Posted on 03/03/2020 2:09:02 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Let's stop arguing about Mitt Romney and argue about something else for a couple hours. I'm presently in a discussion with some friends about whether Isla Lund really wanted to end up with Rick Blaine or Victor Laszlo. If you need to Google these names, skip this post.
I say she wanted to be with Rick. The explication here begins in the scene where she shows up at Rick's apartment holding a gun at him, and he says, "Go ahead and shoot; you'll be doing me a favor." Got it? Okay.
When she got there, she demanded the letters of transit for herself and Victor. That's when she pulled the heat. But she couldn't shoot. She melted into his arms and said roughly: Richard, you have to do the thinking for both of us. All I know is I love you and have always loved you.
At that point, I think it's clear she's flipped over to Rick. I think she even says to him, you will help Victor now, if I stay with you. Then Victor shows up, and then Capt. Renault. And then comes The Moment.
It's when Rick instructs Renault to sign the letters of transit--"in the names of Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo." The camera cuts to Ilsa at that moment, and there is clear shock on her face, and the violins go, da-DUM. I could go on, but that is the key moment. She is obviously shocked that Rick is sending her off with Victor.
The opposite case, near as I can approximate it, is that yes, she had the hots for Rick, but she really loved Victor, and she used Rick...Let's hear what you think.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
She really loved Rick, but he was not in the same class..................
Rick, of course!
Laszlo was the coolest, smoothest, suavist dude who ever lived.
It could have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Different, and more modern.
As an aside, she is wonderful in that movie.
Karl took her to her home, - in Casa B.
Round up the usual suspects!......................
“Let’s stop arguing about Mitt Romney”
Who’s arguing about Pierre? I don’t spend any time thinking about that POS. And yeah Rick is the one.
Her heart was with Rick, but her mind was with Victor.
I would take Rick personally....
Of course Ilsa loved Rick and expected to go with him, not Victor. If otherwise, then Rick sacrifices little in sending Ilsa off to America with Victor. And without that sacrifice, the story lacks a satisfying melodramatic resolution.
She loved them both, but in different ways. Laszlo was the idealist whom she loved & respected. Rick was the passionate, more physical lover. She probably wanted to stay with Rick, but new she was needed for something higher with Victor.
Yikes....that’s like trying to figure out if Rocky Sullivan really went out a coward or if he faked it to accommodate the request of his childhood pal Father Jerry.....
Casablanca is a wonderful example of the studio system at its peak, with a ton of amazing character actors and some great lines, but as an actual story, uh, not so much. And I say that as someone who has seen it 50 times and can recite most of it.
I’d love to see a “sequel”, either as a book or film, on what happened to Victor,Lund and Rick.
How did Rick’s decision for her and him play out by war’s end?
Neither. She was secretly having a torrid fling Sam.
Now I have to dig out the DVD and watch it again.
I’m going to drag Harry Burns and Sally Albright into this conversation...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezZTSlzv6Zw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlC22jBCO7k
Ingrid Bergman is low maintenance, Sally is high maintenance but thinks she is low maintenance...
Did she love Victor or what all 3 of them loved- freedom from Nazi oppression ?
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