Glimpsing Eli's Groin

I saw it the way jidici saw it. The guy is trying to get a peak of his girlfriend naked and sees a whole lot of nothing. What's meaningful is that Oskar continues the relationship. Without this scene, people could come to the conclusion that Oskar was just putting up with stuff because he wants sex with the cute girl next door. Taking sex off the table entirely (Eli doesn't have breasts either) puts emphasis on the emotional aspect of the relationship.

I definitely misunderstood the relationship between Eli and Håkan. Rather than a pedophile vibe, I thought he was like Oskar. I assumed he met Eli when he was Oskar's age, he fell in love, and he took care of Eli ever since. Once Håkan is dead, Oskar starts to replace him and become Eli's new life partner. There is even a hint of jealousy when Håkan asked Eli not to meet with Oskar. This would make perfect sense if Håkan sees Oskar as his equal; his potential replacement. Everyone knows that feeling when your existing relationship is dying, and you know you're being replaced. Another thing that jumped out was the use of knives. When we first see Oskar, he has a knife. When he meets Eli, he's holding a knife. Then we get to see Håkan and he's holding a knife. It seems like that's Oskar's future.

Some people complain that Lina's performance was too girlish if Eli was a boy, some even say that the fact that authors chose a girl for the role makes this gender issue either irrelevant or misguided.

However, praising Lina's acting like you do, I think that deciding to use actress for a role of a boy was correct: being castrated 200 years ago Eli hasn't gone through pubertal hormonal changes, and after been treated as a girl by humans during the rest of Eli's loooong life, the female look and behaving has to be expected.

Yeah, me too, i would've loved that. Maybe they wanted to. They showed the part where Oskar hits Eli (in the deleted scenes), which lead to Eli telling Oskar. Who cares what Americans think, who cares if it makes people uncomfortable, it's art/film. I would've liked it more if they showed the fun side of Eli and Oskar's relationship. Like when Eli and Oskar goofed about the guy at the newspaper stand being an escaped monkey from the zoo. I thought that moment was quite compelling and beautiful



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If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?

What about this. Watching a movie does not require previous or subsequent research on the original source material. from simply viewing the movie, Eli is a girl. The character is played by a girl and acts like a girl throughout the film. The only on screen reference to her gender is the quick flash of a latex groin which, in the movie theatre context is,at best, inconclusive. Freeze framing that scene on disc for detail is not a valid argument and could even be seen as a bit creepy.

What about this. Watching a movie does not require previous or subsequent research on the original source material. from simply viewing the movie, Eli is a girl. The character is played by a girl and acts like a girl throughout the film. The only on screen reference to her gender is the quick flash of a latex groin which, in the movie theatre context is,at best, inconclusive. Freeze framing that scene on disc for detail is not a valid argument and could even be seen as a bit creepy.

And one other thing. has anyone else noticed that Swedish appears to be remarkably similar to English.

It's not obvious from the film that Eli is a boy, but I am fairly certain that keeping Eli's gender ambiguous was the intent. I'll admit that I wasn't sure at first exactly what was depicted in that scene, I just knew what I didn't see.

I originally watched the film in a theater with a large screen, so I didn't need a freeze frame, I just needed to think back to when Eli said straight out that "I'm not a girl". It was reasonable to conclude at first that Eli was referring to being a vampire, but that statement, along with an earlier scene ("Would you still like me if I wasn't a girl") and the quick reveal was enough for me to question Eli's gender. A second viewing more or less confirmed my suspicions. I think you can appreciate the film without realizing what was done to Eli, but personally I think it added to my appreciation for just how tragic Eli's life must have been.

If it had been my choice, I would have went with a scene similar to the one in the book where Eli reveals himself to Oskar. I would have had Eli open his towel to Oskar (but with his back to the audience), with Eli saying "Just so you know". Oskar would then look downward and have the shocked expression you see in the film. In this way you could still retain a little ambiguity, without using the poke-in-the-eye method that is in the film. :)

Swedish and English are both Germanic languages, so yeah, the two definitely share some common traits. I've found it a relatively easy language to learn, although speaking it well turned out to be a challenge.

I wouldn't add anything either. That would just be overstating it. An audience should never be spoofed.

I like it just he way it is. Not to much, but definitely enough to know that Eli isn't a girl. Together with few brief clues dropped earlier it should be enough to draw own conclusions.
It was also a bit ambiguous and makes us start to think. And that's always a good thing for films.