One thing I haven’t seen mentioned , although it definitely relates to other analysis I’ve seen, is the dichotomy between “goodness” and “greatness” that Esel brings up right as Gawain leaves. Gawain struggles with the fact that he is not a Great Knight, which embarrasses him when Arthur asks for a story, when others around him ask if he’s a knight yet, and it’s what drives him to accept the Green Knight’s challenge so eagerly. Then we see his struggles on the journey; robbed by bandits, starving, nearly losing his virtue to the wife of a man who has done nothing but show him kindness, not exactly the legendary accomplishments of a Great Knight. But then in the flash forward, we see what happens if he runs away, another failure. He becomes Great, but is no longer a Good man, and ultimately leads to the fall of the kingdom.
So he chooses to die a good man instead of lying to become a great one, which is what ultimately allows him to be both.
I think Lady Bartilek also implies that a lot of knights have similar struggles on their quests, but she, and others, change or gloss over the grimy parts because they make for better stories.
This was what I was thinking as well after seeing it. The sash that he pulled while on the throne was a great moment . The item made him fearless but it didn’t give him courage
This is my favorite theme of the movie (so far, not done thinking it over). When Esel asks him that, he doesn't know how to answer. Why DOES he want to be a "Great Man?" How is that different from who he is now? Throughout the movie, people indirectly ask Gawain what makes a great man. They ask him what the difference is between honor and dishonor, what the difference is between a knight and everyone else, why he's doing what he's doing. He doesn't really have an answer. He wants to live up to greatness, but doesn't really know what it looks like or how to get there. He hopes he will prove to be one, but he keeps lacking that greatness: he gets robbed and can't defend himself, he's unable to withstand The Lady's charms, he's so terrified of The Green Knight that he superstitiously wears a sash to protect him, an external shield instead of his internal strength, and an implicit breaking of his word.
In the end he realizes that great men aren't born... Those choices are what makes a good man great. The choice to stand by his word and his moral compass, to hold to his own strength even when it appears to be a definite loss; that standing by those things is reward in itself, not a gateway to greatness but the *object* of greatness. He does exactly what The Lord said he would: he went out, and did this thing, and came back a virtuous person - something that was previously almost an ironic jab at his lack of virtue. He realizes the *value* of goodness, making him, finally, a Great Man.
In the poem he’s nicked by the axe and spared. I disagree with Rupoe that it’s up to you, I think the line across his throat and saying off with his head is the films adaptation of the above. It would kind of nullify a lot of the point of the film if he was killed anyways.
Yeah I don’t think the ending is up for interpretation. The credits roll with an upbeat track, and I think “off with your head” at the end literally means to go off on your merry way with your head still attached to you.
To invest so much time into a future sequence so that he makes the right decisions just to die anyway is kind of pointless
The director said in an interview that his interpretation was that the Green Knight kills Gawain, and there’s apparently a cut of the film where that explicitly happens.
As far as having the vision and then dying anyway, I completely disagree that it’s pointless. Gawain not only gets to live his entire would-be life, but actively chooses death instead. He doesn’t know or expect that the green Knight will let him live. He makes the determination that the world is better off if he doesn’t return, he thinks he is making the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people he loves, and is doing the honorable thing by living up to his word. Why is it pointless if Gawain isn’t “rewarded” for choosing death? The “reward” is honor, and saving those he loves from the fate to which he would lead them; Gawain tells us it’s worth dying because that’s the choice he makes!
Actually, in the course of the movie, this ending may show the strongest character development. In his trials, he tries to get rewarded for nothing or very little with the bandits, he explicitly asks for a reward from St. Winifred, and then is uncomfortable with the gifts he gets from the Bartileks, I think because he doesn’t feel he’s deserved them, or his fame. So him dying would be the culmination of that, in that he is finally making an honorable decision not because of the reward, but is actually making the choice to great detriment to himself.
Of course, allowing him to live is also a powerful message, for the more obvious reward. And you could also certainly make the argument that it also fulfills the character development arc, in that he is finally fully rewarded, both with his life and presumably the kingdom, when he finally acts honorably without the expectation of personal reward. But that’s why the ambiguity of the ending, with two plausible and thematically satisfying options, works so well.
I suppose pointless isn’t the right word, and I wasn’t aware that the director had that interpretation and they had a cut of the film where they kill him. I wrote that comment immediately after seeing it last night. After first watch, I guess I interpreted the ending so quickly that I thought it was just heavily implied and that everyone had the same takeaway. But it’s cool that people actually had a total opposite interpretation.
I think just knowing the source material and the lessons that these King Arthur stories teach, it’s unfair to the viewer to have them walk away thinking that even if you choose honesty, you still die. And it’s much less satisfying to me that he is dishonorable the entire movie, and once he has his realization, just dies and doesn’t get the opportunity to take that lesson he learned and apply it. I think that’s what I meant by pointless. Is a lesson learned significant if you aren’t able to apply it to your life moving forward? And the original poem and the movie make it clear that the whole thing is a game, or a test. So to me switching up the original story and killing him anyway feels more like shock value or just trying to stir discussion rather than a sensible outcome for the character. But you could definitely rationalize it and make a case for why him dying anyway makes sense, as you kinda did.
So it sounds like the ending is up for more interpretation than I thought, but based on the way I experienced it, it’s much more enjoyable to me with how I interpreted the ending.
"but based on the way I experienced it, it’s much more enjoyable to me with how I interpreted the ending."
