According to medical practitioners, psychopaths are born so, while sociopathy is a result of conditioning in childhood. He buys a few locks before the school sabotage and has a decisive plan regarding how to go about it. Kevins reaction is an indictment of both Eva and audiences expectations and their desire for his complicity in perpetrating the fraud. Kevin appears in a short sleeve red shirt as a toddler. Art and Divine Beauty: An Antidote to the Winter Blues, The Prodigal Son: How to Overcome the 3 Lies We Tell Ourselves. Eva and Franklin never seek psychiatric help for their son; they can't talk about Kevin without fighting. Did your prior experience help prepare you for some of what to expect on Quantumania? She is less interested in the nature vs nurture debate, more in the crippling weight of societal expectations of motherhood. KATY: Yeah, I mean, this obviously had the difference between TV and movie. There is no pattern. We Need to Talk About Kevin : r/books. In any other movie, that would be child abuse. Eva gets pregnant for a second time and gives birth to a little daughter Celia. This comes to a head when Kevin has learned that pooping his pants is the quickest way to his mother's heart, and the time she shows him the most attention - but that attention is always disgust. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a. Jokes are fine, but don't post tactless/inappropriate ones. This is also true of Eva, but we see the conflict in her about her son's mental state. Jake Martin, visit our special Oscars season blog, Movie Minister. Privacy Policy. At first glance, it would seem that Kevin is yet another installment in the pantheon of post-modern films intent upon assaulting the human desire to give meaning to the world. She created a relationship which encouraged him to act out as horribly as possible to get the most honest reactions from her, because she only ever showed him her real emotions when she was disgusted. He doesn't have the emotional capacity to have a disturbed son, and so has decided that he doesn't and that's the end of it. Matters worsen when she becomes pregnant with a daughter. "We Need to Talk About Kevin" leans into that debate, showcasing a resentful mother, a passive father, and a child with an untreated mental illness. It was a really short moment, and then yeah, I would have loved to have had some interaction with Janet, but that wasn't even in there. Does their parental neglect make them culpable for the lives he took? Be respectful! But the two most significant and poignant moments are found at the end of the film, when the 18-year-old Kevin, two years into a prison sentence for a heinous incident at his high school (yes, its as bad as you think), responds to his mothers query as to why he did what he did. Kevin is a defiant baby who screams incessantly but never around Franklin. Eva's elation is reflected in the room's warm yellows and flowers on the bedside table. About | As Kevin develops, he refuses to be potty-trained, mocks Eva and rejects her attempts at physical affection. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance,. True paternal love would have been expressed as abiding concern for the man his son could grow up to be if there really was a danger of mental illness, and result in the appropriate physical and mental health care to avoid a catastrophe. Little matters like washing blood red paint off the windows of her diminished home that angry residents have vandalized, become rituals of self-abnegation and penance. GameStop Moderna Pfizer Johnson & Johnson AstraZeneca Walgreens Best Buy Novavax SpaceX Tesla. As he grows up, we see him in a blue t-shirt, and consecutively, in a bland white one. Finally. When Kevin paints Evas room with color splashes, Eva thinks that Kevin wanted to ruin the room, but maybe he really wanted to make it more special. Maybe he is subtly telling others that his mother does not take care of him. Nature refers to how they were born, while nurture refers to how they were raised. Is her husband as zoned out as he seems or is that only her perception? While Eva and Franklin argue over the accident, Kevin taunts his mother by peeling a litchi, with a smug look on his face. Eva's point of view is obviously not reliable, and her segments are intended to portray that she's entered a cycle of deep self-abuse over having raised a psychopath. Does Eva's open contempt for Kevin drive him to darkness? All logos and images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies. Try refreshing this page.If the problem persists, contact our support contact our support In a fit of rage at Kevin's soiling his diapers (at 7), Eva throws him down and breaks his arm. It's been 10 years since its world premiere at Cannes, and we need to talk about what made it such a haunting meditation on motherhood. So, I'm personally glad that they distanced that part of the thing from this character, but there was so little overlap that - There's only seven comic books, I think, that have Jentorra in them - that we really did seem to have a lot more freedom to kind of create a fully new character for this. Like Lady Macbeth, she tries to scrub the guilt off her hands. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) photos, including production stills, premiere photos and other event photos, publicity photos, behind-the-scenes, and more. Eva is attempting to play the part of mommy as defined by popular culture; the cooing, gooey, all-encompassing ubiquitousness to her child. Haunted by the past, Eva's memories are triggered by sounds, objects and everyday minutiae. The real horror in the movie is society's dogmatic conception of motherhood, and the pressure to live up to it. February 24, 2023 at 12:05 PM ET. The story revolves around a family of four, but the main focus is on the relationship between the mother (Eva, played by Tilda Swinton) and the son (Kevin, played by Rock River, Jasper Newell and Ezra Miller). We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver plays with the deepest fears of the majority of people. Shortly after the incident with Celia, Kevin and his parents have a confrontation at the dining table. There are several red flags in the movie that indicates Kevins volatile dispositions, but an accurate diagnosis is not possible. Kevin abused his mother because she developed a relationship with him where he could have honest interactions with her if he did. He seems to recognize that he has some advantage over her. We're supposed to understand Kevin through Eva's flashbacks, which are indeed confusing, but not chronologically, where the difference lies solely in Tilda Swinton's hairstyle. