Another Life

Percy was somewhat like Soames in Forsyte Saga in his desire to control the object of his affections. I don't think I'd be able to live with someone like that, especially for a free spirit like Edie, it would be difficult. I suppose one advantage Freddy and Edie would have had was that he was gone alot and she would have had more freedom. Then again, she might have gone looking for "another perfect man". Hard to know. Ioan does do an excellent job playing both the ruffian side and the sensitive side of Freddy. And to my ear, his accent is very well done. Perhaps to someone in Britain, they'd hear more discrepancies, but I thought he did a wonderful job.

No, I agree with you, GG! Ioan's London accent was good - especially the way it intensifies with Freddy's emotion. The way I see it Percy is controlling, but in a different way to Soames. Percy is self-centred and spoilt, a hypochondriac - he wants to control Edie because that's the only bit of power he can have in his hum-drum little world. Soames, however, is generally about power, contolling a large proportion of the world around him and assuming Irene fits into this picture. What I think links both the cuckolded husbands is their realisation thet their wives are getting something they can never provide them with - excitement, danger, passion. Percy seems to be a hidebound, repressed, priggish individual once he is married, but Soames, to me, seems to wish a little that he could act like Bossiney. he wants Irene to look at him the way she looks at Phil.....

That is a wonderful assessment of the differences between Percy and Soames. I think your right on the power issue and how it differs with each man. I never thought about the fact that Soames would want to act like Bossiney, but I can certainly see your point in that. I may have to take another look at that. Question now - Do you think either Freddy or Bossiney was looking for that power over Edie or Irene? Or what was it he saw in them? I can see the fire in Edie that would have attracted Freddy, but Irene was sophisticated, but somewhat dull. What would have been the appeal for Bossiney? The excitement of an older woman? ( Hope for us cougars, yet? :wink: )

I don't think that Phil and Freddy are very similar characters, except that they both want 'forbidden fruit'. To me, Phil is idealistic. I think he truly believes Irene will leave Soames for him (I'm not so sure she ever would have). He has a rather immature artists view of life that discounts the practicalities. We see this in his architectural work - he refuses to be contained by anything so practical as money. Soames comes to represent money and all that is boring and repressive about life. When Phil finds himself mired in the constraints of contracts, he can't cope and becomes ever more fanciful. Freddy on the other hand, knows exactly what he's doing and he's enjoying every minute of it. He loves Edie, but he does not return her 'imaginative' letters in kind and his attempts at being sophsticated are endearing, but crass. Neither of them seem to think about consequences - Phil is a dreamer and Freddy takes what comes. When he becomes frustrated that Edie remains with Percy, he allows himself to be caught up in her 'plan' and seems to use Percy's murder as the ultimate proof of his devotion. Yes, I think it was the fire in Edie that attracted Freddy, but also think he came to see it as his mission to release her from her prison, in some way.How long he would have stayed around, had they got away with it, I'm not sure. Phil's a little more difficult, isn't he? He obviously stirs a passion in Irene that Soames can't. She comes alive when he's with her. And some men are drawn to cold, aloof beauty. But I think he sees the Irene within that is every bit as fiery as Edie. Perhaps Freddy is drawn to what he can see and Phil to what he can't? Do the cougars have hidden fire, GG? Then there's hope yet..... :wink:

In the U.S. Cougars are older women who use there wiles to attract a younger man, so yes I suppose there is a little fire involved. You're right though Freddy and Bossiney have similar motivations for their actions, they are not similar at all as characters. I can see Bossiney perhaps defending his love to Soames, but never killing him. I think he'd be willing to run off with Irene or if he was kept waiting too long, learn from the experience, find another woman and move on with life, always mourning the loss of Irene's love. Freddy it seems was willing to move on at one point, but tortured himself and tried to punish Edie by coming back like moth to flame taking up with Avis again. Of course, Edie having none of that snatched him back in. Because of Eddie's impulsiveness, lack of sophisticated intelligence and living in the now rather than the future, he was led down a different path than Bossiney would have taken. Hmm! many more things to think about as Freddy and Bossiney are quite different if in a similar situation.

