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Feminist Movie Wednesday: Circle of Friends · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff.
0:07
Speaker 1: I never told your production of iHeartRadio.
0:18
Speaker 2: And for this month's movie pick, I'm calling it Whimsical
0:22
Speaker 2: Wednesday because that's when it's being released. Just in case
0:25
Speaker 2: you need to know. There has been a bit of
0:27
Speaker 2: a delay because it was supposed to actually be recorded
0:29
Speaker 2: last week Today's three twenty six, but because of the
0:34
Speaker 2: squeaky raspy voice, which is still happening. But it's still better,
0:38
Speaker 2: about five times better than what it was last week.
0:40
Speaker 2: Y'all it was. It was rough. Yeah, listen to past
0:44
Speaker 2: episodes because y'all have pollen. Here is no joke. I
0:49
Speaker 2: was telling Annie that when I drove my car, the
0:52
Speaker 2: amount of pollen yellow dust that sprayed back onto my
0:57
Speaker 2: car again was like a windstorm, a sandstorm, and everything
1:02
Speaker 2: has been in a yellow haze. That ridiculous cold Play
1:06
Speaker 2: song is in my head. It was all yellow.
1:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's intense. It's also impacted the other show I'm
1:18
Speaker 1: on Saver, so I am fortunate to knock on wood.
1:26
Speaker 1: No allergies for me.
1:28
Speaker 2: Well, pray for us in the South. We ain't okay,
1:34
Speaker 2: we hain'te okay anyway. But with all of that also,
1:37
Speaker 2: because this is one of those movies that was one
1:41
Speaker 2: of my teenage classic favorites. I love, love, love to
1:45
Speaker 2: watch it repeatedly, read the book, love everything about it.
1:48
Speaker 2: Was so excited to watch it again. Realized I may
1:52
Speaker 2: have just been running on teenage hormones for this movie specifically.
1:58
Speaker 2: But yes, we are talking about in nineteen ninety five
2:01
Speaker 2: classic suckle Offerends, and not to be confused with the
2:05
Speaker 2: one on Prime right now, which is a completely different film,
2:09
Speaker 2: right Annie.
2:11
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I almost made this mistake. And I'm glad
2:17
Speaker 1: I checked in with Samantha because I have watched the
2:19
Speaker 1: wrong thing before for this segment, and you had told
2:25
Speaker 1: me about this movie which I never heard of, and
2:28
Speaker 1: I was reading the description of what I found, and
2:32
Speaker 1: I just thought, this doesn't sound like the teenage Irish
2:36
Speaker 1: rump that's promised me it was. I had like murder, death,
2:45
Speaker 1: all of this stuff. So I'm very glad I checked
2:50
Speaker 1: because that would have been unfortunate that it would have
2:52
Speaker 1: been a comical if I had come in with watching
2:56
Speaker 1: that and not knowing I'd watched the wrong thing. But
3:00
Speaker 1: we tried to run a smoother ship than that.
3:02
Speaker 2: Here I was really glad. I was really glad you ask,
3:05
Speaker 2: because when I clicked on, I was like, what what
3:08
Speaker 2: is this?
3:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, so don't make that mistake, listener.
3:12
Speaker 2: Don't watch it on Prime. Weirdly, I was able to
3:15
Speaker 2: just to google it and it was up on YouTube
3:17
Speaker 2: for free. Because it's not anywhere. You can't even buy
3:20
Speaker 2: it on Amazon. I discovered that you can buy it
3:22
Speaker 2: on Apple Play.
3:25
Speaker 1: Huh not.
3:27
Speaker 2: Apple TV No, sorry, so not sponsors obviously, but interestingly, yeah,
3:31
Speaker 2: it is that old. I guess no one cares about
3:33
Speaker 2: as much as I do.
3:34
Speaker 1: That old.
3:37
Speaker 2: I don't think it's old. But you see this?
3:40
Speaker 1: Where did you originally see this?
3:44
Speaker 2: I think I'll rented it? Okay, okay, back in the
3:48
Speaker 2: VHS rental days, I was trying to somewhere.
3:52
Speaker 1: Like the A Green Gable situation of like a the
3:55
Speaker 1: BBC not the BBC, CBC. I thought that that maybe
4:01
Speaker 1: was the case.
4:02
Speaker 2: Interesting Okay, No, it's definitely not all PBS, which is
4:07
Speaker 2: why I watched Gables because they played a lot of
4:10
Speaker 2: you know.
4:10
Speaker 1: Now that you say that, I think it's the subject
4:12
Speaker 1: matter that makes sense.
4:13
Speaker 2: No, this is not a lighthearted childhood film. It is
4:17
Speaker 2: PG thirteen. Oh, but it is PG.
4:20
Speaker 1: Thirteen, I see give it that.
4:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. So this was is an adaptation of May Benchi's book,
4:29
Speaker 2: which again I read and I loved. I actually do
4:32
Speaker 2: appreciate her version more, even though she did help write
4:35
Speaker 2: the screenplay. So this is her screenplay. She approved all
4:37
Speaker 2: of all the things, but in it and just to
4:41
Speaker 2: get to give a heads up like she doesn't. She
4:44
Speaker 2: doesn't have a tightly knit bow at the end of it.
4:47
Speaker 2: She doesn't give it like forgiveness that the movie does,
4:51
Speaker 2: which I appreciated because some things are not okay. Betrayal
4:56
Speaker 2: is not okay. Anyway back to yeah, so this has
5:01
Speaker 2: my childhood crush. I definitely had a crush on both
5:05
Speaker 2: Chris o'donald and Mini Driver. Who are these stars in
5:10
Speaker 2: this movie. They were a big developmental moment for me,
5:14
Speaker 2: I think in general because Mini Driver this is the
5:17
Speaker 2: first time I'd ever seen her in anything. This was
5:20
Speaker 2: before Goodwill Hunting, which was kind of like her breakthrough
5:25
Speaker 2: American film, and in it, she's so fun and like,
5:30
Speaker 2: you know, very down to earth, also very skinny, and
5:34
Speaker 2: during the time of the nineties, if you know anything
5:37
Speaker 2: about the nineties, it was all about being like that
5:39
Speaker 2: rail model thin look and she kind of pushed back
5:44
Speaker 2: against that. In this this movie. Of course, we're going
5:48
Speaker 2: to talk about a lot of like body insecurities and
5:51
Speaker 2: all that because it is mentioned, but the fact that
5:54
Speaker 2: she just looked genuinely happy and she was the main
5:58
Speaker 2: focus in the love story as being quote unquote a
6:00
Speaker 2: bigger girl, bigger gal made me love her. I loved
6:05
Speaker 2: Mini driver she was. I wanted to be her best friend.