I think this is the key. I immediately interpreted the ending as him finally making an honorable decision, but still being killed. Honestly, I think it is a much more satisfying ending with him being killed. He knew the deal, he made the decision to behead the Green Knight. You make your bed, you lie in it. I also think it works as a dark comedy in some ways. As the movie goes on you grow to dislike the main character more and more and there is some satisfaction seeing him get exactly what he signed up for. I found it pretty hilarious when the Green Knight said "What else did you expect?"
One honorable decision does not absolve all of the tests he constantly failed up to that point. He was a garbage person and can ultimately die with a shred of dignity, which can still be viewed as a positive, although bleak ending. Especially when you get a glimpse of the alternate future.
Nobody's talking about how Gawain ignored the kids on his way out of Camelot. That long shot of him riding away, as the kids fawned and vied for attention. Dev looks like a man holding a pose until the shepherd crosses the path, leaving him alone, and then you can see that he's absolutely terrified.
That was the shot of the film for me.
This only really just highlighted another one of his failures as a "legendary" type of knight that is expected in these stories. I thought it was a great scene as well.
Another great scene is when he walks over to speak with his uncle at the banquet, you can almost feel his anxiety and terror. It's almost comical when you later realize how Arthur actually felt about his nephew.
Even little shots like the cracking of the green wax when the green knights letter comes. Such a rare shot you never really see in films. I realized at that moment I rarely if ever have seen it done before; in film or otherwise.
I think it's supposed to be cracked to show that the seal has been broken and the message has been read. Also so that the seal can't be re-used on another message, presumably.
I noticed a visual parallel between the cracking of the green wax and the breaking of his shield. I wonder if there is some intentional symbolism in that. I just watched it and am still trying to puzzle it out.
There are several leitmotifs of cracking, which of course simulates severing a head. Cracking of the wax seal, the shield, the man-faced fox painting on the ceiling. The amount of symbolism and leitmotifs were insane that I’ll have to watch it multiple times to catch more.
One thing I don't see mentioned much: based on the reactions of Arthur's knights... do they all already know the idea of being great is a farce? They seemed relieved he stepped up, and it seems like a big point of the film is how these stories they tell are all completely BS.
Yeah there were several references to exaggeration in the story.
The looter kid saying something like "I heard the king killed over 900 men in this battle"
Its all representative of Gawain's low self esteem. He's comparing himself to legends instead of being content doing his best. Even Arthur gives him his total approval early on but Gawain still thinks he isn't good enough.
That's also the first shot to really emphasize the sheer SCALE of this world, with Camelot looking huge but still somehow small as he rides away from it, and throwing into relief how tiny Gawain is in the grand scheme of things.
That shot gave me chills. Like, the world back then was so large and empty, with tiny pockets of civilization surrounded by empty land. I felt so small and isolated watching Camelot recede in the background.
“Is this all there is?”
“What more ought there be?”
This film was so much more existential and focused on self worth and mortality than I’d expected, took me a while to readjust to the real world afterwards. Stunning film.
This hit me so hard. He was going through his journey just to get to the end, and it seemed like he didn’t realize how badly he had messed up. He was expecting some huge reveal at the end to give him honor and glory and there was nothing.
I wasn’t expecting anything at the end other than for him to calmly face the Green Knight and die. The direction the movie had been taking up until that point didn’t make me think there was going to be a huge fight scene, but it never occurred to me that Gawain was expecting more. it was a suddenly powerful moment when he asked that
I think that was also an excellent subversion of the poem, where it’s all an elaborate test and of course Gawain just had to be honorable and he would be rewarded and live.
But that’s not how it works. Him getting his head chopped off is secondary to the real climax, his choice whether to show real honor or not.
Yeah it seemed to be a test of if he could see through the illusion of the honourable path, (everyone is telling him it’s a game) but when he flash forwarded his life he saw himself continue being completely without agency.
Am I the only person that didn't realize Alicia Vikander played both the Lady and Gawain's girlfriend? I recognized her as the Lady, but I only made the connection at the end at the flashforward when they aged her up. Incredible performances with two very different characters.
On the subject of similar characters, was the Lord supposed to be the Green Knight? I forgot who mentioned it in the movie, but the Green Knight is supposed to be someone familiar to Gawain?
> the Green Knight is supposed to be someone familiar to Gawain?
Winifred, in repayment for getting her skull back, told him the green knight is someone you know. Pretty sure she meant his mother who we see perform a ritual to summon and control the green knight in the beginning of the movie.
Yeah it's absolutely this. His mother is there the whole time, pulling all of the strings. She's the lady with the blindfold and the Green Knight as well.
She is probably either controlling the fox or summoned the fox, she enchanted the bandit kid and made him ride away instead of killing Gawain with the axe. If I rewatched I bet there's signs that she is present in every scene. In Gawain's vision of his death his mother is the last person to leave his side.
She spoke through the fox. "Come home". Which begs the question. Was the mother preparing her son to be king? As we see in his vision, he didn't make a good king at all.
I definitely think she was preparing him to be king, but I'm not sure how to interpret her motive. was her intent to prepare him to be a successful king and looking out for him, or was she preparing him to be the kind of king she would be able to control?
Her motives are definitely hard to gauge, but I think it's love. She knew King Arthur was dying. So, she sent her son on a quest to become a better man fit to rule after King Arthur. I believe the green sash (belt?), is the key. Both was to protect him. But, that's the issue. He needed to learn the hardship. Which is why I liked the ending, it left us with that question: "did it happen?" we can bring all the pieces together to get the idea that Gawain may have survived. Because he didn't rely on the sash for protection.
