MC

watching this with my mum was interesting because we both had very different opinions on gustav, his relationship with his kids, and theirs with him. when agnes argued with him, I felt that her reaction and anger towards him was justified - she had firsthand experienced the pain that comes with being the centre of your dad's attention only while you're interesting enough, before it's passed to someone else, and she didn't want that for her son. my mother felt that, regardless of what had happened in the past, she should forgive him. I don't think I can agree, but the ending of the film is probably what reconciles our opinions. in his own way, through his art, gustav reaches out to nora, and she recognises it. that final glance between the two is understanding, and maybe some forgiveness, and it's enough for the two of them. interesting to note that gustav's love for his kids never materialised as affection when they were younger - he showed it through his art. but the kids never recognised that, and so their relationships with him became estranged. in this sense, rachel acts as a sort of daughter to gustav, and he treats her with the support and love that he wanted to show his kids, but could never find it in him to break through his detached gruffness to do so. he's not above regret, though he'd never admit that to his kids. the film gustav writes that tells the story of a young mother who commits suicide is the ultimate metaphor for what this whole movie is about - the young boy is paralleled with gustav whose own mother committed suicide when he was little, and the mother parallels both nora and gustav's mother to show that in the end, we really are all our parents and what they gave us.