6:10
Speaker 2: I was very like, like, I wanted that. And then
6:12
Speaker 2: Chris o'donald, he has had my heart from the beginning.
6:19
Speaker 1: Uh huh, Well we talked about this because I had
6:23
Speaker 1: a crush on him too, but mine is from the
6:26
Speaker 1: Batman and Robin.
6:28
Speaker 2: And then they's a little sad. I watched Batman and
6:30
Speaker 2: Robin because he was in it, but he that was
6:33
Speaker 2: I was like, no, no, not mine, not my Crystal o'donald.
6:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's no good. I went through a crushes hard
6:41
Speaker 1: and fast when I.
6:42
Speaker 2: Was young, so oh I kept them.
6:45
Speaker 1: I kept some of them, obviously, but a lot of
6:48
Speaker 1: them were like beyond here, today, gone tomorrow.
6:53
Speaker 2: Cryst o'donald was my love because of a circle of friends.
6:58
Speaker 2: I also watched him and he was in a movie
7:02
Speaker 2: with Brendan Fraser school Ties, which is also interesting George,
7:08
Speaker 2: because he's not a good guy in school Ties if
7:10
Speaker 2: I remember correctly. I don't think he's the worst guy,
7:14
Speaker 2: but he's not a good guy in school Ties. Have
7:17
Speaker 2: you ever seen that movie? Nope, this was one of
7:20
Speaker 2: his Uh this he being Brendan Fraser's big like dramatic movies.
7:27
Speaker 2: He plays a Jewish student m h in the nineteenth
7:31
Speaker 2: sixties I believe fifties, sixties maybe forties, So you go
7:35
Speaker 2: with that as yeah, yeah, Scent of a Woman Fried
7:41
Speaker 2: Green Tomatoes. He was also in that.
7:44
Speaker 1: We watched that, didn't we.
7:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did. He was only in it for a second, remember,
7:48
Speaker 2: Ohky because he was buddy and then he gets front
7:51
Speaker 2: number by train oh man, but he has to die
7:55
Speaker 2: in order for the two women to like, you know,
7:58
Speaker 2: beat again. Yeah Ish anyway, but yes, he was a
8:02
Speaker 2: man that I truly adored growing up. I thought he
8:07
Speaker 2: was amazing, madly in love with him. I think I
8:12
Speaker 2: stayed with that till I was like older and realized
8:17
Speaker 2: I will never meet this man. And also he's not Irish.
8:22
Speaker 2: Oh he doesn't have that Irish.
8:25
Speaker 1: I had to ask you about that. I was like
8:27
Speaker 1: is the Irish.
8:28
Speaker 2: I mean, I believe, yes, genetically that is his lineage.
8:35
Speaker 2: Accent wise not so much, not so much, not so much.
8:39
Speaker 2: But with that, yes, he was my crush. So there's
8:42
Speaker 2: a lot of teenage hormones that drew me to this movie.
8:45
Speaker 2: I did not realize how horny this movie was until
8:48
Speaker 2: I rewatched it in my forties and I'm like, oh oh,
8:53
Speaker 2: I was seriously repressed.
8:57
Speaker 1: I have to admit when I was watching, I was like, I.
9:02
Speaker 2: Really forgot all of those tensions. But it does kind
9:06
Speaker 2: of go like, there's so many things that I ignored
9:08
Speaker 2: with some of the bigger pictures of this movie. But again,
9:14
Speaker 2: it is a teenage coming of age story for sure,
9:18
Speaker 2: so we're gonna get into it. Yes, so may've ben
9:20
Speaker 2: She was definitely a part of the making of this movie.
9:23
Speaker 2: A least she may have a whole series with these characters.
9:25
Speaker 2: I can't remember for sure. I know she has other books,
9:27
Speaker 2: obviously she is a very well known writer, but I
9:30
Speaker 2: want to say she does. So to get into the plot,
9:33
Speaker 2: we have Benedict or Benny, played by Minnie Driver, and
9:38
Speaker 2: her orphan friend Eve, who is played by Geraldine Ora,
9:42
Speaker 2: who grew up in the small town of Knocklin, and
9:45
Speaker 2: as they go get older, they go off to college
9:48
Speaker 2: in Dublin. Also should be known that they are very Catholic.
9:51
Speaker 2: Their families are Catholic, to the point that Eve was
9:53
Speaker 2: raised by the nuns even though she was an orphan,
9:56
Speaker 2: but that's how she was raised, and the nuns also
9:59
Speaker 2: keep up with her prom that was something that she
10:02
Speaker 2: inherited from her father, all those things. So they go
10:07
Speaker 2: to college in Dublin. There's all this like excitement happening. Eve.
10:11
Speaker 2: It's going to have to move to Dublin and we'll
10:14
Speaker 2: be staying at a convent there while Benny will be
10:17
Speaker 2: remaining home, but go and taking the bus back and forth,
10:20
Speaker 2: which is quite a big trick for her, but gotta
10:22
Speaker 2: do what she's got to do. Had to compromise to
10:24
Speaker 2: be able to go to the big city to school. There,
10:28
Speaker 2: they meet their long lost friend Nan, who was known
10:31
Speaker 2: for her beauty ever since she was a child they had,
10:34
Speaker 2: but she had moved away and moved to Dublin at
10:37
Speaker 2: a young age, so they lost touch. But they reconnect
10:40
Speaker 2: there and then we also get to meet a group
10:43
Speaker 2: of boys which included Jack Foley, who was played by
10:46
Speaker 2: Chris O'donald May love interests, and we have Aiden played
10:50
Speaker 2: by Aidan Gillian, the villain of Game of Thrones little Finger.
