Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Ennis' reaction to Jack's death.
jpwagoneer1964:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on July 24, 2006, 12:49:13 am ---
The attachment is a bad attempt to screencap that little hint of a smile on Ennis's face as he leaves the post office. Poor guy. He's never going to be able to pick up the mail in the same way again, you know? :'( :'( :'( No wonder he finally gets a mailbox outside his trailer at the end.
--- End quote ---
Never even made the connection about the mail box at the tralier. Your right he wouldn.t want to use the PO anymore.
Amber:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on July 24, 2006, 12:49:13 am ---And at the end of the phone call to Lureen, when Ennis holds the phone's ear piece to his lips... he looks like he's trying to hold in a sob there. It's a public phone booth, after all, on the street in Riverton. But Ennis is pretty near tears through the entire conversation, it looks like to me.
--- End quote ---
This was my first thought when I read the first post that Tristann wrote. He is very subdued and seemingly very calm, but at the end of the phone conversation he holds that earpiece to his mouth. I tear up everytime, you just know he wants to react so much stronger but he's in public and he's trying to maintain some kind of stoic reputation. I think throughout the phone call you can hear hesitation in his voice. And there is that point where he pauses and Lureen has to ask if he is still there. He seems to be very emotional there as well, as if he needs a minute to gain composure and keep it together.
So, I think he does show some emotion. Granted, not in the form of tears or an outburst of some kind, but I think in the only form of emotion that Ennis would let anyone out in the world see.
dly64:
I agree with so many of you!
It would be out of Ennis' character to break down while reading the postcard or while talking on the phone. However, he is emotional. In typical Ennis fashion he tries to stuff his emotions. Yet, when he says to Lureen, “Thanks for your time …. I sure am sorry … we was good friends” he is desperately trying to hold it together. I think Lureen senses that. Ennis’ comment along with the acknowledgement that BBM was the place where Jack and Ennis met in 1963, solidifies the suspicion that she’s had for many years … her husband was in love with somebody else (whether or not she believed it was a man Jack loved prior to the phone call, I don’t know). Her reaction stems from the knowledge that the man on the end of the line is the person Jack really loved.
I agree with you, Mel, that it is no coincidence that Ennis has a mailbox at the end of the film. IMO, the post office is a reminder of when Ennis came to realize Jack had died. The trailer represents how Ennis feels without Jack … empty … “if you don’t got nothin’ … then you don’t need nothin’”. Within that void expanse is the one place Ennis feels safe to express his emotions … his love for Jack. It is there where he keeps the only part of Jack that he has left … the shirts and the memory of their idyllic time on BBM.
serious crayons:
I think it's fair to assume Ennis DOES show emotion at the news of Jack's death, but Ang just didn't happen to film it. Mainly, I think, to enhance the drama of the closet scene. But also to show that Ennis is expert at controlling his emotions around other people -- which is not the same as saying he doesn't feel them. Think of how calm he is when he parts with Jack after Brokeback, but then he goes into the alley ...
The post office scene cuts off just after Ennis spends enough time reading the "deceased" to absorb its meaning. Then it picks up again some time later, in the phone booth. Who knows what happened in between? During the phone call, he is actually fairly emotional, by Ennis' standards. For instance, right hearing how Jack died, he can't speak and Lureen says, "Hello? Hello?" And after she hangs up, he doesn't just replace his own receiver and calmly go about his business -- he looks disparingly out the window (metaphor for thinking of Jack) and clutches the receiver. Again, the scene cuts off immediately, so who knows what he did after that.
Even at the Twists' ranch, while sitting at the kitchen table, he shows a lot of emotion. But as usual it's pretty tightly controlled, expressed in just the tiniest changes in his facial expression.
It's impossible to know exactly how he behaved during the times that the camera wasn't on him. But in any case, I think we can say that if we'd seen him sobbing uncontrollably in the post office scene and again in the phone booth and again in the truck as he's driving to the Twists, the emotional power of the shirt scene would be considerably undercut.
dly64:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on July 26, 2006, 01:07:00 pm ---The post office scene cuts off just after Ennis spends enough time reading the "deceased" to absorb its meaning. Then it picks up again some time later, in the phone booth. Who knows what happened in between? During the phone call, he is actually fairly emotional, by Ennis' standards. For instance, right hearing how Jack died, he can't speak and Lureen says, "Hello? Hello?" And after she hangs up, he doesn't just replace his own receiver and calmly go about his business -- he looks disparingly out the window (metaphor for thinking of Jack) and clutches the receiver. Again, the scene cuts off immediately, so who knows what he did after that.
Even at the Twists' ranch, while sitting at the kitchen table, he shows a lot of emotion. But as usual it's pretty tightly controlled, expressed in just the tiniest changes in his facial expression.
It's impossible to know exactly how he behaved during the times that the camera wasn't on him. But in any case, I think we can say that if we'd seen him sobbing uncontrollably in the post office scene and again in the phone booth and again in the truck as he's driving to the Twists, the emotional power of the shirt scene would be considerably undercut.
--- End quote ---
I agree completely! For the arch of the film, it is important that the most emotional reaction we see from Ennis is when he finds the shirts.
Interestingly, I never thought of the metaphor of the window. (Ennis looking out and is thinking about Jack). It makes sense. I can’t believe I missed that! The only time I noticed that was in the trailer. But it is in numerous other scenes as well. Love that!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version