Author Topic: toothbrush scene  (Read 8035 times)

Offline kcristob

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toothbrush scene
« on: Jan 22, 2006, 03:33 PM »
One of my favorite scenes in the movie (I must have about a hundred favs now) is when ennis has decided to go "fishing" with Jack after their initial reunion night after the four years of no contact.  I mean, yes, it is painful in that Alma knows what's going on and it's so hurtful to her.  But the thrill for Ennis outweighs the pain for me.  He finally gets time with his real love.

So, I like the juxtaposition of the story alma hears of a hard night's drinking with an old friend to what the reality is:  two very well rested men who look good, clean, and happy and are "starving" for breakfast after a night of love.

And the clencher for me is Ennis racing around gathering stuff with his toothbrush in his mouth.  A toothbrush is hardly a priority for two crusty men ready for a couple of days of fishing.  I like how obvious the lie is.  It's out there for the world to see.  Ennis wants fresh breath!

I hope I haven't stirred the scenes out of sequence - whereever the toothbrush scene is, I LIKE IT.

Offline Toadily

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #1 on: Jan 22, 2006, 04:39 PM »
I never thought about that, good point. 
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Offline *Froggy*

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #2 on: Jan 22, 2006, 05:39 PM »
And the clencher for me is Ennis racing around gathering stuff with his toothbrush in his mouth.  A toothbrush is hardly a priority for two crusty men ready for a couple of days of fishing.  I like how obvious the lie is.  It's out there for the world to see.  Ennis wants fresh breath!

Good one!!!
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Offline smartestsonia

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #3 on: Oct 27, 2008, 08:27 AM »
One of my favorite scenes in the movie (I must have about a hundred favs now) is when ennis has decided to go "fishing" with Jack after their initial reunion night after the four years of no contact.  I mean, yes, it is painful in that Alma knows what's going on and it's so hurtful to her.  But the thrill for Ennis outweighs the pain for me.  He finally gets time with his real love.

So, I like the juxtaposition of the story alma hears of a hard night's drinking with an old friend to what the reality is:  two very well rested men who look good, clean, and happy and are "starving" for breakfast after a night of love.

And the clencher for me is Ennis racing around gathering stuff with his toothbrush in his mouth.  A toothbrush is hardly a priority for two crusty men ready for a couple of days of fishing.  I like how obvious the lie is.  It's out there for the world to see.  Ennis wants fresh breath!

I hope I haven't stirred the scenes out of sequence - whereever the toothbrush scene is, I LIKE IT.
Wow..I loved the way you have described this scene..ya, the excitement to be with Jack was huge for Ennis..after all the love was repressed for 4 long long years....the priority is just to be with Jack and to just get whatever he wants from home and leave to be with the man he loves..the excitement is obvious and is worth it <^( <^(

Offline rimasworld

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #4 on: Oct 27, 2008, 12:46 PM »
Yeah they did look pretty clean didn't they? Obvious they had access to a shower! I like the scene too and the toothbrush was the clincher sticking out of Ennis' mouth!

Offline myprivatejack

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #5 on: Oct 27, 2008, 05:45 PM »
What I like the most in this scene is the extreme happiness that one can perceive in Ennis delicious abstraction of everything what is surrounding him; the greatest example of this is the phrase "He's from Texas",when Alma is asking if his friend would have a cup of coffee. :i
However,I think that Ang wants to show us that never happiness is complete,to compare this just found with the one they had in BBM;they're the same,their love is the same,but their circomstances aren't already.And for this,he shows this happiness of theirs as an obstacle for Alma's own,so we see her crying and feeling alone; and,somehow,her happiness is also an obstacle for theirs,even if we see later that she wasn't the main problem really...
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
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You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline lancecowboy

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #6 on: Oct 27, 2008, 07:08 PM »
Yeah they did look pretty clean didn't they? Obvious they had access to a shower! I like the scene too and the toothbrush was the clincher sticking out of Ennis' mouth!

They've always looked freshly scrubbed even on the mountain minding 'em sheep. I don't think there was any dirt on 'em cowboys not even when they were wrestling the sheep after the hail storm.

Ennis, on the other hand, after the summer of '63, working on the road, on the ranch, started to get dirty, his hands started to get all kinds of scars. Jack was pretty as always, the rodeo cowboy. I don't know if Ang Lee did that on purpose, or if Heath did that himself. I suspect the two of them collaborated on the littlest detail to add authenticity. Ennis was always the perfect cowboy on that mountain, but life and poverty wore him down, just as surely as the life separated and love denied wore down Jack.

What I like the most in this scene is the extreme happiness that one can perceive in Ennis delicious abstraction of everything what is surrounding him; the greatest example of this is the phrase "He's from Texas",when Alma is asking if his friend would have a cup of coffee. :i
However,I think that Ang wants to show us that never happiness is complete,to compare this just found with the one they had in BBM;they're the same,their love is the same,but their circomstances aren't already.And for this,he shows this happiness of theirs as an obstacle for Alma's own,so we see her crying and feeling alone; and,somehow,her happiness is also an obstacle for theirs,even if we see later that she wasn't the main problem really...