10:54
Speaker 1: Oh oh I know, yeah.
10:57
Speaker 2: Those familiar faces and I'm like, oh my gosh, oh
10:59
Speaker 2: my god. We also have the introduction of Sean, who
11:04
Speaker 2: is played by Alan Cumming, who I actually adore now,
11:07
Speaker 2: but this character made me so creeped out by him.
11:10
Speaker 2: He did such a good job with this role, but
11:13
Speaker 2: I despised him.
11:15
Speaker 1: It was strange for me because I've never seen this.
11:17
Speaker 1: I've only seen like his newer stuff, right, and I
11:20
Speaker 1: was like, whoa.
11:25
Speaker 2: Character so well? Too well? And then we also have
11:30
Speaker 2: we're gonna see Colin Firth also, this is also one
11:33
Speaker 2: of the movies that made me creeped out by him.
11:35
Speaker 2: It took until Pride and Prejudice for me to really
11:37
Speaker 2: appreciate who Colin Firth was as an Englishman. I put
11:42
Speaker 2: that there. But in this role who he plays Simon Westwood,
11:46
Speaker 2: who is an Englishman who comes ann is one of
11:49
Speaker 2: the rich folk of Knocklin and obviously has a reputation
11:54
Speaker 2: there really creepy role though. Really despised this role.
12:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, now you're breaking it down, there's not a lot
12:02
Speaker 1: of good guys in this.
12:04
Speaker 2: Even the good guys aren't good guys. Yeah, even the
12:09
Speaker 2: good guys aren't good guys. But that's kind of that
12:11
Speaker 2: level of like all men or horny yeah in conversation.
12:17
Speaker 2: But anyway, So we have been introduced to the majority
12:21
Speaker 2: of characters here, and here we are learning that they
12:25
Speaker 2: all take class together. Nan introduces the boys to the
12:28
Speaker 2: to the young ladies. They become kind of a group.
12:30
Speaker 2: We have a rugby scene. That rugby scene was nice,
12:34
Speaker 2: It's not gonna lie, where we see a Jack flirting
12:38
Speaker 2: with Benny and Bennie having a moment of like, yes,
12:43
Speaker 2: this is the man. At the same time, we come
12:46
Speaker 2: back knowing that Bennie is expected to possibly marry Sean
12:50
Speaker 2: to help with the business, who he has been brown
12:53
Speaker 2: nosing her parents the entire time to help with the
12:56
Speaker 2: business as well. So he has a whole plan and
12:58
Speaker 2: that includes marrying Benny. He obviously is attracted to her,
13:04
Speaker 2: but in a creepy way, very creepy insert weird movie
13:08
Speaker 2: scene here, and she tells them I'm not interested and
13:11
Speaker 2: that she doesn't she doesn't want anything to do with him.
13:13
Speaker 2: But he's like, oh, this is for your family. Type
13:16
Speaker 2: of conversation. We move on, we have gatherings. It's fun.
13:20
Speaker 2: We get to see them all go out together. And
13:22
Speaker 2: here we have Jack Letting inviting Benny after they kind
13:27
Speaker 2: of run into each other at Knocklinn when he is
13:29
Speaker 2: helping his dad visit an old friend and they get
13:33
Speaker 2: to Benny and Jack get a little closer and he
13:36
Speaker 2: talks about how he's so easy talking to her, all
13:39
Speaker 2: the nice things, and he's like, you know, we're gonna
13:42
Speaker 2: do this thing. Would you like to come with us?
13:44
Speaker 2: And she's like yes. She comes back excitedly tells Nan
13:47
Speaker 2: and Eve and then Nan being Nan, so it's like, yeah,
13:50
Speaker 2: we're all going. He invited us all and she's like oh,
13:54
Speaker 2: and then they realize I'm mistake of the black but
13:56
Speaker 2: he invited you personally, Benny, you know type of thing.
14:00
Speaker 2: So she's like, yeah, yeah, but what do I wear?
14:01
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I don't want to look fat? All
14:03
Speaker 2: these things, which again is a conversation that I would
14:06
Speaker 2: also have. And we have cut scene where they're getting
14:10
Speaker 2: dressed and we get to see Bennie in a beautiful,
14:12
Speaker 2: very low cut dress where she talks about they're going
14:14
Speaker 2: to slip out and they do kind of look like
14:16
Speaker 2: they might slip out, but she does also say that
14:19
Speaker 2: she does feel pretty and she looks good, and I'm like, oh,
14:23
Speaker 2: I think that my minute was so sweet. We go
14:25
Speaker 2: to them at the concert and we see that Jack
14:28
Speaker 2: is dancing with every girl but him. At one point, Aiden,
14:32
Speaker 2: who is a friend, dances with Bennie and tells Bennie
14:35
Speaker 2: that he asked all the women out because he liked
14:37
Speaker 2: all of them and he didn't know who was his favorite,
14:40
Speaker 2: which is rude. By the way, rude. Aiden says that
14:43
Speaker 2: he likes Eve and she's like. Bennie's like, well, why
14:46
Speaker 2: are you dancing with me if you obviously want to
14:48
Speaker 2: dance with Eve? And by the way, they look like
14:50
Speaker 2: they're struggling dancing seems like a struggle for the two
14:53
Speaker 2: of them, and as we go on, Eve does dance
14:59
Speaker 2: with Aiden. They are obvious they are getting closer. Bennie
15:02
Speaker 2: has had enough. She's kind of feeling embarrassed and sad,
15:04
Speaker 2: so she decides to go out and possibly leave. Jack
15:08
Speaker 2: stops her and he's like, you know, I always save
15:10
Speaker 2: the best for last. Come dance with me. So we
15:12
Speaker 2: have the beginning of their relationship. During this time, we
15:16
Speaker 2: found out that Nana had plans in trying to get
15:19
Speaker 2: a rich man for herself, and that includes after she
15:23
Speaker 2: runs into they run into Simon Westward. That's her new prize,
15:27
Speaker 2: so she is on a plan to get with him
15:29
Speaker 2: and they start getting together. All the hormones are happening.
