's a somewhat parasocial relationship that, again, I don't fully understand what it is that they see in one another. 00:48:25.510 --> 00:48:38.230 Though I do think that, as we said in the conversation, the fact that he doesn't make a big deal about her celebrity ever has got to be refreshing for the international superstar who was hounded all the time. 00:48:38.470 --> 00:48:41.830 And then we talked a lot about the line. 00:48:42.150 --> 00:48:48.630 And this line, what I said in my notes was that Curtis needed to kill his darling. 00:48:48.950 --> 00:48:51.910 So I don't, I don't know who said that originally. 00:48:52.070 --> 00:48:54.150 Who said you must kill your darlings? 00:48:54.390 --> 00:48:56.070 Uh, wasn't it Dorothy Parker? 00:48:56.390 --> 00:48:57.110 Maybe. 00:48:57.350 --> 00:48:59.430 But it's it's writing advice, right? 00:48:59.510 --> 00:49:04.070 Like if there's a sentence that you're particularly proud of, you probably need to strike it. 00:49:04.150 --> 00:49:05.430 It's very hard to do. 00:49:05.670 --> 00:49:14.470 Curtis needed to do it with this line, which was clearly darling to him, since he wrote it twice and made two different characters say it. 00:49:14.630 --> 00:49:20.950 We spent quite a long time talking about that, about why people love it and why you and I both find it cringe. 00:49:21.350 --> 00:49:22.470 It gives us the ick. 00:49:22.630 --> 00:49:23.190 Yeah. 00:49:23.430 --> 00:49:28.150 And I think you offered some alternatives that I think make sense. 00:49:28.310 --> 00:49:44.390 If she had just stopped, I'm I'm also just a girl, or I'm just a girl standing in front of the boy she loves, or like somehow, like there are other ways to sort of get what I think Curtis was going for in language that would sound more real. 00:49:45.350 --> 00:49:55.430 And there's like a weird sort of mixed-up agency around love in the construction as we receive it, asking him to love her. 00:49:56.150 --> 00:49:57.030 She hasn't. 00:49:57.269 --> 00:50:01.110 She wants him to love her, but she does not say I love you. 00:50:01.350 --> 00:50:10.550 And so the agency's all mixed up in that, which actually mirrors some of what we're talking about about the power dynamic and her toxicity. 00:50:10.789 --> 00:50:22.550 Like I wonder if I would have found her less toxic if at any point she said, I think I love you, and I don't know what to do about it because it's so dangerous for both of us. 00:50:22.789 --> 00:50:39.190 The last thing that we talked about was the fact that there's a weird sort of resonance rhyming between the conversation that Will and Anna have about this negative press blowing over and Hugh Grant's actual life. 00:50:39.430 --> 00:50:49.510 And the the it rhymes, but it's not the same because gender does matter a great deal in the way that we judge and treat one another. 00:50:49.750 --> 00:50:51.269 Did I forget anything else? 00:50:51.510 --> 00:50:54.230 No, I think that was I think that was everything we talked about. 00:50:54.470 --> 00:50:54.789 Cool. 00:50:54.950 --> 00:50:55.269 All right. 00:50:55.430 --> 00:50:59.590 Well, I actually enjoyed re-watching it more than I thought that I would. 00:50:59.750 --> 00:51:01.510 So I just wanted to name that. 00:51:01.670 --> 00:51:03.590 I did enjoy rewatching more than I thought. 00:51:03.670 --> 00:51:05.030 What are you gonna bring me next week? 00:51:05.190 --> 00:51:09.750 Uh next week I'm bringing you my deep thoughts on the Eddie Murphy film Coming to America. 00:51:10.070 --> 00:51:10.870 Oh god. 00:51:15.430 --> 00:51:17.750 I think that will be a rich text. 00:51:18.070 --> 00:51:19.910 I I believe so, yes. 00:51:21.750 --> 00:51:22.870 I'll look forward to that. 00:51:23.510 --> 00:51:24.070 See you then. 00:51:25.269 --> 00:51:29.430 This show is a labor of love, but that doesn't make it free to produce. 00:51:29.830 --> 00:51:35.030 If you enjoy it even half as much as we do, please consider helping to keep us overthinking. 00:51:35.430 --> 00:51:37.430 You can support us at our Patreon. 00:51:37.830 --> 00:51:41.990 There's a link in the show notes, or leave a positive review so others can find us. 00:51:42.550 --> 00:51:45.190 And of course, share the show with your people. 00:51:45.590 --> 00:51:50.470 Our theme music is Professor Umlaut by Kevin McLeod from Incompitech.com. 00:51:51.190 --> 00:51:53.030 Find full music credits in the show notes. 00:51:53.510 --> 00:51:57.590 Until next time, remember pop culture is still culture. 00:51:58.070 --> 00:51:59.590 And shouldn't you know what's in your head?