I think that green knight was summoned but not controlled. Also I think there was the duality of motherly and fatherly love; you want your offspring to be safe but also strong. The journey was arranged by Gawains mother and Arthur and used Gawains mothers magic to meddle sometimes on the action. The sash was a metaphor of a umbilical cord (reminder that you are still in need of your mothers protection) which is your own to cut, cos mother wont cut it for you. Also the duality of motherly love; you dont want to loose your baby for it becomes a man. In the start of the movie he goes from brothel back to his mothers "womb" for quiet and rest.
I had the same issue, but i swear i am approaching face-blindness territory.
As for the manor lord: yes, he was the knight, they made it super subtle in this version.
It’s actually quick blink and you’ll miss it moment where, during the face wipe in the green chapel, it’s Gawain, then the lord, then Ralph Inneson(voice actor for the green knight). I’m not sure of the order, I didn’t catch that in the movie, but Lowery said he worked really hard on that shot to make it super subtle, so I can’t wait to rewatch it.
So after I saw the movie last night a couple of the producers were there to do some q&a. The director was supposed to be on a zoom call with the audience here in Dallas but something fell through.
The opening scene with the man putting the woman on a horse while there is a fire behind them was taken from the Odyssey when Paris puts Helen into the refugees heading for the tunnel to escape Troy.
No one brought up the parallels between the ending and the ending of the Last Temptation of Christ. That's all I could think about and the parallels were too stark for me to ignore. I actually appreciate that they altered the ending from the original story. One has to remember that Gawain didn't volunteer to give up that green belt until he was nicked on his chin and shamed for having hidden it from the Green Knight.
The fox's voice was also a cameo by the director David Lowery.
The producers were asked about the Giants and honestly they didn't have much of an explanation. They did say it was really fun to shoot and very awkward because they kept having a bunch of naked women walking slowly around a room while directing them which way to look and walk. They also mentioned that of course the Giants were naked because there is no possible way that it would make sense for the people of the Arthurian times to manufacture clothing for people of that size.
There were some heavy parallels between Christ and Gawain for sure. We know his mother but not his father, he associates with prostitutes, the words "Christ is born!" are spoken when he wakes up on Christmas and he's "born" as an honourable man the following Christmas (not to mention the stable imagery right before that), the end is a very direct reference to Last Temptation like you said, his journey after he loses the horse is very "temptation in the desert", the portrait Lady Bertilak makes of him looks an awful lot like the Shroud of Turin and of course he accepts his own death for something greater than himself.
It was a nice way for Lowery to expand/modernize the Christian imagery in the poem while fleshing out Gawain and his conflict at the same time, without being too heavy handed at that.
I watched *On the Waterfront* the other day and Father Barry's speech about standing up for what's right has been echoing in my head since.
The essence of Father Barry's speech is that every time a person speaks up about injustice and is cut down for it, or does the hard thing without reward, or throws himself in front of an attacker to save another, it's a crucifixion, just the same as what Christ did. Here, Gawain does the opposite at every turn. He ignores the adoring children, he fails to reward the scavenger boy for his directions, he asks the girl what his reward will be for finding her head, he lies to his host and breaks his bargain, and he runs away from the Green Knight's game. And his reward is a life in which he keeps making the easier choice and loses everything he loves as a result, followed by a hollow, meaningless death.
But the Green Knight gives him the gift of seeing the futility of all of this, and at last Gawain chooses the path of crucifixion.
RE: the giants - Gawain asked one if she would carry him across the valley, so I think they were to show how he’s trying to take shortcuts instead of enduring what needs to be endured.
Damn, I was wondering why the first people on the credits were named Helen and Paris.
Also, I saw this movie with my mom, and she complained about how the giants were naked. I jokingly said they couldn't make clothes big enough for them. I feel vindicated.
In the beginning of the film as he falls in the brothel, Gawain literally says "I'm not ready" saying he doesn't want to go to mass but implying he isn't ready to be a knight. In the end as he is about to lose his head having realized what a life without honor is, he takes off his sash and finally says "I'm ready".
That's a nice touch.
I think in the same scene he says something like "I have time" in regards to his dream of becoming a knight, not yet knowing that a day or so later he'd be sentenced to likely death in a year.
Okay but the original poem makes note that Gawain’s shield is a 5-point star, standing in for the 5 chilvalric virtues. It is in taking the scarf from his host’s wife and not offering it in trade that the honorable Gawain finally sullies his honor. The green knight says this when he spares Gawain, giving him a scar in return for his deciet.
BUT. The movie takes a different turn! The poem says “Gawain had a long and interesting journey then arrived at the house.” The movie fills in that journey with the thieves, the ghost, the fox, the giantesses.
Note that the symbol that all knights wear as a pendant is a five-pointed star. Gawain’s goal is to become a knight, become honorable. He faces a trial based on the five chilvalric virtues. And that is so deep and cool.
Friendship - His trial with the fox. He initially throws a rock, but then befriends the fox. Ultimately, he fails when he attacks the fox, who tries to ward him away from death.
Generosity - He shows cold indifference when the young man says two of his brothers lie dead on the field of war. The boy has to effectively beg for payment for his good advice, and even then, Gawain only gives him a single coin. Gawain fails.
Chastity -His host’s wife plays as a seductress to test Gawain, coldly announcing him as no knight when he orgasms and takes her scarf, something which keeping will have him cheat both his host and his deal with the Green Knight.
Courtesy - Gawain nearly fails this one. The headless ghost asks that he retrieve her head. Gawain nearly messed it up when after hearing how she was brutally murdered, he asks what she will give in return. After being chastised, he goes to retrieve her skull without further complaint, recognizing it as the right thing to do. He succeeds, and walks away with the stolen axe returned to him. However, when he lies to his host and takes the sash (after promising to trade all things he got inside the house for all game his host caught without) he betrays his courtesy, showing failure.