15:33
Speaker 2: During class, they're talking about the sex lives of savages.
15:37
Speaker 2: It is very racist, and I'm like, oh, but again
15:40
Speaker 2: this is placed in the nineteen forties. Moving on, and
15:43
Speaker 2: during the time, of course, we have a lot of
15:45
Speaker 2: like intermingling of conversations about sex and young kids and
15:50
Speaker 2: Catholicism and what that looks like. We have the fact
15:54
Speaker 2: that there is condoms that they could buy from the French,
15:59
Speaker 2: which they call letters or French letters, you know, because
16:02
Speaker 2: only the French would have such things. And during this
16:07
Speaker 2: time Jackson should not bring home some and she's like,
16:10
Speaker 2: Manny goes, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, all these things.
16:13
Speaker 2: We also have a really funny then, which I think
16:15
Speaker 2: is so iconic of Eve. Eve is obviously portrayed as
16:19
Speaker 2: the proud of the of the and the most strict
16:22
Speaker 2: of the three, in which there's a scene between Aiden
16:27
Speaker 2: and Eve in the cottage just they're fixing it up.
16:32
Speaker 2: They play suggess or checkers. They're playing a game they mega,
16:36
Speaker 2: but she loses and he's like, you have to hold it,
16:41
Speaker 2: and her response says, Okay, I'll hold it, but I'm
16:43
Speaker 2: not gonna wiggle it about or check it about. I
16:47
Speaker 2: think that's one of the best funniest lines I've ever
16:49
Speaker 2: heard in my life, and they do it so seriously.
16:53
Speaker 2: But during this entire time, of course, we have a
16:56
Speaker 2: moment in which Ben confronts her dad about him wanting
17:03
Speaker 2: her to marry Sean. How she wants to stay in Dublin,
17:07
Speaker 2: live in Dublin and live her life, and it's obviously
17:10
Speaker 2: they don't want her there. They want her to keep
17:12
Speaker 2: her safe, wholesome and follow the plan. And during this
17:16
Speaker 2: argument it gets a little heated. The next morning we
17:20
Speaker 2: see that her father passes away and we have a
17:23
Speaker 2: moment where she's kind of like lost and sad having
17:26
Speaker 2: to stay at home. She can't be at the school
17:29
Speaker 2: just to run the business, help her mom get everything straight.
17:32
Speaker 2: Sean is right there, and she really is very suspicious
17:35
Speaker 2: of Sean him and his double entry system, which kid's
17:39
Speaker 2: very confusing for everyone because they keep losing money, and
17:41
Speaker 2: they don't understand why they're losing money when their business
17:44
Speaker 2: is good. All the while the kids at school are
17:46
Speaker 2: still doing their thing without her. At one point, we
17:50
Speaker 2: do find that Nan is pregnant with Simon Westborth's baby,
17:54
Speaker 2: and after Simon Westword is like, I can't marry you.
17:57
Speaker 2: I have to marry someone rich. I'm sorry, you're a
17:59
Speaker 2: cool girl. No, you need to go have an abortion,
18:01
Speaker 2: and she's like, I'm Catholic, I can't do that. She
18:04
Speaker 2: comes up with another plan and decides that she needs
18:07
Speaker 2: to find someone who could take care of her, and
18:09
Speaker 2: she chooses Jack, seduces him, and then tells him she's pregnant.
18:14
Speaker 2: It's very sad as things are starting to get better
18:17
Speaker 2: for Benny, including the fact that she's discovered that yes,
18:20
Speaker 2: Sean is taking over their money, taking their money. Oh
18:24
Speaker 2: my goodness, all these things and their businesses is back right.
18:28
Speaker 2: She's like, I'm going back to school. Everything is good,
18:30
Speaker 2: my mom is doing great, blah blah blah. I can't
18:33
Speaker 2: wait to see you, and he's like, I have something
18:34
Speaker 2: to tell you. They meet up and he tells her
18:36
Speaker 2: she's pregnant. Heartbreak, all these bad things are happening all
18:40
Speaker 2: the while. Eve is also getting reports from people that
18:44
Speaker 2: things are happening at her cottage, like people are showing up.
18:46
Speaker 2: She finds a newspaper that is fairly new, so she
18:49
Speaker 2: knows someone's using their cottage. Who is this? And they're like,
18:52
Speaker 2: maybe it's a ghost. All these things as we come
18:55
Speaker 2: about Eve, who is an ever loyal friend, like I
18:59
Speaker 2: got Benny's back. If I ever see Nan or Jack,
19:02
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give him a wappin my words. Later we
19:06
Speaker 2: see a little party that she throws at the cottage
19:09
Speaker 2: where Ben Benny is sitting alone. Jack and Nan pop
19:12
Speaker 2: up because Nan is really delusional thinking everybody will accept them,
19:15
Speaker 2: everything's going to be just fine, And when she walks in,
19:19
Speaker 2: of course, Jack makes a bee line to Benny to
19:21
Speaker 2: talk to her, while Nan goes to talk to Eve.
19:24
Speaker 2: As they're sitting there talking and Eve is very angry,
19:27
Speaker 2: chopping bread, slicing bread, she figures out that Nana has
19:30
Speaker 2: been lying the entire time that yes, this is what
19:33
Speaker 2: Simon's baby. She did this against you to her own friend,
19:38
Speaker 2: how could you? At this point, we find out that
19:40
Speaker 2: she is trying to run away accidentally cuts her arm
19:44
Speaker 2: on a window, which, by the way, is very dramatic,
19:46
Speaker 2: very very dramatic. All the while, Jack comes into the
19:49
Speaker 2: rescue BT dubs. He's been going to medical school because
19:53
Speaker 2: his dad really wanted to be doctor, but he's been
19:55
Speaker 2: scared because he's very squimish around blood and anything gross. Here,
19:59
Speaker 2: he like sucks it all up and tries to help
20:02
Speaker 2: his girlfriend at the time, it's Beyonce. All the while.
