November 28, 2022

Reflection

ESCAPES

I watched a movie last night.

The title was Wetherby - a 1985 British film. 

The  only actresses or actors in it that I recognized were Vanessa Redgrave and Judy Dench.

The last scene in the movie took place in a bar [Cf. video above]. It's a British pub or restaurant. A guy is sitting at a wall seat. A little table is in front of him. Jean Travers - a schoolteacher - played by Vanessa Redgrave - is sitting next to him at the same table. Both are facing out from a wall.

A waitress is pouring wine. She's younger - much younger than Vanessa. He is looking at her - but it seems like he is thinking about something else.

Vanessa asks the man how his wife is doing. There is small talk.  

The movie is about loneliness - and small talk - and faking it - and the decisions we all make. It's about hurt and confusion and trying to figure out another's motives.

The plot centers around John Morgan -  a character who commits suicide - by shooting himself in front of Jean Travers. The police are investigating the why.

This meeting with the man who kills himself triggers all kind of memories in Jean [Vanessa Redgrave.]

Vanessa is living a life with the experience of the man she loved.  He had gone off to Mandalay for 7 years.  They went to get married when he gets back or was it if he can get an apartment there for them?

He is killed - when a buddy of his and he go to a place to gamble.   His throat is slit. You see the plane flying the body home.

The police detectives send a young girl - who was connected to John Morgan - but snubbed him - to see Vanessa who is an odd duck. The detectives are  trying to figure out the dynamics of what happened.

The line in the movie that grabbed me was right at the end when they toast each other and the guy says, "To all our escapes."

I wondered: What are mine?