Proxy : Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

-spoiler alert- -spoiler alert- -spoiler alert- -spoiler alert- -spoiler alert-

The scene in which Patrick drags Esther into garage to use his tools to force some answers out of her; what was the point of that scene? Was it only to illustrate that husband Patrick was losing it? Was it a flashback, hallucination, wishful thinking, regretful reimagining of events.....all of the above? When other characters "lose it" in other scenes, the audience doesn't see the characters version of reality played out, it's left to your imagination. So why was this one characters trip into craziness, shown as fact in the film, instead of implied? What I mean is, when Esther creates an entire romantic relationship with Melanie out of a couple cups of coffee, we don't watch Esther's version of reality (we don't see onscreen those two in a romantic relationship) played out, it's implied. When Melanie is pretending her son is lost in store, we don't view that event from her characters viewpoint and see someone kidnap her son, or the two walk into store together, then son wandering off.....it's implied those things coulda happened...or did happen. But Patrick jumping up and suddenly running into bathroom and emerging dragging a bloodied Esther out, that's all shown as fact; not played out as Patricks fantasy, why? Why is it different, or do I need to watch again, maybe I missed something? But, those questions aside... I really liked "proxy" a breath of fresh air in a whole batch of boring movies lately. Really keeps you guessing!! Great acting performances!! I especially loved the tattooed face lesbian lover character. In a sad and twisted way I found myself rooting and cheering for her out loud when she would do something crazy or brutal. I think, as a female movie lover, that shows how bad our shortage of strong, plucky, female characters in recent movies has been. With the exception of "girl with the dragon tattoo" character, we haven't had any strong female characters to cheer for IN A LONG TIME! Well done! -------P.S. and BTW..... when I say, "strong" female characters....I don't necessarily mean morally strong, I'm happy to see female characters with backbone, conviction, and enough balls to follow thru on some of their beliefs.....even if they are crazy or evil beliefs......it's still refreshing and exciting to have someone to cheer for......

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

In a previous scene Patrick said he wondered what would have happened if he hadn't shot Esther the second time so I would assume the scene of him grabbing the body out of the tub and then presumably torturing her in the basement was all in his head.

An often confusing movie that leaves a frustrating amount of questions unanswered (What did Anika see in the bathroom? How did she know which house was Melonie's? What was the significance of Melonie freeze framing the shot of the window of her house?) but I still thought the movie was quite well done and most definitely unlike any film I've ever seen before.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

She knew which house was Melony's from a combination of 1) the detective telling her the neighborhood and 2) a pic of the house in a tv news report. It was just a matter of matching from there.
As for Anika, she obviously saw Melony's husband dead there.


False: all conservatives are stupid people;
True: most stupid people are conservative

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Actually regarding her knowing which house, she didn't, she took an educated guess, as per above, but she had seen Melanie previously, remember she tells Esther that she spotted her in the park, she KNEW as soon as she opened the door, before that, she was just taking a guess.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

She didn't what? See the news report? How do you know?


False: all conservatives are stupid people;
True: most stupid people are conservative

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

I'm sorry, I either wasn't clear, or you didn't read my post properly. No mater.

Either way, what I mean't was, it seemed clear, to me at least, she only knew for sure she had the right place when she saw the blonde chick who opened the door, she actually says something like (not verbatim) "Oh - this is the right place then".

What I mean by educated guess; is just that - by seeing the news report, by her truck being out the front and / or anything else.

So when you ask me "She didn't what?" I mean't she didn't *KNOW* for sure that it was the house. OP questions how she knew she was definitely at the right place and I am saying that she didn't - she knew when she saw the girl open the door.

Obviously she didn't just picking a house at random though, obviously she drew things together to get there.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Same here, loved it for the characters and story development.

This is no horror flick, IMDB made a big mistake by putting it in the wrong genre!
I would call this a mystical triller...
From the better kind.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

It's definitely in a league of it's own and thank god for that. It reminded me of the delightfully bat-sh*t stuff DePalma would attempt in the old days.

As far as the scene with Joe Swanberg and the tools....that was a bit much. MAYBE he snagged some poor girl off the street in a sick attempt to excise his rage (we never really see who he's dragging), but that's stretching it even too far for this film. We're left with the possibilities that it was either a fantasy or that he actually DID rough her up after shooting her. Either way, it was one of the very rare segments in Proxy that didn't work.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

I Saw this on Netflix and apparently these scenes were cut out. This movie was one of the Best movies I have seen in a long time. I wish Netflix would show more IFC movies.
At the end, did Anika live or did Melanie kill her? Who killed Patrick?
Also, why did Ester have herself impregnated if she never wanted to be a Mother and have Anika kill it? I didn't see the part of Patrick in the Garage so what happened there?
I hope someone would answer these questions but still it was way under rated but the good ones always are.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Melanie killed Patrick. She also killed Anika in the end.
Ester had herself impregnated, because she needed attention, she liked the attention people gave her when she was pregnant. she just liked being pregnant, she didn't want the baby. therefore she made Anika kill the baby before she gave birth to him.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Thanks for the Info. Would be nice to see the entire Movie without deleted scenes but you answered my questions nicely. Thanks again.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Well, I've just watched it on Netflix and I can assure you it's the same cut everyone else watched. There are no deleted scenes.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

Thanks. Just had read a thread where someone referred to Patrick in the Basement so I thought Netflix had cut some out. I know with some movies Netflix has cut scenes out from the original versions so I thought this might be the case. Just one of those movies you have to guess I suppose.

Re: Question about Proxy and highest recommendation, I LOVED it!

I loved it to. really good movie =)
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