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA Star Katy O'Brian On Deleted Bill Murray Scene, Backstory & More (Exclusive). The condition causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech. An early scene shows Eva apparently participating in an orgy in a lake of blood. Likewise, don't respond to trollish comments; just report them and ignore them. Instead, maternal ambivalence is coded as horror. Copyright | When asked about the film adaptation in an interview with The Guardian, Shriver said her biggest concern was if they'd be able to "capture the quality of the slightly unreliable narrator and the ambiguity over who is to blame. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is fragments of time, jagged and confusing, lurching around inside her mind. Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. Following the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we caught up with actress Katy O'Brian to talk about her MCU debut as Jentorra, deleted scenes with Bill Murray, and a whole lot more! Overview. For full Oscars coverage and commentary by its reviewer, Fr. describes the "nature vs. nurture" debate. Did you work with her individually on creating some of that dynamic since Jentorra is someone that's been in this fight a long time versus Cassie who is just beginning her fight against Kang? Fr. Based on Lionel Shriver's 2003 bestseller of the same name, Lynne Ramsay's 2011 film explores a broken family, mental illness, and the aftermath of a tragedy. From ths beginning of the movie they lay out the whole story, but it isn't until you watch the full thing that you piece everything together and get this larger than life story. It is a world where any attempts to offer a message of mercy, conversion and redemption must be done deftly and authentically, because at the end of the day, sometimes the community won't rally around you and more often than not Mr. Potter carries the day. Stripping the screenplay off words, the disturbance arises from a seamless amalgamation of image and sound. Being a child somehow means they're inherently innocent. Not sure I get the fuss about this one. Swinton is excellent as Eva, the reluctant mother tormented by her psychopathic son, and director Lynne Ramsay handles the disjointed time structure well, but that's about all I can commend about it. Last March, Bruce Willis family said his aphasia had affected his cognitive abilities. Privacy | Author Lionel Shriver on her early writing, politics, essential reading list and persevering out of 'sheer spite'. Or did Kevin turned this way because she messed him up from the very birth. Use the boards for extended discussion. Don't get in arguments with people here, or start long discussions. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is fragments of time, jagged and confusing, lurching around inside her mind. Kevin grows a liking for the fictional character of Robin Hood, and his father gifts him a bow and arrow. Through association and contextualization, it becomes evident that Kevin killed his father and sister with the new and powerful bow and arrow that he received as a Christmas present from his father. Her husband Franklin (John C. Reilly) dismisses her concerns and uproots their bustling city life for a quiet home in the suburbs. At first glance, it would seem that Kevin is yet another installment in the pantheon of post-modern films intent upon assaulting the human desire to give meaning to the world. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Kevin is a story of hope for a new millennium, an Its a Wonderful Life in the age of school shootings and planes crashing into buildings a world-weary world that has been bombarded by nihilistic themes in their narratives for the better part of a century. I watched this film several years ago and decided today I'd watch it again as I really enjoyed it the first time round! So, me, I'm surrounded by comedy, and I have to bring the reality of what's going on. The comedy had to come elsewhere there. While Eva is growing increasingly distrustful of Kevin, Franklin sides with his son and their marriage takes a hit. Going on, she again asks the question of responsibility and says, "I don't know. Eva often looks like she's in a state of shock. Shortly after, Eva goes back to the house. KATY: It was really different, obviously, than the comic book version. This is the fear of parenthood. And so is Eva. We Need to Talk About Kevin: Directed by Lynne Ramsay. In a film otherwise devoid of hope, these subtle suggestions give the audience a sense of comfort. Does she ever. Kevin is seen at three ages. For instance, post-partum depression similar to hers is very common and probably didn't do as much damage as she ascribes to it. Before the film opens, the character referred to in the title of Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, at the age of 15, has massacred a number of his fellow schoolmates. Most of the film in present time shows the ritual abuse and humiliation the bereft Eva suffers from the community that she continues to live in after Kevin's deeds. She finally gets her excuse to abandon Kevin but doesn't act on it. All of the performances are secondary to an urgently compelling narrative that is both agonizing to witness and impossible to look away from. When Eva goes to meet Kevin in the detention center, she asks him the same question. KATY: Yeah, I was so jealous, because I really loved it. KATY: We had this whole scene where we're all cheering at the end kind of thing. But it's also pretty surface level. Franklin, on the other hand, does not give him a path to honest interactions. The novel explores themes of nihilism, motherhood, the relationship between violence and depravity, and much more. The Ending Of We Need To Talk About Kevin Explained. The white curtains create an ambiance of premonition, and as the camera tracks