Incestuous, Weird

by Masha Tupitsyn

I love this scene from ADORE. They’re not together anymore. Years have passed. He is married, has a child. She is his mother’s best-friend from childhood. She’s an older woman (much older than him, I mean), so of course he was her last shot. They’re at the beach with the whole family. The whole movie is so Oedipal, incestuous, weird. He still loves her. Has always loved her. Cannot let her go. It never goes away. For him. For her. He is the opposite of a melancholic, he always wants to try again. Again. Again. He sees everything she’s feeling. The moment they are alone, he tells her not to hide what he sees. Her feelings for him. His feelings for her. He never pretends. There’s not even a segue here. The moment they have a moment alone together, he just says, without even looking at her, because he is always looking at her, and because the love is ongoing, “Take your glasses off.” Please don’t hide yourself from me. Some people want to mourn what they’ve lost. Others don’t.

Crossposted with Love Dog.