What was the director trying to show us? That Sera liked it rough? That Yuri liked being in charge? That he wanted to be Sera's best hookup and make love to her? That Sera couldn't' enjoy sex even with her partner?
I just don't understand why we saw it. What were we supposed to think or feel about their relationship?
That's because you're stupid. The scene conveyed what an abusive pig Yuri was towards Sera. It was just one such instance in which all the men in her life treated her like garbage. Ben was an alcoholic, but he respected her.
shareYou really think that I am stupid, sweet thang? I didn't realize that Harvard scholars such as yourself frequent the imdb boards. My bad! :P
Poor Sera. Yuri seemed to have a different view of their relationship than she did.
I suggest you watch the film again. I thought it would be obvious to somebody who has watched the film. Sera was stuck in a 'relationship' with a person whom she desperately wanted to get away from. He abused her physically and emotionally. From the scene prior to this, Yuri said that she had tried to flee from him in Los Angeles and fled to Las Vegas. He followed her there and abused her and, as the viewers are led to believe, made her prostitute herself to the lowest of the low. She conveys the way these people treated her in her therapy sessions. She also conveys what a very insecure and abusive person Yuri is; "In my mind I'd done nothing wrong, but in his mind I'd done something wrong" when he was cutting her with a knife for not earning enough money. From her facial expressions, she was obviously forced into having sex with this person. It yet again reflects how she is stuck with this person, even though she doesn't want to be around him. If she left him again, she would fear for her life. He had threatened to kill her on one such occasion later in the film. Yuri didn't treat her like a person, but like an object. Sera fell in love with Ben because he was the only one in her life that treated her with dignity and respect, not just for sex. Ironically, that was the only way she knew how to live.
The film is about how hopelessly flawed the 2 main characters lives are. Sera was not unlike the main character Ben because even though Yuri had left, she knew no other way to live than to sell herself on the streets, much the same as Ben knew no other way to live without alcohol. The film is as much about abuse as it is about alcoholism.
I apologise for calling you stupid, but I thought you were being sarcastic.
Wow, that is really deep and makes a lot of sense! Thanks. I have only watched the flick 2 or 3 times and I think that I've never watched it the whole way thorough from the beginning.
Thanks for apologizing, sweet cheeks. I was not being sarcastic at all. I figured that Yuri was abusive given the circumstances and Sera felt trapped. I just didn't know how the viewer should react. What you wrote makes perfect sense, of course.
I definitely did pick up immediately that Ben and Sera were hopelessly flawed, or just two characters from different walks of life where society judged them and ostracized them.
Peace.
I first saw that scene when I was in the 8th grade and just enjoyed myself to it. Now that I think of it, the director was one of those types that wants to viewer to concentrate on reading between the lines of each sex scene. He did the same in Miss Julie.
Putting myself in Yuri's shoes, I guess it was showing that he wasn't privy to her happiness and had a limited view of love even though he wanted to show it.