20:07
Speaker 2: We come back later and find out yes, Nancy. Finally,
20:10
Speaker 2: Nan finally admits that it is Simon's baby, decides to
20:13
Speaker 2: leave on a train. No one tells her by except
20:16
Speaker 2: for good old Jack. Jack comes back to Bennie trying
20:19
Speaker 2: to make things right, and you know, Bennie's like, it's
20:23
Speaker 2: going to take time. I've changed, you've changed. We have
20:26
Speaker 2: to get to know each other again type of conversation,
20:28
Speaker 2: and as they progress, the movie ends with them having sex.
20:33
Speaker 2: I guess in the cottage because she's like, forgive me father,
20:36
Speaker 2: because I have sinned. Dumb dum dum.
20:41
Speaker 1: Yep.
20:41
Speaker 2: So in the book they are actually all She does
20:45
Speaker 2: not get back together with Jack, like I think he's
20:46
Speaker 2: imploring her to get back together, but we see them
20:49
Speaker 2: out a beach. I think if I remember correctly, And
20:52
Speaker 2: she's already being courted by another dude, and like Jack
20:56
Speaker 2: is watching her from a different angle, like watching her
20:59
Speaker 2: talking to this and she just smiles and nauds of
21:01
Speaker 2: them as is to forgive him, but it's not back
21:03
Speaker 2: with him. I like that ending better to be honest.
21:08
Speaker 2: As much as I love cryst o'donn he did not
21:11
Speaker 2: do right.
21:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's tough stories like that where you kind
21:17
Speaker 1: of there's a part of you that wants to like
21:20
Speaker 1: but these are the characters and I wanted them to
21:22
Speaker 1: get together. But then there's the other part of you
21:25
Speaker 1: that's like, but.
21:26
Speaker 2: Girls stand up for yourself.
21:27
Speaker 1: You know, you haven't met There's a lot of people
21:31
Speaker 1: out there.
21:31
Speaker 2: There's so many people. So what were your thoughts about
21:46
Speaker 2: the movie.
21:48
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. I'm glad I didn't watch that other
21:50
Speaker 1: movie on it.
21:55
Speaker 2: It was.
21:58
Speaker 1: A bit hornier than I was expecting. I will say, I.
22:02
Speaker 2: Really didn't forget all of that's not gonna lie.
22:05
Speaker 1: And I did. I did appreciate, like, like the scene
22:08
Speaker 1: you were talking about when they were getting dressed. I
22:11
Speaker 1: thought they had a lot of moments that were very
22:15
Speaker 1: true to being a teenage girl of like, you know,
22:19
Speaker 1: we do worry about our boobs popping out of our
22:22
Speaker 1: dress sometimes, Like we do worry about those things, and
22:26
Speaker 1: you don't always see that reflected in the media. And
22:31
Speaker 1: so I really liked that. I liked the irishness of
22:34
Speaker 1: it all. I thought that was great. I was. I
22:37
Speaker 1: was pretty shocked. Maybe I shouldn't have been. I was
22:40
Speaker 1: pretty shocked at the whole man betrayal thing. I was like, Oh,
22:45
Speaker 1: because it's called circle of Friends. So I was sort
22:46
Speaker 1: of like, oh, yeah, okay.
22:52
Speaker 2: I think what we're supposed to imply with this, and
22:54
Speaker 2: we're going to get into it a minute. Like she has,
22:57
Speaker 2: so there's so much expectations by her family to make
23:00
Speaker 2: sure that they were taken care of, and she also
23:03
Speaker 2: didn't want to be like her mother, so there was
23:04
Speaker 2: just like disdain between her and her mother. Her mother
23:07
Speaker 2: was so proud of her for getting into college and
23:10
Speaker 2: making more of herself than being in a relationship like
23:13
Speaker 2: her father, who was obviously abusive and very mean to
23:17
Speaker 2: the entire family her but nan and then this level
23:20
Speaker 2: of like trying to get out of that world. And
23:23
Speaker 2: because she has in this conversation about like I'm not
23:26
Speaker 2: like them, I'm like you to Simon Westward, who had
23:29
Speaker 2: to prove that she is more royalty than not because
23:33
Speaker 2: he is obviously of a very established family that has
23:37
Speaker 2: ideals when it comes to wealth, even though they've lost
23:39
Speaker 2: the entire wealth. Yeah, interestingly, so you have this level
23:47
Speaker 2: of I don't think they portrayed that enough in the movie,
23:50
Speaker 2: because you don't. I don't have somebathy for Nan as
23:54
Speaker 2: much a.
23:54
Speaker 1: Yeah want too well, And I feel like, also watching
23:59
Speaker 1: this from a modern perspective, it was kind of easy
24:04
Speaker 1: to forget this was the forties, right, So yeah, that
24:08
Speaker 1: makes total sense, Like, yeah, of course things were different,
24:12
Speaker 1: and I understood, you know, when she found out she
24:14
Speaker 1: was pregnant and then he was like Simon was like, nope,
24:20
Speaker 1: get out here with that, no, thank you. You know,
24:24
Speaker 1: that's a that's a rough situation to be in. But
24:26
Speaker 1: I do think it was, Yeah, like it was easy
24:29
Speaker 1: to forget the time period, and it was also kind
24:33
Speaker 1: of easy to forget because you're focused on Bennie, so
24:37
Speaker 1: you're like, right, what are you doing right over here?
24:41
Speaker 2: Right?
24:41
Speaker 1: Ruining this for everybody?
24:47
Speaker 2: Okay, So there's some obvious themes, friendship being a big
24:52
Speaker 2: theme between Eve. Honestly, the friendship between Eve and and
24:57
Speaker 2: Benny is kind of that big one because the beginning,
25:02
Speaker 2: if I remember correctly, of the book, people were iffy
25:06
Speaker 2: of Eve because she was an orphan, you know, and
25:09
Speaker 2: she was raised by nuns, and so it's like, who
25:11
Speaker 2: is a strange girl. But then Bennie realized how amazing
25:14
Speaker 2: she was and she's like, oh, she's my best friend now,
25:16
Speaker 2: like she's got my back, I got her back type
25:18
Speaker 2: of conversation, and we do see that, we see that
25:20
Speaker 2: when it comes to this level and the loyalty that
25:23
Speaker 2: Eve has, she's very right or wrong though let's I mean,
25:26
Speaker 2: let's be really honest, and so it's very clear her lines.
