At what moment in BBM did you realize that they were falling in love?

[moremojo]

I'm surprised it's taken me this long to reply to this thread, which predates my membership here. In all honesty, I wasn't sure precisely when the two men fell in love, and I don't think it can be pinpointed with such exactitude; I think it happened incrementally.

 My awareness developed incrementally while first seeing the film. By the time of the lakeside quarrel, and Ennis's breakdown, it was fully apparent to me that the two were very much in love--but when in the story did this happen? And then the flashback to the dozy embrace, and I realized...it happened there, on the mountain, back in that first summer of 1963. Jack's face while watching Ennis ride away is one of the most compelling images of love I have ever witnessed.

[Katie77]

I was just thinking about this question again, and I think maybe, the full realization might have been, when Ennis was waiting for Jack to arrive after four years, and he finally saw the truck pull in......the smile on his face certainly says something...and then THE KISS......totally out in the open, couldnt care less who sees.......

Love certainly took over at that moment...........

[Toast]

This is a beautiful thread and I really enjoyed reading it , even after months of viewing the movie and analyzing it.

I think it was love at first sight, but Jack felt it as lust, and Ennis knew no word or feeling to compare it with.  I think the scene in the bar shows their feeling for each other, with Ennis and Jack avoiding each other's eyes, but stroking their longneck beer bottles.  They felt they were for each other, but had no precedent to use in understanding their feelings.



During Tent Scene One, Ennis asks "What are we doing?"  The "we" had been defined in his brain much earlier, but the action was still to be defined. 

Lovely thread.  Lovely presentation in the film.

[David]

Looking back,  I'd say that I was just as surprized at the first tent scene as everyone else.

The boys didn't really look like they were falling in love to me.    It is easy now to look back  (hindsight is 20/20 after all)  and see the subtle ways in which they respected eachother and even missed eachother.   

But now after all my viewings I'd say they didn't fall in love, it just developed over time.    They were definately impressed with eachother.     I just can't put my finger on the moment where Jack says to himself "I want this guy to jump me".  Unless it was at the very beginning when he first laid eyes on Ennis.     Maybe Jack was horny for guys all along.     It was over the time on Brokeback that he got the courage to make that move.

  It is even harder for me to figure out when Ennis knew he wanted to jump Jack.     I think it was a few seconds after Jack grabbed his hand in Tent scene one.       Lets face it.  These two guys liked eachother alot.    They were mostly alone up in the mountains.   Probably horny as hell.   When Ennis was given the opportunity to jump Jack he did.     And he liked it.    Liked it enough to want more.     After that it was a great arrangement.    Male bonding and sex?   What could be better!   

Real Love really happened later.    I think the boys didn't figure it out until they parted.

[ifyoucantfixit]

             
                    i thought that ennis only realized it the morning he showed up back at camp and jack was dismantling the tent. i think he had only thought it was a fun way to have a friend with benefits.  when confronted with  going back down ...it hit him,,,he wasnt ready to leave jack...and threw the log away...then he sat and contemplated what he could do differently to make it happen.  coming up with nothing he could make work, he then got mad at jack easily for making him want him so much, and when he got hurt, it was the straw that broke the camels back..
                   jack i think came saw and decided to conquer at the front of aguirres trailor....but i have to admit...ennis liked what he saw as well.. his sly glances out from under his hat.  and looking at jacks smile in the bar...accompanied with the eyebrow raise at jacks smart mouth about standing around all day tying knots...just made ennis more and more facinated by the young rodeo rider..  who shows his willingness to tackle the hard job of taming a tough mount...as the low startle bouncy mare... janice

[CarlaMom2]

I agree with alot of what everyone is saying.  When the boys are talking and it was the most Ennis spoke in a year, you  saw a softer side of Ennis.  The second tent scene was so tender and Ennis really let himself go.  When they were leaving early and it hit Ennis so hard.  He became so angry again.  It was sad because you knew it was because he didn't want to go. You could really feel the love between them.

I get so choked up thinking about those scenes.  They were done so beautifully.

[Front-Ranger]

I think rt would be happy to see his post over here on the Open Forum getting a new lease on life. I really enjoyed reading these thoughts again, as well as the new ones (Toast, U are a crack-up!!) I agree with you Toast, and did you notice how Ennis fumbled picking up Jack's lighter? Another clue, LOL.

I just had a new idea about when they realized they were in love. What about when they had to separate? It mentions in the story a couple of times when Ennis left the campfire to go up to the sheep. That is when his thoughts of love and happiness seemed to be the strongest.

[Katie77]

This is my third thought of when they "fell in love".....i guess the more I think of scenes, the more times I realize how much their love was happening.....

When Ennis is lying at the campfire, looking up at the moon, "just sending up a prayer of thanks"........maybe that was the first time he felt comfortable saying about what he was feeling.....

I wrote about my thoughts on their love, in my blog the other day, so have copied a paragraph which I wrote, and what I think their love meant to Ennis......

Got to thinking about Ennis and the love he felt for Jack....I have always been of the opinion, that Ennis was not gay, and the more I thought of it today, just confirmed it even more....He fell in love with Jack, regardless, and in spite of the fact that he was of the same sex.....he was the one and only true love that Ennis could fit in his heart, as he found out thru his life.  Maybe it was because, Jack was the only one ever in his life to return the same kind of love, that Ennis craved for.......

[serious crayons]

Got to thinking about Ennis and the love he felt for Jack....I have always been of the opinion, that Ennis was not gay, and the more I thought of it today, just confirmed it even more....He fell in love with Jack, regardless, and in spite of the fact that he was of the same sex.....he was the one and only true love that Ennis could fit in his heart, as he found out thru his life.  Maybe it was because, Jack was the only one ever in his life to return the same kind of love, that Ennis craved for.......

Sue, what makes you feel that Ennis is not gay? If he's attracted to a man, and enjoys sex with a man, and is in love with a man, doesn't that make him gay (or at least bi) pretty much by definition?

I think of Ennis as gay, and not even very bi, because he doesn't seem particularly attracted to Alma or Cassie. I do think it's possible he wasn't attracted to other men besides Jack. (Though I suspect he has been in the past.)

[moremojo]

Sue, what makes you feel that Ennis is not gay? If he's attracted to a man, and enjoys sex with a man, and is in love with a man, doesn't that make him gay (or at least bi) pretty much by definition?

I think of Ennis as gay, and not even very bi, because he doesn't seem particularly attracted to Alma or Cassie. I do think it's possible he wasn't attracted to other men besides Jack. (Though I suspect he has been in the past.)

Sue's perception was shared by both me and my sister when we first saw the film. My sister still holds to this view, and argues that the film functions most provocatively and challengingly when it suggests that love can furrow paths that our minds and hearts might never have contemplated; for my part, I have come to see Ennis as an extremely repressed homosexual man.

My initial feeling of Ennis's primary heterosexuality originated in large part from the fact that nowhere do we ever sense that Ennis is attracted to any male other than Jack. In my observations and experiences as a gay man, I find this most unusual, but I concede that it is not impossible. I now understand Ennis's apparent apathy towards other males as probable evidence of his profound repression and denial.