I love the happiness in Ennis in this here scene as well, just as much as the happiness between him and Jack, just before Acquierre spied them with his binoculars. Ennis was horseplaying with Jack, grabbing his shirt and running off, then allowing Jack to catch him and wrestle him to the ground, both half naked. Those were the happiest, most unguarded moments when the innocent child in Ennis comes out to play. Alma was probably more hurt by the fact that she had never seen her husband so happy, except on their honeymoon in the snow. The betrayal is hurtful enough, but to see that a strange man can make him more happy more than she could...

To top it all off, she probably remembered about the postcard, and what Ennis said, ...fishing buddies....twang...that music is brutal.

He is from Texas...there goes our Ennis with his sense of humor...Jack would have laughed it off. Alma just didn't get it..."Texans don't drink coffee?"  The script writers are genius, too. The disconnect between them is now as complete as it gets...divorce is only a matter of time.

In a way, the toothbrush was an instrument of anticipation for Ennis, of good times; for Alma, it was an instrument of destruction, of her marriage, hope and dreams going out that door with the cowboy and the shiny new red truck.

Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline rimasworld

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #7 on: Oct 27, 2008, 08:05 PM »
What I like the most in this scene is the extreme happiness that one can perceive in Ennis delicious abstraction of everything what is surrounding him; the greatest example of this is the phrase "He's from Texas",when Alma is asking if his friend would have a cup of coffee. :i
However,I think that Ang wants to show us that never happiness is complete,to compare this just found with the one they had in BBM;they're the same,their love is the same,but their circomstances aren't already.And for this,he shows this happiness of theirs as an obstacle for Alma's own,so we see her crying and feeling alone; and,somehow,her happiness is also an obstacle for theirs,even if we see later that she wasn't the main problem really...
Yeah, the main problem wasn't Alma and the more I think on it the Fear wasn't either. Both I believe Ennis used kind of as a crutch to keep Jack at arms length not because he didn't love him but it was the shame factor holding Ennis prisoner I think most. He was ashamed of who he was and felt he must keep Jack hidden where nobody would find out. As long as those bounderies were kept he could sort of stand it. Maybe Alma knew but long as she didn't say anything it was ok, same with Jack as long as he met up with Ennis for those out in the middle of nowhere trips things were ok,but as soon as the confrontations from Alma and Jack hit him Ennis couldn't stand it going somewhat ballistic when cornered, with Alma almost hitting and with Jack total break down. I know Ennis was afraid from the childhood trauma but I feel he was even more afraid of being known as queer and loving a man. JMO and sorry if  *o)

Offline lancecowboy

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #8 on: Oct 27, 2008, 08:37 PM »
Yeah, the main problem wasn't Alma and the more I think on it the Fear wasn't either. Both I believe Ennis used kind of as a crutch to keep Jack at arms length not because he didn't love him but it was the shame factor holding Ennis prisoner I think most. He was ashamed of who he was and felt he must keep Jack hidden where nobody would find out. As long as those bounderies were kept he could sort of stand it. Maybe Alma knew but long as she didn't say anything it was ok, same with Jack as long as he met up with Ennis for those out in the middle of nowhere trips things were ok,but as soon as the confrontations from Alma and Jack hit him Ennis couldn't stand it going somewhat ballistic when cornered, with Alma almost hitting and with Jack total break down. I know Ennis was afraid from the childhood trauma but I feel he was even more afraid of being known as queer and loving a man. JMO and sorry if  *o)

I think you may be right, there. Ennis was so fearful and ashamed, that he could only be happy in the middle of nowhere, not just in the mountains, but also in his own mind.

To bring it back to topic, the tooth brush scene, and the shirt-wrestling scene, were moments when Ennis' guards were down, and unconsciously, he forgot about the fear and the shame, and lived only IN THE MOMENT, in the NOW of chewing on the that toothbrush, oh the symbolism we can subscribe in a single object!  ::) - the very HAPPY moment of being with the love of his life, that he should never have let out of his sight.


Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline tpe

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #9 on: Oct 28, 2008, 08:23 AM »
What I like the most in this scene is the extreme happiness that one can perceive in Ennis delicious abstraction of everything what is surrounding him; the greatest example of this is the phrase "He's from Texas",when Alma is asking if his friend would have a cup of coffee. :i
However,I think that Ang wants to show us that never happiness is complete,to compare this just found with the one they had in BBM;they're the same,their love is the same,but their circomstances aren't already.And for this,he shows this happiness of theirs as an obstacle for Alma's own,so we see her crying and feeling alone; and,somehow,her happiness is also an obstacle for theirs,even if we see later that she wasn't the main problem really...

An "abstraction" it was.  He was entirely oblivious to anything else, and the way he handled that toothbrush in his mouth seemed to reflect his preoccupation with what was on his mind...


Offline lancecowboy

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #10 on: Oct 28, 2008, 08:28 AM »
An "abstraction" it was.  He was entirely oblivious to anything else, and the way he handled that toothbrush in his mouth seemed to reflect his preoccupation with what was on his mind...

Yup, lost in thought, lost in love.
Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline tpe

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Re: toothbrush scene
« Reply #11 on: Oct 28, 2008, 08:30 AM »
Yup, lost in thought, lost in love.

I love your latter description best.  :)