Hi Stevie and GG, I've been fortunate lately in being able to watch some of Ioan's earlier movies, one being "Another Life".------------ Both of your comments on Freddy and Soames are fun to read, and I see exactly what each of you is talking about. As I viewed the film, some words and phrases started to surface for me, describing some of the characters........---------------Freddy Edward Francis Bywaters is: seething, smoldering, feral, visceral, a tightly-wound spring, physically-oriented, live-for-the-moment, wandering, merchant mariner, dreamer, salty, spicy, energized, thought to be "worldly" (by Edie, at least!), exciting, careless, feckless, spontaneous, lost...................-------------------------Edie: wants to be a "Modern" woman, Flapper Girl, Roaring 20's, Sufferage Movement, bold, flippant, speakeasy, voh-doh-dee-oh-doh!!, "The New Woman", dreamer, wild-streak, who-cares-about-consequences, simmering, bubbling, vibrant, pretty, careless, out of reality, shattered, frail, delicate, numb, lost.....................-------------------------Percy is: an old stick, tries to control---and can't, sees his manhood being insulted and is bitter, married too quickly and thoughtlessly, is a "faker" (heart ailment), a big grown-up baby to be taken care of, used to being waited on by Mama and now can't get his 'modern' wife to do the same, is sadly to be pitied (in a way) because he's already dead---before Freddy kills him, bland, doesn't really know how to love anybody.................................---------------------How am I doing?? ----------------------------The ending of this film is going to stick with me for quite some time, I think. Edie is SO broken,hysterically frightened, and vulnerable, you nearly,and I say NEARLY, want to forgive her her indiscretions. Can't do that tho'....it wouldn't be a true story then, would it? What do y'all think?

Really enjoyed your contribution to the discussion, Shipmate - Very exacting and well chosen descriptions of all the characters. I do think that Ioan brings a touch of sensitivity and vulnerability to Freddie, especially when he is with Avis on the beach and he knows that he has hurt her. But, he does seem to think - Problem resolved - time to move on. I do think Freddy's sometimes feckless behavior came about as a combined reaction to the rougher life he has lived and his way of covering up and stuffing down his more sensitive side. I've only been all the way throught the movie once, so my thoughts may change. Guess I'll have to take another look :naughty at Another Life.

Oh yes! This film definitely deserves more than one viewing!!!!! Freddie,I will concede, is vulnerable and sensitive,.........but only to a certain point........then, his baser instincts begin to seep out, and as he says to Edie as he pins her up against the wall,......"I'm tired of words, woRDS, WORDS! He lets his emotions rule a little too quickly, and that's partly what brings on his crime of passion. He's a wound-up spring,ready to "SPROING". And, finally does......-------------As for poor Avis, She is just a pretty little watch-fob bauble Freddie can add to his cast aside collection. I'm sorry for her much the same way that I felt for Junie in Forsyte Saga.

I think Freddy's first round with Avis is a bit more innocent. He knows she's older and he's just having fun. The fact that she has more expectations than a good time seems to take him by surprise. The second time around with Avis, he certainly knows exactly how she feels about him and he uses her to make Edie jealous, but yet he can claim innocence because he told Avis he didn't love her. That time around he's much more callous. That is probably the most calculating thing Freddy does. As you said, he is more often ruled by his mercurial changes of temperment than thinking events through to the end game.

Yes, he's generally a pathetic slave to his pent-up emotions, isn't he? And, it's partly what does Edie and him in at the end.--------------I know I'm changing gears here,but at the very end, when Avis is reading the letter Edie has left for her and Avis puts it away in the chest, it's so interesting to me how the letter is signed "Edith", not "Edie". She had come back to her former self. She had lived "Another Life". She wanted Avis to know this somehow. Sadly, too late.

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