Hope Springs: CALL Discussion Group

Hope Springs Writer Vanessa Taylor

Director David Frankel

Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones), an Omaha accountant, and Kay (Meryl Streep) have drifted into a monotonous, alienating routine both in their 31-year marriage and in their lives. Kay coerces Arnold into taking a week-long couples counsel with Dr Bernard Feld (Steve Carell), author of You Can Have the Marriage You Want. The retreat is in a quaint, antique seaside town called Hope Springs.  Slowly and painfully the couple begin to rediscover each other and themselves, but continually lapse. Just at the point that Kay despairs and resolves to leave him, Arnold manages to break through his layers of suppression and come to her. Through the end credits, as Kay wished the couple renew their vows, presided over by Dr Feld. They have recovered the original intimacy of their marriage.

   Questions to consider:

1. Is the film about Sex for Seniors or does the sex signify something broader? Like what?
2. How do Arnold’s and Kay’s work scenes relate to those themes?
3. What is the thematic point in Kay making Arnold only one egg and one strip of bacon for breakfast? What's the thematic point of what seems to be an error: In the second breakfast a second egg materializes on the plate, after only one was in the pan. The best laid metaphors....
4. Consider the implication of the title, an obvious shortening of the proverbial “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” The full context may be relevant:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never Is, but always To be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man 

     Or maybe it’s not. Who in Hollywood reads 18th Century satire these days. 
        5.What functions are served by Kay’s scene with the woman bartender? Think outside the plot. 
        6.What’s the effect of the film’s opening on Kay rather than on Arnold?
        7.For their anniversary Kay says the couple bought each other a new cable subscription. “So many channels,” she says. What does that signify? And what of their daughter’s gift, a pair of elegant, clear candlesticks? How do gifts form a separate but related theme?
         8.What are the implications of the film watched within the film? Arnold watches The Caine Mutiny (1954) on TV. Both watch the young marrieds comedy Mad About You (1992) on TV and the French The Dinner Game (1998) at a cinema. The latter is a French comedy about an arrogant group of French executives who compete to bring the dumbest person they can find as guest. Steve Carrel played the prime schnook in the US remake. Are those Prada shoes in the elegant shop window when Kay rushes out of the cinema? How do these points connect? 
         9.What’s the point of Arnold’s closed eyes?
        10.Ah, yes. The golf thing. Why do we never see Arnold play golf, just read about it and “watch” it on TV? Why is he named Arnold? What metaphors lurk in the golf quotations, e.g.: 

1. “Hit it Bubba long.”
2. “If you’re one of those people who are looking for more distance....”

When Kay is about to live out her fantasy at the French film, Arnold says “Christ, it’s your ball game.” Any connection?

     11.When Kay decides to leave Arnold the prominent sign in her dress store reads “Modern Fit.” How does that relate to anything else in the film? E.g., to the the waitress’s, bookseller’s and maitre d’s knowing references to the couple’s marital difficulties?

     12. Are there any subtleties/complexities in the choice of songs? They seem rather obvious choices: Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” Annie Lennox’s “Why” and Lenny Kravitz’s “This Ain’t Over till It’s Over.” 

     13. Like scriptwriter Vanessa Taylor, David Frankel is best known for his TV work (Band of Brothers, Sex and the City, Entourage). But he also directed The Devil Wears Prada and The Big Year (a satire about men viciously competing in a bird-spotting competition). What echoes in the new film?

     14. What effect does the casting of comic actor Steve Carell as the counselor have on our experience of the film?

     15. Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Arnold so it was offered to Jones. Setting aside any issues of acting skills, how would the film have differed because of the two stars’ different personae (i.e., their image and the meanings/associations accumulated over their respective careers)? 

      16. What is the larger significance of the following quotes:

1. He is everything. But I'm... I'm really lonely. And to be with someone, when you're not really with him can... it's... I think I might be less lonely  -- alone.
2. You marry who you marry. You are what you are. Change is hard.
3. I’m getting limburger. You don’t have to eat it. 
4. Are you sure you’re ready to commit?
5. You’re the one who stopped.

       17. What does Kay’s wardrobe tell us? The counselor’s? Arnold’s?

       18. The town of Hope Springs may not really exist, unless it’s in Connecticut. You may have to settle for Niagara-on-the-Lake for that desirable twee. Does its antique self-conscious “charm” work as a metaphor?

        19.Not that it really matters, but how would you classify this film? How does it differ from both conventional domestic dramas and from romantic comedy? Here’s a hint. Classic comedy ends with a marriage; classic tragedy starts with marriage.