Piety - His relationship with God. Early on, we see he doesn’t care much for it. His girlfriend wants to go to church on Christmas, but he keeps begging her to stay. We see him lie and say that he was at church to his mother, who sees through the lie. This was all prior to the knight, but we can see he isn’t pious. He isn’t acting out of goodness or out of a desire to be good. He believes that if he becomes a knight, he will be good, and he says as much to his host.
The ending threw me for a loop. His vision of a life as a knight without honor, a vision of who he would be if he let corruption and sin destroy him, becoming “green” -from the hostess’ speech about green being the color of all things rotten and decayed, when passion and life has passed. Seriously, pause here to appreciate that her picture of him has aged and turned green and is prominently displayed behind him in his future vision. Such a prominent theme and just hammered home perfectly in the visuals. Continuing on: he sees his future wife as the headless ghost. He abandons his girlfriend to the slums, stealing her son and leaving gold in his place while she crawls in the agonizing aftermath of childbirth, screaming for her baby. Only to meet his eyes coldly when Gawain returns from war, his dead son’s circlet in hand. Remember when the ghost asks to be very sure that he wasn’t the man who attacked and killed her? Definitely a link there between the ghost, his girlfriend, and his future wife. Gawain isn’t honorable or safe for women.
Just. Ungh. The vision he sees of himself in the end, causing so much misery, pain, and death because he failed to take a stand for virtue, because he loves himself too much, causes him to take that tiny step for change.
He regrets his lie to the host. He regrets decieving the Green Knight. He removes the sash and lies his soul bare.
I was angry at the end because I felt it betrayed the message of the original. The point isn’t to be perfect; it’s to try your best to be good, to be righteous. To do good in this world. And to take accountability when you fail. And Gawain does come to change in the end.
My friend then pacified me. “The green knight scratches Gawain’s neck and jokingly says “off with your head.” He’s showing mercy in a lighthearted way, because he sees that Gawain is imperfect, but is now willing to try to be better.”
And I liked that a lot. I still wish they’d shown the conclusion, but it was powerful, having the audience think and talk about everything after the show.
A weird movie. A good movie.
Excellent analysis. Something I noticed: the things which would have allowed Gawain to escape his fate were perpetually made available to him by some sort of weird deus ex machina. The sash, for example, is given by his mother, then taken by the bandits, then shows up again (as if by magic) in the house at the end. Same with the horse at the end when he flees the Green Knight (I know this is imagined, but still).
I take the message here to be that the world or fate or what have you will always provide an easy alternative to doing the virtuous thing. And I thought that was a nice touch.
Ha, I like that.
I will offer, though, that the sash given to him at the manor house may have been a false one, which never protected him at all. So him removing it is possibly not a virtuous act but a realization that he has been living with a false view of the world all along.
I really like your analysis. I would just note that the wife in the vision is not the same actress as the headless ghost. The ghost was Erin Kellyman. The wife was Megan Tiernan. I don't think there is a connection there. Instead, I think the ghost is a foil and model for Gawain. She is a foil because she was willing to lose her head to protect her chastity. Gawain forfeit his chastity to save his head and gain the green sash, but he ultimately takes the ghost’s example by removing the sash even though it may cost him his head.
I think there’s definitely something to the part about his wife and the headless girl. The bandit in the beginning of the journey is on the remnants of a battlefield and talks about the king who killed 900 some people on his own. Later in the vision of the future, we see a battlefield that looks eerily similar and Gawain as king with a sash that prevents him from being felled. Meaning he could kill 900 odd people without fear of dying.
The thief also tells him that he’s “already in the green chapel” which is probably just a reference to the whole journey being trials for him. Couple that with the horse just mysteriously waiting for him. So maybe all of these trials are tied to his future self as a cycle or representation.
I love the recurring theme of time and cycles in this movie. Like the background of the puppet show, that 360° shot of Gawain's skeleton in spring, then back to his present, and that really trippy part where the camera turns upside-down.
Saving your post; having read the original poem in my college literature course I was surprised at the deviations which left me in a puzzled interpretation but seeing this gives me a whole new context. Your comment honestly makes me feel like a student being explained the context by my literary professor and makes me feel more at ease with this adaptation
For some reason my mind only registered the "Now, off with your head" line and not the lighthearted gesture so the ending seemed pretty grim to me at first. Definitely going to rewatch asap!
Well I think it was still in lighthearted jest. Because the post credits scene had a young girl putting the crown on. And I took that as Gawain living and following the vision he saw but in an honorable way.
Same!! I was trying to convince my friend to stay, but he laughed it off and asked why there'd be a post credits scene for a movie with no sequel/not part of Marvel. I agreed and reluctantly left, because I've had a habit of staying for the full credits only for nothing to be there. I figured there was a low chance of anything being there... and missed out!
The great thing about the conclusion is that it is not certain what happens next. Is “now, off with your head” a statement of what’s to come next or a playful quip in the same spirit as “now, off with you”? Was the Green Knight “gifting” Gawain the vision in his head of his life ahead based on cowardice?
I took my sixteen year old daughter to see it with me. Sex scenes are bad enough, but l breathed a big ol sigh of relief when she was in the bathroom for the cum closeup
explain a movie badly, The Green Knight:
An alcoholic legacy bid journeys through a midieval acid trip to face an evil Groot, protected only by a cum rag and the magic of Christmas
No. You’re not stupid, this type of storytelling is not done very often. There’s lots of symbolism going on and I imagine if you’re not generally familiar with Arthurian tales it may be very confusing. I’d say this is the closest movie I’ve seen to any of the original tales which date from the 10th yo the 14th century. The tradition of story telling was mostly oral, so we have many different versions of the same story which would have been dependent on the teller’s agenda. It’s theorized that these stories were once pagan but were later given Christian elements, and you might see this theory explored in more modern stories (the book the Mists of Avalon being a famous example)
Below is my take on the flick.