25:30
Speaker 2: So it's interesting to see. But you also like have
25:33
Speaker 2: that meshing of the two groups. We don't see a
25:36
Speaker 2: lot of that in the movie because we see the
25:39
Speaker 2: you know, Jack and Benny, Aiden and Eve, but like
25:43
Speaker 2: if I remember correctly, they do kind of all come
25:45
Speaker 2: together as a group, and you see the other boys
25:48
Speaker 2: in this conversation as well, and they're a giant group
25:52
Speaker 2: coming together, being a big French friendship circle. And so
25:56
Speaker 2: the cottage like moments are really important because they are together.
26:01
Speaker 2: Also they do some naughty things but the hanging out,
26:05
Speaker 2: the dancing.
26:06
Speaker 1: Final thought when I at the end, I was like,
26:09
Speaker 1: so Heve's cottage, just as the hookups, this was where
26:13
Speaker 1: they inside and she's she's not into it at least
26:18
Speaker 1: not yet. Wow, multiple instances.
26:24
Speaker 2: Okay, this is what happens, I guess when you give
26:27
Speaker 2: a young, young, young pelitic house. But yeah, like it
26:31
Speaker 2: is really good to see. Even like with Benny and
26:34
Speaker 2: Jack's relationship beginning, it is a good friendship. Like they
26:38
Speaker 2: talk about how they get to know each other and
26:40
Speaker 2: talk to each other and really like ease each other's anxieties.
26:45
Speaker 2: You know, immediately Jack is talking about not wanting to
26:48
Speaker 2: be a doctor, he wants to be something else, anything else,
26:51
Speaker 2: but feeling pressure to do so, and Bennie being there
26:54
Speaker 2: to like comfort him. They're even conversation about wanting to
26:59
Speaker 2: have sex or having it is probably the most like
27:02
Speaker 2: genuine conversation between the opposite sex. I'm trying to figure
27:06
Speaker 2: like feel each other out, like where do you have you?
27:11
Speaker 2: How do you feel about this?
27:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, And those are very relatable conversations in terms of
27:17
Speaker 1: when you are at that age when you're go into
27:19
Speaker 1: college and it's you know, you can become a new
27:25
Speaker 1: person or find yourself, as they say, and you're asking
27:29
Speaker 1: yourself these questions, and especially in the place that is
27:31
Speaker 1: very Catholic, if you've been raised that way, that's kind
27:36
Speaker 1: of tricky. That's you know, you've perhaps got something going
27:40
Speaker 1: on in your body versus what your religion and society
27:45
Speaker 1: is telling you. And to have that conversation with somebody
27:48
Speaker 1: it is very awkward and it's very vulnerable conversation to
27:52
Speaker 1: have of you know, yeah, I do want this, but
27:56
Speaker 1: I'm not I don't want this.
28:00
Speaker 2: I think one of the best conversations is the one
28:02
Speaker 2: between Eve and Benny about whether or not they want
28:05
Speaker 2: to have sex. No, like you think about what m M.
28:12
Speaker 2: Some of the descriptives they have is fantastic. Like I'm like, yeah,
28:16
Speaker 2: that sounds that sounds about right. But with that, I'm
28:19
Speaker 2: gonna go into my teenage angst as a theme because
28:23
Speaker 2: obviously sex versus religion is pretty played in this one,
28:28
Speaker 2: and I think like as ourselves like Southern Christian people.
28:32
Speaker 2: For me, that was a big like back and forth
28:35
Speaker 2: that that dynamic really had a hold on me as
28:39
Speaker 2: a teenager well as well. So the film was like
28:42
Speaker 2: both of those things. This is both my naughty and
28:44
Speaker 2: my guilt. Yeah, obviously in this level though I've never
28:49
Speaker 2: been Catholic, but it's pretty heavily laid on for Southern
28:54
Speaker 2: like conservative Christians as well in this level. But it
28:59
Speaker 2: is really funny how this like nineteen fifties, sixties setting
29:08
Speaker 2: was still understandable for a nineteen ninety fiveteen, like two
29:14
Speaker 2: thousand viewing. For me that I'm like, yeah, there's this
29:19
Speaker 2: back and forth, like but who do I would? I?
29:21
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, what is this about?
29:25
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, I mean see our good misnos was
29:30
Speaker 1: it fourteen part religious trauma series? It is still very relevant.
29:34
Speaker 1: It is still a conversation that happens today, and it's
29:38
Speaker 1: very convoluted and complicated, and when you're young, you kind
29:43
Speaker 1: of have those warring things of wanting to fit in
29:49
Speaker 1: with your classmates or peers who are very interested in
29:54
Speaker 1: sex maybe, and then how you were raised religiously, that
29:59
Speaker 1: my be telling you that makes you wrong or like
30:03
Speaker 1: morally bad, or you'll go to hell or just even
30:08
Speaker 1: you know, fears of pregnancy or what have you. But
30:14
Speaker 1: having those sort of warring sides, I think I think
30:19
Speaker 1: it's still very relevant. And I was I I was
30:21
Speaker 1: even thinking about it in terms of like the queer community,
30:26
Speaker 1: it can be a big if you have any kind
30:29
Speaker 1: of internalized homophobia or something, that sexual aspect of relationship
30:35
Speaker 1: can be extremely difficult. So no, it's it's I grew
30:42
Speaker 1: up with it too. It was just a you know,
30:48
Speaker 1: it's wrong. But then at school everybody's telling me I'm
30:51
Speaker 1: strange of thinking it's wrong.
30:54
Speaker 2: It's complicated, it is, And then I guess the teenagers
30:59
Speaker 2: are repelling against the parents. Bennie finally shouting at her
31:04
Speaker 2: dad about things, which, by the way, that reaction was classic.
31:09
Speaker 2: You made that article, which, by the way, that term,
31:12
Speaker 2: I really do enjoy it as like an insult.