forward, we see Franklin and Celia lying dead in the middle of the back garden, blood-drenched arrows stuck to their bodies like leeches. So, I think it'd be really cool to explore that either in future Quantum Realm stuff or if somehow I got sucked out into the surface world or something, any of that would be fun. The film moves without any pattern between past, present and who knows when. I felt like I kind of joked with Jeff Loveness on this, but I was like, Did you just watch 300 and write my character? Because it was a lot of like those single line, Get to the tower!, and just kind of like silly one liners and things that felt reminiscent of a lot of those just straight up warrior movies. From here he becomes a sociopathic teen with a rather keen interest in archery. Kevin is neither rational nor articulate enough to identify his desire, that is, to have an authentic and fully realized relationship with his mother. March 1, 2023, 6:00 a.m. While we are not sure whether Kevin consumed the eye itself, we know from the book that Kevin keeps Celias glass eye as a souvenir after assailing her. Nicoletta Vallorani in her essay Of women and children: Bad mothers as rough heroes, reads a Biblical metaphor into We Need to Talk About Kevin. It'd be so much fun. Eva can only play at being mommy, and so when Kevin refuses her attempts to breastfeed and is only appeased by the presence of his affable father, played by John C. Reilly, her whole world crashes down around her and her value as a person comes into question. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Because children are normally associated with innocence, creepy children are a tried concept in horror films. Yet it is in those infrequent instances of relief, conversion and mercy that the film finds its identity and direction. It seems that Kevin wears old and small clothes to bring her mothers neglect to the worlds attention. This is not entirely his fault. We see her birthing of him as rather fraught and his incessant crying drives her nearly mad. Community Guidelines | The kind of clothes one chooses is also indicative of ones social status. A flashback, from long before Kevin was born, shows Eva at La Tomatina, celebrating with the crowd. A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the relationship between a mother and her evil son. Will, get up. The bed, the gown, and the walls bleed into each other in their cold whiteness, externalising her inner state of mind. An excellent movie with great characters, amazing development, and astounding use of cuts, foreshadowing, and visual storytelling. Eva takes incessant trips down memory lane to cope with her past loss. For more information, please see our He's positive, cheerful, disconnected; he always behaves as nicely as he can, and in doing so, suggests his profound cluelessness. ROHAN: You have a few scenes with Kathryn Newton, who is playing Cassie, in the film. Cookie Notice But by the time he is a seven year-old, he starts to act in ways that seem in excess of whatever defects in mother love he may be getting. There's the Good Mother, like Diane Freeling who travels to another dimension to save her daughter in Poltergeist. Theres a possibility that maybe before all this happened that there was that naivete to Jentorra, but yeah, I don't know that she was re-inspired by Cassies energy, I guess, as much as like, Hey, this is the real world and you need to kind of catch up to where we are.. For mothers always seem to be on trial. For instance, the ball game Eva plays with a toddler Kevin: when Kevin successfully rolls the ball back to her, her praise is strained and brittle. We see it perfectly after he blinds Celia - Eva attempts to confront him about what he's done, and he sits chewing a water chestnut to impress the image of plucking out an eye on Eva, just to watch the horror on her face. This turns out to be some sort of annual Italian tomato festival, but the image is disturbing. His final act of brutality a school massacre in addition to murdering his father and sister destroys any semblance of normalcy for Eva. He completely denies the reality of Kevin's personality and identity, and thus any agency over their relationship. Kevin does not play ball, and he becomes increasingly manipulative. Trademark | The moments of Grace are, as they should be, not in moments like the dinner scene but in the unexpected. Kevin poops in his pants, and thinking this act to be deliberate, Eva throws him to the ground, breaking his arm. Her emotional state doesnt change even when Kevin is born. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined. Fun Fact: Ezra Miller is not a great person, Did not expect Steve Brule to be Kevin's father, can't help thinking how twisted but how well so much of this film would work with a laugh track [2]. 112 minutes What feels like a simple story feels so much larger due to the development of every character and the world around them, it almost feels like you know these characters personally and feel for them when something happens, that is a what great movie does. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined. Franklin's story is simpler but in some ways I think it's worse. Eva repeatedly tries and fails to create a bond with her son according to traditional societal expectations. Eva Khatchadourian, a former travelogue writer, lives in a rundown shack in an American suburb and goes to meet her son. Kevin is a defiant baby who screams incessantly but never around Franklin. These people live there, but they've never moved in. It's very hard for me to take things seriously, I love to crack jokes and everything, and, I mean, they're so funny off-set, even the guy that played Xolum, James Cutler, he's so funny, and he's just screaming random stuff, when you're trying to be serious, and just all of a sudden, this yell comes out of nowhere, and you're trying to just keep a straight face. Helmed by Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay based on the Orange Prize-winning eponymous 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin is a jarring, erratic, and sometimes profoundly disturbing 2011 psychological thriller that creates an uncanny place in the viewers mind. 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