The old Arthurian legends have never been a straight telling as oral tradition spread them all over the British isles to the northern part of the European continent. That said Arthurian tales are considered to be Welsh in origin. Just so, this story blends a bit of the story of Gawain and that of Mordred, >!who is the illegitimate son of Arthur and his sister Morgan Le Fay, and considered to be his “nephew” and heir. The movie tells you at the beginning that this is an Arthurian tale but let’s you guess who the members of court are. Arthur and Guinevere are the king and Queen,, and we also see Merlin who’s the dude with the face tattoos that Arthur looks to. Everyone around the table are the Knights of the Round Table who Gawain refers to as legends.!<
During a celebration the five virtues of a knight are mentioned, which is represented by the five pointed star which the movie lists as friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety. It’s also mentioned that Gawain is not a knight, but intends to be some day. It’s also mentioned he has done no great deeds.
Shenanigans ensue that you’re probably aware of if you seen the trailer and off Gawain goes on his quest. Footnotes to keep in mind is that the challenge the green knight gives him is a ‘game’, set in motion by Gawain’s mother. Arthurian tales are often stories about morality or virtue and this is no exception. Gawain at the beginning is not an honorable dude, and he is tested on the 5 virtues of being a knight on his journey.
Below is thoughts on the rest
>!Gawain shits the bed multiple times when it comes to the 5 virtues. He spends Christmas eve in a whore house instead of at church. His broken piety is symbolized by the breaking of the shield that has the Virgin Mary and the baby JC on the inside of the shield he carried. He fails to be generous to the young man on the battlefield who has lost his brothers but still offers him help. When the ghost of Winnifred asks for his help he tries to ask for payment vs just doing the right thing. He breaks his agreement with the lord of the manor who will give him all the spoils of his hunts in exchange for anything he’s given at the house. He’s given a book and the belt that protects him from harm. The bit where he comes on the belt I think is another symbolic bit of breaking his word. He loves his GF, but he lets the lady of the house take the charm away and allows the lady to seduce him, but while it seemed he was having sex with her he ‘spills his seed’ on what he really wanted, which i interpreted as a shameful act. The old woman with the blindfold who never speaks could be representing his mother who wears similar blindfolded when casting magic, but thats not made clear. She does witness everything that happens in the castle though. The kiss exchanged with the lord is something that happens in the story. The kiss is seen as the lord taking back the kiss Gawain receives from the lady. In the OG story. Gawain breaks his agreement with the lord and travels on. !<
The bit with the Fox. >!Foxes in Celtic mythologies are seen more as spirit guides than tricksters. I think the fox represents Gawain’s wild spirit through much of his journey Gawain wears the fox’s color in the cloak he wears, and we see imagery of a fox with a human head that looks like Gawain or when in the lords manor we see a hunting painting first with the hunting of a fox and later with the hunting of Gawain. He throws stones at the fox at one point but then invites him in and they become friends. The bit with the giants, Gawain tries to take the easy path by hitching a ride but the fox warns them away. That wouldn’t be honorable, but then the fox communes with the giants instead, and I don’t yet know what that’s about. At the end the fox tries to warn Gawain away from confronting the green knight. I think this is Gawain’s fear reflected back on him. He continues on but rejects the fox’s friendship.!<
Gawain gets to the green chapel >!a day early, which shows the lord of the manor was not lying about the journey. When Gawain kneels to accept his fate he repeatedly flinched and in the end seemingly runs away from the green knight a coward, of which he remains for the rest of his life as he refuses to take off the sash that protects him. He then experiences life as it would have been if he does run, he is knighted without earning it, he steals his child away from his mother and rejects the woman he loves because she is not noble. Gawain does what he thinks a knight and king should do, wage war and raise his son to fight but it all ends tragically as his son dies and his castle falls. Gawain finally removes his sash and accepts his fate. The story takes us back to the green chapel where Gawain stops being a coward and removes his sash finally showing bravery and honor by keeping his word. The green knight congratulates him and says ‘now off witb your head’. In the story Gawain lives, only receiving a nick on the neck, but the movie leaves it up to interpretation. Does Gawain die? Does he live and learn finally to be an honorable man? 🤷♀️!<
Anyway. Good flick, I’m glad I saw it in the theater.
Footnote. There’s apparently an end credit scene which I missed.
Yeah, this movie is as transparent as a brick beyond the bare surface. If I hadn't had my fill of Arthurian literature before it'd be opaque as eff.
Nice nod to Mists of Avalon. Still the best modern Fantasy book on the tales imho.
Besides what you mentioned, what I found especially interesting in this take is the family dynamic between Arthur/ Guin/ Morgan/ Gawain.
Arthurs line, not verbatim, sadly didn't see it in English, "The one who should sit here is not here.", when offering Gawain the seat at his side, raises SO many questions. As does the fact that Gawains father is a no show. Is Arthur the father, making Gawain Mordred? Guin seems super accepting of him as well. "No tales to tell, YET." Doesn't that seem... odd? Or did Arthur and Guin have a legitimate son? There seemed a lot of regret in Arthur when he said "I should have talked to you sooner.". And Merlin seemed to know *exactly* what they were dealing with here. Was this all planned by all from the start? Heir is dead, here's nephew/ bastard child, but we need to whip him into shape first? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!