31:16
Speaker 1: It's a good insult. It was a great it was
31:19
Speaker 1: a great moment. I have to say, if I was her,
31:23
Speaker 1: I would live with guilt that.
31:26
Speaker 2: I know, and she did before she had to clear
31:29
Speaker 2: up anything in the air. But she also ended up
31:31
Speaker 2: being right.
31:33
Speaker 1: No, no, exactly, she didn't do anything wrong. It is
31:36
Speaker 1: not her fault. I just know, I too would be like, oh.
31:43
Speaker 2: That was how he remembered me and he was so
31:45
Speaker 2: upset and killed him.
31:46
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, oh, And then even like her pushing back
31:53
Speaker 3: against her mother because of Sean still like that still
31:56
Speaker 3: was a thing back and forth, and how long she
31:58
Speaker 3: had to be there to help her mom and to
32:00
Speaker 3: mourn her dad before she could she could live her life.
32:03
Speaker 2: Like there's this like balance of like trying to figure
32:05
Speaker 2: that out. I also really appreciated Jack's father and his
32:10
Speaker 2: observations about Benny. How he's like, you know, there's just
32:15
Speaker 2: something about those big girls, you have to hold on
32:20
Speaker 2: to them. I was like, Okay, okay, that's new, Okay,
32:25
Speaker 2: interesting as a big girl, I'm like, I'm glad he
32:29
Speaker 2: appreciates big girls. And then he's encouraging Jack to try
32:33
Speaker 2: it instead of being a jerk.
32:35
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's also kind of strange thing to say,
32:40
Speaker 1: but sure.
32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. Obviously weight and body image was a big thing
32:59
Speaker 2: for especially Benny's character, Like no one else seemed to
33:02
Speaker 2: have cared outside of Sean, who I think in the
33:05
Speaker 2: book actually has a fetish for bigger women if I
33:10
Speaker 2: remember correctly, or outside of herself Sean and like a
33:15
Speaker 2: little passing comment here and there, which just doesn't feel great.
33:19
Speaker 2: But with that, the fact that she was still the
33:23
Speaker 2: main character and her having to deal with this and
33:25
Speaker 2: constantly fighting it, I will say I loved love the
33:28
Speaker 2: fact that they never gave our a quote unquote glow
33:31
Speaker 2: up yeah, or a weight loss transition, And I think
33:35
Speaker 2: that was so important for me for her to be
33:37
Speaker 2: able to like see, for her to be able to
33:41
Speaker 2: live her life that way without the need to do
33:43
Speaker 2: all of that for sure, like we have that crash course,
33:46
Speaker 2: like if I don't eat for a week, cannot look
33:48
Speaker 2: like this in these conversations, and comparing yourself to the
33:51
Speaker 2: most beautiful, which is nan Like, there's this level of
33:55
Speaker 2: understanding and feeling seen in that. Again, I've talked about
33:59
Speaker 2: this a lot. This was kind of that representation of
34:02
Speaker 2: being the bigger girl and not having to change in
34:06
Speaker 2: order to get these things. So that's definitely like that
34:08
Speaker 2: level that I had hoped for, And it was kind
34:12
Speaker 2: of surprising for like again in the nineties, to be
34:15
Speaker 2: okay with it. Of course, she ended up losing. She
34:19
Speaker 2: ended up being much smaller and had gained weight for
34:20
Speaker 2: this role in went Okay.
34:24
Speaker 1: I guess never fun to hear, yeah, but it did.
34:30
Speaker 2: It really did impact me as a kid who was
34:33
Speaker 2: growing up with so many body images issues to see
34:38
Speaker 2: this and her being loved.
34:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it was pretty refreshing too. That Jack, who
34:50
Speaker 1: I would say is your kind of traditional standard handsome dude,
34:55
Speaker 1: was immediately like, who's that. I want to talk to her,
35:00
Speaker 1: and it's always seeking her out as opposed to her yeah,
35:04
Speaker 1: having to like change her whole look or something to
35:08
Speaker 1: get his attention. He was already like, no, I don't
35:11
Speaker 1: want to get to know.
35:11
Speaker 2: Her, Like we don't have the bad trope of her
35:14
Speaker 2: being bullied and then her losing weight to come back
35:16
Speaker 2: and get revenge. I'm like, yes, thank you, thank you
35:19
Speaker 2: for that. Thank you that we don't have to see
35:21
Speaker 2: that disgusting this which again the nineties kind of really
35:23
Speaker 2: had that trip a lot giant, whether it was take
35:27
Speaker 2: her curly hair and straighten it out, take those glasses
35:30
Speaker 2: off and put some lipstick on her. She's beautiful now
35:32
Speaker 2: and you're like, wait, what are you talking about? Yeah, yeah,
35:37
Speaker 2: so to be fair again, Minnie Driver has always been beautiful,
35:40
Speaker 2: so there's nothing about that that changes, but like it's
35:44
Speaker 2: to be seen as a thicker girl, like oh yay, yay,
35:51
Speaker 2: another theme. I think it's really big as again following
35:53
Speaker 2: the dreams. Of course, some of those dreams did not
35:55
Speaker 2: work out. When we talk about Nan really thinking that
35:57
Speaker 2: she was going to land Simon West and have that
36:02
Speaker 2: fairy tale life. Of course that did not happen. But
36:04
Speaker 2: then we do get to see like Eve taking her
36:07
Speaker 2: cottage from not being used to be able to really
36:11
Speaker 2: fix it up, to be livable, to be you know,
36:14
Speaker 2: used for warmth and parties, to also her being able
36:17
Speaker 2: to go to college with the assistance of the Westwards,
36:20
Speaker 2: and like being able to get that money to continue
36:24
Speaker 2: her education. We see Benny not being stuck within her
36:28
Speaker 2: family business, being able to go to college, being a writer,
36:32
Speaker 2: as she says later on, because she goes to studies
36:35
Speaker 2: the same sex drive. I guess even though Jack didn't
36:40
Speaker 2: know what his dream was, being able to be a
36:43
Speaker 2: doctor or being able to study medicine and realize that
36:46
Speaker 2: he could do it, Like, all of those things are
36:48
Speaker 2: really big to see. Although was there an end where
36:52
Speaker 2: they talk about what happened as they grew up a
36:56
Speaker 2: bigger picture? They never hear from Nan right, No, not
37:01
Speaker 2: that I remember. She talks about being a writer. I
37:06
Speaker 2: don't remember.
