"Did I scowl at you?" "No, you smiled..."

Discuss the fabulous movie Lost In Translation!

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A moment of silence
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"Did I scowl at you?" "No, you smiled..."

#1 Post by A moment of silence » Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:53 pm

Hi y'all! Long time no post.

I've always wondered why couldn't Charlotte remember Bob the first time she saw him. I mean, she did remember him when she was in the Bar but why not before?
Could it be because she was tense or distracted on that day where she saw him on the elevator? after all, that was the day she had the meltdown and cried while talking to Lauren.
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Re: "Did I scowl at you?" "No, you smiled...&

#2 Post by jm » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:19 pm

People often don't remember stuff like that. An important point, I thought, was that they met several times before really connecting.
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#3 Post by Congruous » Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:13 am

Because women will say stuff like that.

Maybe it's to illustrate that at that point in time Charlotte still felt she was tight with John and she didn't have eyes for another man. After all, she was the one who looked at Bob and smiled in the elevator, so she should have remembered him. He was still zonked from the flight. She was still 100% committed to her relationship with her husband. She was on her way to the monastary in Tokyo to try to "feel" something. After she went and didn't "feel" anything, she called Lauren and cried.
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#4 Post by jml2 » Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:25 pm

I suppose she didn't recognize him as the movie star Bob in the elevator, he was just some guy and she didn't remember the encounter later. In the bar she had time to look more closely and then she recognized him.

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#5 Post by A moment of silence » Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:25 pm

Congruous, when you say she was still 100% committed, what do you exaclty mean, she was still committed in the "Scarborough Fair" scene, yet she till flirted with Bob...

*Still, I believe something psychological may have been happening to her, maybe she was nervous because she was going to be on the streets alone for the first time(if that was the first)...or her crisis was bothering her a lot more or....
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#6 Post by jm » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:44 pm

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#7 Post by Congruous » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:56 am

What I mean is that at that point in the story (when they were in the elevator early in the movie), Charlotte was still (barely) holding onto the hope that her marriage was okay, and that maybe the problem lay solely with her (her inability to "feel"). I don't consider her little smile at Bob flirting, but I think her later saying that she didn't remember seeing him in the elevator is a bit disingenuous.

When she called Lauren later and started crying, I think she had reached the point where she knew she had a real problem on her hands. She had reached a crossroads. She didn't have to make a definitive decision right then and there, nor did she have to make a final decision within the time frame of the movie, but a new thought process opened up, and that is what led us into the next phase of the movie: How was she going to balance her desire to hold onto her marriage with her desire to have a fulfilling life?
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#8 Post by I65 » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:16 am

OK, I am a woman. I will always smile at a stranger. I will not remember what he (or she) looked like, and for me, a smile is not a flirt.

The only issue that I have is wether or not she new he was a celebrity in the elevator. I always thought she just didn't recognize him at that point. With their age difference, there is the possibility that she didn't. Perhaps she had never watched the action films he made before she was born.

I always thought that in the elevator, she happened to glance in his direction, saw him staring at her, smiled, and then looked back at the door. For her, it was an insignificant moment.

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#9 Post by A moment of silence » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:16 pm

True, true...it may have been an insignificant moment.
When I say she flirted I mean it...think about it, I don't know about this very well because I do not flirt nor am married, so don't feel like I am telling facts, I am just expressing thoughts.
She looked at him a lot, smiles a lot more, then offered him a-thing. I believe all of these acts show that she liked him somehow (this is in the Scarborough fair scene). Smiling is not flirting, you're right. I wrote my thoughts wrong---I smile at people too.
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#10 Post by I65 » Sat Dec 17, 2005 4:29 am

A moment of silence wrote:True, true...it may have been an insignificant moment.
When I say she flirted I mean it...think about it, I don't know about this very well because I do not flirt nor am married, so don't feel like I am telling facts, I am just expressing thoughts.
She looked at him a lot, smiles a lot more, then offered him a-thing. I believe all of these acts show that she liked him somehow (this is in the Scarborough fair scene). Smiling is not flirting, you're right. I wrote my thoughts wrong---I smile at people too.
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The Scarbourough scene was different, I agree, there was some flirting going on there. And I think the elevator scene was significant to Bill, just not to Scarlette.

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#11 Post by Congruous » Sat Dec 17, 2005 2:44 pm

AMOS, I'm sorry, the "Scarborough Fair" reference flew right over my dumb brain.

In that scene I would say she was definitely flirting. She was bored and sort of out of the loop with John and Charlie, and saw this odd man, formally dressed with makeup on his eyes, sitting across from her drinking whiskey and smoking a cigar. Bob handled himself perfectly when the waiter brought him the peanuts. The restraint of the two characters is what makes the scene so strong.
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#12 Post by A moment of silence » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:34 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't what charlotte does with the waiter and offering the nuts to Bob a move done often by men? And besides, not even men nowadays, but gentlemen from the olden days...I can be wrong, but when I saw this scene and I watched her take a stance it seemed very feministic and brave of her to make a move like that, it's a subtle kind of flirting, but also shows interest and appreciation. Also, now that I mention "olden days" I have been thinking lately, this film and most of its symbolism and the main characters' age gap reminds me of the movies of the 1930s-1950s.
If you get confused by what I said, just ask...it's ok.

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#13 Post by Congruous » Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:22 am

For sure, in the "olden days" a woman wouldn't make a move like that. But she was bored, and it wasn't like the situation was rife with danger. Plus the fact that she sent a little bowl of peanuts as opposed to a drink over to Bob added a humorous element to it.
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#14 Post by Pitman » Wed May 03, 2006 12:12 pm

I'm picking up this thread nearly 5 months later...lol

To add, I think when she saw Bob during the Scarborough Fair scene and sent over the peanuts, it was only because he may have looked familiar to her. And this because she did look at him in the elevator. Although she may not have consciously remembered him then, subconsciously she did. And that is why she may have made the first move at the bar.

All this is speculation, but it's fun.

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