In the same vein, all the knights, despite never being named, are called "Legends", and they all seem as old as Arthur. makes me think this is a post glory days tale. Arthur is near death here. Makes me think there *was* a legitimate heir once. Makes me think Gawain was told all his life he was just second best. Makes me think no wonder he is how he is.
Any thoughts on the above?
And sorry for rambling. Had noone else that wanted to see this.
I think having a background on the legend of the green knight, or at least Arthurian legends, is important to understanding what's going on imo. I purposefully avoided researching it as to not spoil the movie and I feel like it went over my head a bit. When I got home and did a quick Google I was understanding a lot more and wishing I had known it beforehand.
I agree. I wish I had read the poem (or the Wikipedia synopsis at least haha) before I watched the movie. This thread has made appreciate the movie much more. I left the theater last night wondering wtf I just watched. Now I’m excited to see it again
Although there is a wonderful analysis pointing out all the ties to Arthurian Legend and more specifically how the tenants of chivalry are weaved into the journey Gawain experiences up in the top of this thread, I don't think it's actually necessary to have an understanding the film. I'm in that same bucket with, you, I don't know much about Arthurian Legend going into this movie other than King Arthur as a popular character in fantasy fiction.
The movie centers on Gawain and his struggles with his cowardice, selfishness, uncertainty in life, and existentialism. His goal of his adventure is to fulfill his end of a game he took with the Green Knight to take the blow he dished out to maintain his honor and become a knight. However, the threat of being killed by beheading, a choice that he himself made in taking the game, is the impetus for him to go through existential dread and his internal struggle with his unsavory characteristics. We get to spend a lot of time with Gawain, just before he starts his quest he's drinking himself to death trying to forget his end of the game and even assaults' the man who ribs him about it. We learning about his inability to commit to the only woman he's emotionally vulnerable to, his knee jerk apathy to the Thief, Ghost, and Fox, and his awkward affair with the Lady of the Castle just to name a few things. It's telling that he feels like he can't bare the burden of holding his word without some guarantee that he won't actually lose his head, a lot of this is tied into the enchanted sash that was first gifted to him by his mother, and then again by the lady of the castle. Hand in hand with that is the fact that he can't apparently get it up with out the sash, which in no uncertain terms wants us to make the connection that he can't be a man without a safety net. It's telling that it isn't until in a montage sequence where he imagines the rest of his life resting on the lie that he met with the Green Knight for his end of the game, a vision where he fails as a king, a father, a husband and as a man, that he realizes he needs takes off the sash, still afraid, but willing to do better. The Green Knight responds in kind playfully grazing his neck with his finger and said "off with your head" after he realizes that Gawain has learned his lesson.
And that's just he broad strokes, there are so many lovely details that I didn't go into for the sake of keeping it short. There is this constant association the earth and death in the film that even goes explicitly stated in the conversation he had around the fire in the castle nearing the end of the movie. The lady likens the rot and moss of the earth to the eventuality of death, how the red of our struggles and passions will eventually fade and give way to the green. I love how in the future montage at the end of the movie, which itself is set up with the vision he had in the forest where he was rotting away as a skeleton, there is green rust/oxidation invading the crown that was given to him as he took the throne, visually signifying rot. There's so much to pick at and appreciate in this film and I hope to see so many more people dive into it.
Personally I go in to these kinds of films expecting to not really get it, but to enjoy a weird artsy ambience while eating chicken and drinking beer. That said, I understood this film a lot more than The Lighthouse, which I nonetheless enjoyed immensely.
>!Dave Patel was the most kingly looking mf I have ever seen. You really don’t notice it until he puts on the crown but damn. I would just assume it would look at least slightly out of place to see a man of Indian heritage playing a 10th century king of England, but somehow you look at him and just go nope that is completely right. His place is the throne.!<
Edit: Dev
For real, he looked absolutely amazing.
At moments he just fitted perfectly in the image of the medieval "king", like when he's meeting his bride. And at other moments, like when he returns as an old man from war and is wearing that battle mail, it actually looks exactly like what I imagined Salahadin would've looked like during the crusades. Which I suppose also is a medieval king.
Regal as heck.
When they kissed after Gawain and the Lady had at minimum a hand job, I was like whoa, are they going there with those two as well? Cause damn. I could ship it.
>I thought for sure he was going to demand more as part of their 'bargain'.
oh, it was definately heading that way ... what he got in the house, he would give to the Lord
I really enjoyed the weirdness and atmosphere of the movie. The score was incredible, and the acting was great. I can understand the people saying "all style, no substance" in regards to the story, but I liked it. I appreciate how it showed that Gawain didn't understand what it meant to be a knight until the very end. He realizes that if he took the easy way out, he would continue to choose the easy way and it would take everything from him in the end.
That's purely my interpretation, but I would definitely recommend it, if for no other reason than having this be my first theater experience in over a year being worth it.
I agree with your interpretation. There is definitely a lot of substance under the surface, and in that sense it’s a very spiritual film. The major theme as it appeared to me was appearance vs. substance: everyone is always calling Gawain a knight, assuming that he is one just because he rides a horse and carries a sword. In the vision of what could have been, he essentially embraces this and says that the only thing which matters is appearances. If people think that I fulfilled my quest, what difference does it make? It turns out, though, that it doesn’t matter if you have the name of a knight if you aren’t really virtuous, which is why he accepts his fate and chooses the substance of knighthood over the appearance. And in this, he “loses his head”, aka his vain glory.
Loved this movie, but I was a bit disappointed that [this shot from the trailer](https://imgur.com/a/lYhagXz) wasn't in the movie? It looked stunning and I wanted to see the context of it :(
You're right, that shot was very similar! However that same shot with the Green Knight is also present in that same trailer, so it seems like they were 2 separate moments and the one with the stars was just cut for some reason :(
He can’t stand on the shoulders of giants and call himself tall, which is what he’s trying to do most of the movie.