37:11
Speaker 1: I think she went off into the dark knight and that.
37:13
Speaker 2: Was Do you even know did Jack become a doctor?
37:19
Speaker 2: I think he did, he does, she does say that.
37:21
Speaker 1: I don't know if it says it, but I believe
37:23
Speaker 1: he did according to and he's ending obviously, Yeah, okay.
37:34
Speaker 2: I was looking to see if I could find it.
37:36
Speaker 2: It just says that she moves in within a flat
37:38
Speaker 2: with Eve, which it was a dream that she wanted,
37:40
Speaker 2: and that she pursues her writing because she caused a
37:43
Speaker 2: stir about the paper she wrote about the sexual ives
37:47
Speaker 2: such and that said, and then she falls in love
37:51
Speaker 2: with Jack again quote unquote boo, but okay boo. And
37:59
Speaker 2: there's a very obvious these small underlying conversation about like
38:02
Speaker 2: class when we talk about the wealthy English versus the Irish,
38:06
Speaker 2: So the nineteen fifties would have been I think the
38:09
Speaker 2: independence actually was established in nineteen forty nine, Like even
38:12
Speaker 2: though they had won independence in the nineteen twenties, I
38:16
Speaker 2: believe it wasn't actually established until that point. So I
38:20
Speaker 2: don't know if that was any kind of like overtone
38:25
Speaker 2: or commentary about the wealthy English being in that area,
38:30
Speaker 2: specifically the Westwards, specifically the slimy character that it was
38:34
Speaker 2: simon Westward in the book. I feel like it has
38:39
Speaker 2: a bigger part to play, but it's hard to do
38:43
Speaker 2: in a little romance coming of age movie, I.
38:47
Speaker 1: Guess, yeah, But there were definitely hints at it because
38:51
Speaker 1: I thought about that with the bus, because Benny had
38:54
Speaker 1: to ride the bus and it was such a like
38:57
Speaker 1: impacts on her life, her schedule and her social life,
39:02
Speaker 1: and it was commented on several times like no, I
39:05
Speaker 1: have to take the bus. I can't. This is the
39:08
Speaker 1: only way I can do it. And so they were
39:10
Speaker 1: little things like that that I think made clear, especially
39:15
Speaker 1: with Benny and Eve, that you know, they they had
39:19
Speaker 1: these things that made their lives a bit more difficult
39:23
Speaker 1: because they didn't have the money that a lot of
39:27
Speaker 1: the people they were interacting with did have.
39:32
Speaker 2: There's a lot, but there you go. This was my
39:35
Speaker 2: very horny teenager movie that I did not realize said
39:39
Speaker 2: such things.
39:45
Speaker 1: Just to be clear listeners, as men said, it is PG. Thirteen.
39:48
Speaker 1: It's not like wild or anything, No, but it was.
39:52
Speaker 1: I was a little taken aback.
39:54
Speaker 2: Definitely definitely tackle. The entire theme of it is about
40:00
Speaker 2: whether or not what happens when sex is introduced, essentially
40:04
Speaker 2: like it is a coming of age, and so we
40:06
Speaker 2: know that feeling like we don't see purity. So that's
40:10
Speaker 2: like we don't see that. We don't see like them
40:12
Speaker 2: having periods, we don't see them whatever whatnot. But we
40:15
Speaker 2: see them having their first and having that moment of
40:17
Speaker 2: like understanding whether or not they can go, how far
40:20
Speaker 2: they can go, and what they can do. What is
40:23
Speaker 2: sin Like it is on a comic level placed in
40:26
Speaker 2: the nineteen fifties in Ireland, so like it puts at
40:30
Speaker 2: a different level. But it is a lot of like
40:35
Speaker 2: there's no way I would have watched that with my parents.
40:39
Speaker 2: I know that.
40:42
Speaker 1: I wish I had been. I had recorded my reaction
40:44
Speaker 1: at the end when they walked into that East cottage.
40:48
Speaker 1: I was like, ohness, this is how it is.
40:54
Speaker 2: That's how it ends. Not in the book, but this
40:56
Speaker 2: is how it ends here. So oh lord, you know
40:59
Speaker 2: what I think. Again, we've talked about awakenings and what
41:03
Speaker 2: we were like, oh this okay, this is one of those.
41:07
Speaker 2: Later we're like, okay, I see where I was. I
41:10
Speaker 2: see I see, you see what I needed in life
41:13
Speaker 2: an Irish man. Apparently that in Ireland. Though. I want
41:18
Speaker 2: to say puffins, but is it not about puffins?
41:21
Speaker 1: No, decidedly not about puffinsuffs to be seen, no buffins
41:31
Speaker 1: to be seen? Oh my goodness. Well, it is on
41:36
Speaker 1: YouTube listeners. It is for free if you want to
41:39
Speaker 1: check it out and then right back your your opinions
41:43
Speaker 1: and reviews, or if you'd already seen it, let.
41:47
Speaker 2: Us know what state were you in when you watched it?
41:51
Speaker 1: Yes, was it an awakening? We must know. You can
41:57
Speaker 1: email us at Hello at stuff one Never Told You
41:59
Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky Mom
42:00
Speaker 1: Stuff podcast, or Inestagram and TikTok at stuff I've Never
42:03
Speaker 1: Told You. We're also on YouTube. Also, we have some
42:08
Speaker 1: merchandise at coomp Bureau and we have a book you
42:10
Speaker 1: can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as always
42:12
Speaker 1: to our super produce Christina or executive producer My Ander,
42:15
Speaker 1: contributor Joey.
42:16
Speaker 2: Thank you.
42:17
Speaker 1: Thanks to you for listening Stuff Never Told Me protection
42:19
Speaker 1: by heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
42:21
Speaker 1: you can check out the heart Radio app, Apple podcast
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Speaker 1: or reb you listen to your favorite shows