Cinematic Details

[vardathemessage]

script:
Shannon suddenly grabs Mandy’s arm, glaring.
 
SHANNON
Don’t you ever tell Brian –

MANDY
Ow! Hey –

She  yanks free.

SHANNON
Swear to me you’ll never breathe a word of this – ever!
 

MANDY
I swear. Jesus.
 
Mandy gets up, rubbing her wrist, and walks off, not a little spooked.


What an odd scenario - the wife comforting the employee who's upset because the wife's husband is sleeping with someone else. Mandy's being sympathetic but she simply cannot understand Shannon's point of view since long ago she accepted that love and sex are not the same thing - a necessary trait when married to a rock star. Shannon's not crying for Mandy but because some romantic notions she had about Brian were shattered. Precisely what upset her is up for conjecture - is it because Brian went to bed with someone else or because that someone else was a man. The wild sex party was enough of a rite of passage for her, but then, seeing Brian naked bed with Curt forced her to think about what men do in bed together. Shannon - like Arthur - is an unsophisticated outsider who had no idea how the ramifications of a mere kiss would resonate in her life.

Comments

[happytogoblind.livejournal.com]

i also can never help thinking that the way mandy comforts shannon isn't without any emotions. She is bisexual and I think the way she rubs her arm to make her stop crying is very intimate - to Mandy it might mean nothing but Shannon would probably realise it if she wasn't that stressed out...just my thoughts...

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Mmm, very perceptive of you and I agree!

[havenstar.livejournal.com]

...this has always been one of the most confusing scenes of the movie for me. You cleared it up beautifully. This is a brilliant project and I'm so glad I stumbled across it. Thank you.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Thank you, darling. We're glad you dropped by and joined in. That's one hot icon!

[havenstar.livejournal.com]

The same most certainly goes for yours! Mmm, Brian.

[sor-bet.livejournal.com]

There was some good discussion about this scene on the imdb message board for VG. One theory about why she was so upset was that she realized that the two of them together as a couple wasn't just for publicity, that the romantic relationship between them was real. And someone made the excellent point that an orgy is public and impersonal, but two people going off to a room together is intimate, and that was upsetting to her as well.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Good points. They do seem to have violated the unwritten code by going off by themselves.

[buttercupgaud.livejournal.com]

I always wondered if for her (and obviously mandy) whether it was the fact that he was leaving the room to do it that was upsetting because he's having sex with a man before he leaves. But the fact that they leave to be completely alone suggests that this is about more than sex. Which is would shatter the allusions of both women, no? That's the way I always looked at it.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Yes, good point. Mandy tries to shrug it off but it was obviously a turning point for her and Brian's relationship. She is hiding her own concerns from Shannon, seen later as she walks down the hotel hallway, somewhat anxiously.