at the most unexpected moment
Marietta shows up unannounced and explains her arrival as if reciting a line from fate.
Well, when you least expect it, fate has a way of knocking on your door.Whatever Works · 2009 — 第 9 / 16 章 · 5'02" · B2
Melodie's Mother Shows Up, Explained：plain as the nose on your face
Melodie's mother, Marietta, turns up in New York and is horrified by how her daughter is living, calling the apartment beneath her. She and Boris take an instant dislike to each other, trading insults, before she admits that her husband left her for her best friend.
あらすじ
Marietta, Melodie's mother, arrives in New York and finds her daughter living in Boris's small apartment. She is appalled, and she and Boris insult each other on sight. Then she explains that her husband has left her for her best friend, and that the family has lost everything.
注目の表現
when you least expect itplain as the nose on your facehappier if she marriedboozehound
00:00 / 05:02Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
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セリフをタップするとそこから再生
このシーンの表現
plain as the nose on your face
completely obvious
Melody already saw the affair coming, and answers her mother's question with a worn-out idiom she then mocks.
The answer was as plain as the nose on your face.
このシーンの他の表現
- when you least expect it
at the most unexpected moment
- happier if she married
sarcastic preference for anyone else
- boozehound
a heavy drinker
- like a sharecropper
in grinding poverty
- the gentleman I was expecting
the respectable man I hoped for
このシーンのメモ一覧
90 行のセリフに 26 件のメモ
tends to happen
Well, when you least expect it, fate has a way of knocking on your door.reach a point with no way forward
The police looked for clues. Everything led to a dead end.wrinkles at the eye corners
How we worried. I developed crow's feet from the worrying.in grinding poverty
Marietta looks around the tiny flat and compares her daughter's life to a sharecropper's, sneering at the poverty.
Everything's wrong. You're living like a sharecropper.spotlessly clean
But it's clean as a whistle. I clean it myself every day.In fast speech have to blurs into hafta.
I have to have a drink.the whole situation
You're overbearing. That's it. You're overbearing and you fail to see the big picture.deeply involved in something
Mama, you're still caught up in that Christian superstition?take someone for a short walk
Walk her around, she's obviously a boozehound.a heavy drinker — Mocking and casual; keep it out of polite talk.
Walk her around, she's obviously a boozehound.noun clause: The what-clause works as a noun and explains what they do.
That's what they do, the secular humanists.precisely that sort of
It's uncanny. She's exactly the kind of moron you described.a stupid person — An insult; it lands hard if said to someone's face.
It's uncanny. She's exactly the kind of moron you described.The t in not links into the, so it sounds like one unit.
You are not the gentleman I was expecting.relative clause: The who-clause describes which guy is meant, right after the noun.
the guy who caught the biggest catfish in Plaquemines County.passive voice: Was nominated is passive, showing the subject received the nomination.
I was almost nominated for a Nobel Prize.alcohol, casually — Very casual; too loose for formal writing.
I need more booze.completely obvious
Melody already saw the affair coming, and answers her mother's question with a worn-out idiom she then mocks.
It was as plain as the nose on your face. Cliché, sorry.Stress plain and glide over as to land the point.
It was as plain as the nose on your face. Cliché, sorry.lose a large sum
he lost a lot of money in the stock market after you left and we were forced to sell the house.be made to do something
he lost a lot of money in the stock market after you left and we were forced to sell the house.suffer heavy losses
- You sold the house? - I'm sorry, yes. We took a beating, because we were so desperate.close down as a company
And then he lost his job, the company went out of business.fall ill with something
And then we spent all our savings on medical bills, 'cause I came down with a case of the shingles!constantly, day and night
I prayed and I prayed, every day and every night, asking God to help me.「Melodie's Mother Shows Up」を読み解く
What's really going on
The chapter is a collision of two worlds that the film has been setting up all along. Marietta is loud, religious, and horrified by poverty, while Boris is a misanthrope who treats her as proof of everything he says about people. Their insults are funny, but they also reveal the film's class anxiety: Marietta cannot see past the shabby apartment, and Boris cannot see past her accent. The turn comes when she starts her story, because her troubles are real, not imagined. "Your father left me" lands quietly in the middle of the jokes, and suddenly the woman Boris is mocking is just someone who has lost almost everything.
Theme
Family conflictA mother and daughter clash over how a life should be lived, and the new husband becomes the battleground.
ClassMarietta judges everything by appearances and money, which is exactly what Boris uses to mock her.
このチャプターで学べること
- A mother's entrance can feel like fate knocking.
- Saying the full name plus a dry line equals judgment.
- Bad news here arrives as a list, not a confession.
- The insult lands hardest when it stays polite.
発音のポイント
- have to have — In fast speech have to blurs into hafta.
- not the — The t in not links into the, so it sounds like one unit.
- plain as — Stress plain and glide over as to land the point.
Well, when you least expect it, fate has a way of knocking on your door.Marietta's folksy explanation for finding her daughter, delivered like a sermon.
Melody Saint Anne, I'd hardly call this all right!Her verdict on the life Melodie has built, announced the moment she walks in.
I'd be happier if she married the catfish.Boris's cruel joke, using her family's small-town world as the punchline.
It was as plain as the nose on your face. Cliché, sorry.Melodie calling out the obvious, then catching her own cliché out loud.
All I know is that nothing moves faster than the speed of light, so you may as well relax.Her borrowed physics, offered as comfort and sounding like a non-sequitur.
このシーンについての質問
Why does Marietta come to New York?
She has been searching for Melodie since she ran away. She says the police found no clues and that she kept praying until she finally tracked her daughter down.
Why is Marietta upset with the apartment?
She thinks it is beneath her daughter and calls it the kind of place a sharecropper would live in. She is shocked that Melodie has no help and cleans it herself.
Why do Boris and Marietta dislike each other?
They judge each other instantly. Marietta wanted a gentleman for her daughter, and Boris mocks her religion and her small-town world without holding back.
What bad news does Marietta bring?
Her husband left her for her best friend, Mandy. After that he lost money in the stock market, they had to sell the house, he lost his job, and they spent their savings on medical bills.
人生万歳！ · 全 16 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 10 章the long and short of itMarietta Argues and Plays Matchmaker
第 1 章whatever worksBoris Breaks the Fourth Wall
第 2 章eke out a livingBoris Panics and Jumps Out the Window
第 3 章get on my feetBoris Takes Melodie In
第 4 章spare me the detailsBoris's Runaway Tells Her Past
第 5 章out of the questionBoris Rejects Melodie's Crush
第 6 章bark is worse than your biteBoris Refuses to Marry Melodie
第 7 章play one's cards rightMelodie Meets Perry
第 8 章What possessed me?Boris on a Year of Marriage
再生中 · 第 9 章plain as the nose on your faceMelodie's Mother Shows Up
第 10 章the long and short of itMarietta Argues and Plays Matchmaker
第 11 章down the toiletLeo Discovers Marietta's Photos
第 12 章out of spiteRandy Pursues Melodie
第 13 章toothpaste back in the tubeRandy Takes Melodie to His Boat
第 14 章of all peopleMelodie's Father Shows Up
第 15 章look what the cat dragged inJohn Shows Up at Marietta's Opening
第 16 章wind downBoris and Melodie Break Up第 9 / 16 章 · 残り約 33 分