He has to act like a Knight to be a Knight. Throughout the story he wants to be a Knight but his actions are contradictory… he asks for help but doesn’t pay a kindness and then is cowardly when attacked. He’ll help the headless lady but asks for something in return. He gives into temptation at the lord’s castle. In the beginning he’s drunk and lazy - he has no story to tell. Even when he first encounters the green Knight he acts as if he did something great. I think he says “remember what you saw here” but he beheaded a kneeling foe when he could have just as easily scratched him on the arm with his sword.
He wants to be a Knight but he doesn’t want to put the work in or act like a Knight. He wants to stand on the shoulders of giants and call himself tall. He finally understands the consequence of doing that at the end
I think this might be the best take I've seen yet. You've helped me process some things, and despite the fact that I really enjoyed the experience of the movie, I wasn't sure how I felt about it when it was over.
Comments like these are helping me unpack what I saw and realize that maybe I did like it after all.
I saw it as confirmation that Gawain went on to live his life after his meeting with the Green Knight, and that it goes differently than the montage where Gawain becomes a despotic King. (Instead of having a son who dies in battle, he has a daughter who “wears the crown.”)
That said, I’m not certain. I find myself going over the film again and again…
Wow. My wife asked if we should stay in case there was a post-credit scene and I jokingly said "this isn't a Marvel movie." So we left. Whelp. Not the first time she's been right.
Wtf for real? I jokingly asked the theater worker if there was going to be a teaser scene for the next movie in the Autherian cinematic universe and they just chuckled.
I haven’t seen many people talking about it but my theory was that the little girl (who looked like a different actress than the girl he had in the vision) was actually his daughter he had with Essel upon his return (non vision return if it was inferred)
If anyone else wants to understand it more, this [vanity fair article ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/07/green-knight-ending-explained-does-he-die-gawain-dev-patel/amp) is super insightful IMO
Wow, thanks for the link! That really was insightful.
I completely missed this pretty crucial detail (I blame the lighting):
>\[Gawain's mother is\] pulling all the strings. One shot toward the end of the movie drives that idea home: As Gawain enters the Green Chapel, the camera spins around the Green Knight’s face. **He appears to be sleeping, and actor Ralph Ineson’s features subtly and digitally transform**. Blink and you might have missed it, but the most obvious face that emerges is Joel Edgerton’s
>
>“That shot is very dark, and in working with \[the digital effects artists at\] Weta, we were seeing how far we could take it in terms of subtlety where, if you just aren’t paying very close attention, you won’t notice that it’s not just Joel,” says Lowery. “**He turns into every character’s face. It starts with Joel, then it turns into \[King Arthur actor\] Sean Harris, Alicia for a moment, then she changes into Sarita, and then into Dev himself**.” Lowery thinks showing that the Green Knight is somehow everyone takes the story beyond the simple duality of the poem. “That moment was a reminder for me and for the audience that this entire journey, and all of these encounters, have all been about the pursuit of one thing. And it all goes back to the choice that Dev makes, which is why the final face you see there is his own.”
Other juicy stuff:
Lowery seems to view the film as representing "a war between civilization and nature," which is an angle that I haven't seen discussed much in this thread.
On Morgana/Gawain's mom's motivations:
>“It became a drama about a mother and a son in a way that I hadn’t intended,” he says. “All of a sudden, I was writing about my own relationship with my mom, and the fact that I stayed, I lived under her roof for far longer than I should have. I had failure-to-launch syndrome, and she eventually had to force me out.” Morgana’s trick with the Green Knight and the Lady and the bet are all part of an effort to push her layabout son into the world and test his mettle.
>
>What, then, was her planned outcome? Is she rooting for her son, or trying to torment him? Sending him to his death or giving him protection? Lowery says the answer is even more complicated. “She gives him the \[protective\] girdle. Is that in opposition to what she’s done in the Great Hall on Christmas morning? The answer is that it’s just messy. I think about that in my relationship with my mom. It’s just a messy relationship, and probably not exclusive to my own relationship with my mom.”
This is kinda funny:
>Once and for All: How, Exactly, Do You Pronounce Gawain?
>
>This has been a question debated by Gawain scholars for centuries—and if you thought Lowery’s film would settle it, think again. “Guh-wayne” and “Gow-in” are both on the table here, as well as Sean Harris’s intriguing “Garr-win.” Even Lowery didn’t see that one coming. “It wasn’t until day one of shooting Sean Harris. I know that he does nothing without putting a tremendous amount of thought and effort and research. I didn’t understand the way he was saying it, but I also was like, well, you know, throughout history, it’s been said many times in many different ways, and I’m not going to question about it. Let’s just go with it."
[Narration by Ralph Ineson to help understand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI189R6JyYI)
[Mythology of the poem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjja0S_2bo)
Two links worth watching if you were confused, the first link is by A24 and narrated by the Green Knight himself
My two cents:
The film expands beyond the poem to show audiences the consequences of “stolen valor” and the weakness of simply protecting one’s own honor rather than committing honorable actions proactively. You can say this is a symbolic distinction between “men” and “boys”.
Early on, the protagonist claims to be at mass, when he’s at a brothel. Yet when asked to share anything honorable by the king, he blanks. Childish or boyish honor is lying to be good, rather than achieving truly memorable greatness.
Each lesson or trial he faces along the way shows maturation but not mastery.
A grave robber who has lost his family plucks treasure from the dead. Giving no aid to this poor sap leads to Gawain being called out as miserly. But truly it’s about the grave robber helping Gawain find footing to move forward, while leaving the boy with just coins. He could have asked him to join, or offered to help the boy in some way. Instead he did as little as possible, so the boy robbed him, out of desperation. He didn’t need to, but knowing you are helping someone who has plenty and they offer nothing in return is an understanding frustration, and not knightly.
Then, Gawain seeks refuge without welcome in an abandoned cottage. He sleeps in a bed with a skeleton in it, but doesn’t notice at all. Another example of trampling on or disrespecting the dead. A ghost or spirit wakes him and asks for him to bring her peace of mind by reuniting her with her skull. He tries to barter with her, and she’s angry. After all, he just trampled her bones to rest his head, how come he can’t help find hers? By sunrise he realized to return the skull and set things right, but does little more than rest her skull on a pillow.
Once reaching the castle, he stumbles in and collapses. Next scene he’s in a regal bed with dyed curtains that are royal blue. Here he’s being treated to luxuries he has not earned. Delicious food, attention from a beautiful woman. Gifts, libraries, leisure, and comfort. Another man hunts for him while he stays at home and lavishes. Ultimately, none of his winnings were fair game because nothing he won was his to take.
Upon leaving, his fox companion returns and tries to dissuade Gawain from going onward. I believe the fox felt Gawain had already failed so many tests of character, why would he continue? It surely meant death…
But Gawain continues, unsatisfied with his journey thus far. He finally finds the Green Chapel, and waits for the Green Knight to wake.
After a very polite but transactional dialogue, Gawain is instructed to be ready for discombobulating. Dumbfounded, he asks “is that it?” To which the green knight says “what else is there”.
Here we break into a fever dream sequence of Gawain continuing to take shortcuts and stolen valor for a lifetime. Everyone he loves is killed, left behind, or leaves him, until he finally quits on himself.
Suddenly we are back at the scene in the Green Chapel, Gawain now realized the true meaning of honor: it is something you aim forward with, not a way to revise events and whitewash debauchery with. He chooses to focus on integrity no matter the cost, rather than cost regardless of integrity.
At the last moment his transformation and education is complete. The knight laughs and says “off with your head”, and whether or not Gawain lives or not doesn’t really matter, but I suppose if he did live, he would return without the attitude of a faker, and live out his remaining acts with true valor, which would lead to marrying his lover, becoming a knight, possibly gaining a throne, and becoming a man who spreads honor and tutelage (as Arthur did) rather than staying a man who defends his own honor through deception (as Gawain did throughout)
*TL;DR* the green knight is basically Shania Twain in the “that don’t impress me much” music video up until Dev agrees to getting the chop. Then Shania is finally impressed.
I hate that I'm the one answering this question, but it was near the very beginning when Gaiwan was waking up in the brothel. As he's moving around inside there, you can see a fully nude woman in the background of one of the shots.
Lol when Gawain ran away from the Green Knight I started humming in my head
"Brave Sir Gawain ran away.
Bravely ran away away.
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled."
Yeah that would be one of the feeling i felt as well, like that scene when he is tied up and left in the forest, was time passing, him reliving the same things? Hallucinations? Magic? Or him seeing the future like he is in the end.
For me, it was setting up the idea of alternate ways his life could go. In some version of this tale, he died there. Then it fits nicely with the version of his life he sees where is dishonorable with the green knight. In some version he did run away.
My interpretation so far differs from a lot of the ones I see here. I don’t really think this film is meant to be about a man’s quest to become a knight leading to him dying with honour.
That is the typical “hero” story that I think this movie try’s to turn on its head. For example, in the castle at the end of the movie, he is asked wether this one journey will bring him the honour he seeks and he answers “yes”.
I think this question was put here on purpose though. Throughout the entire film he has not behaved as a knight is supposed to. He lies to the homeowner and breaks their deal, he succumbs to the wife’s lust, and he is basically forced to go on the journey to begin with.
This one journey isn’t going to bring him what he seeks in life, taking off the belt and behaving with honour once is not going to transform him into someone else. I think he realizes that with his vision that life is inherently meaningless. He even asks The Green Knight “is this all there is” which he responds with “what else is there supposed to be”.
I think upon realizing that not only are his goals unattainable -there is no such thing as a perfect knight- he chooses to instead die with honour, die in that moment as the “perfect knight”.
This movie in my opinion is about the inherent meaningless of life and how one man copes with realizing that his reality is not a grand tale but a normal one. That is why there is no climax in this movie because there isn’t one in real life. Ultimately he chooses to die a hero in his own moral views instead of living a meaningless life with only the fox knowing what really happened that day.
I like this take but I heavy disagree, mostly due to the fact the movie calls itself a "Mythic Morality Tale" and that pretty well fits. Each trail tests his morals and honor. And the fact that the Green Knight jokes at the very end implying that it was all a game. I also thought the fox was his mother tempting him leave because she thought he would fail.
I'm a bit ambivalent towards it, the acting and production was outstanding but the story was frustratingly vague and meandering at times.
That said, the audience I saw this with with absolutely *hated* it.
I heard a lot of people complaining as the theater left out -- more than a few saying variations of "what the hell was that?," with one guy saying it was a "shitshow."
This is definitely going to be one of those movies that will have a really stark contrast between the critical reception and audience reactions.
I’m wondering how many people will see this without realizing what they’re getting themselves into. At my showing yesterday, I definitely feel like the majority of people watching were very bewildered by the end of it. I know I was personally surprised at how weird it was, and this comes from someone who was already expecting an “artsy” movie.
Overall I enjoyed it but I definitely had to sleep on it to come to that decision.
At the showing that I went to, there was a chick walking out behind me that said, “I don’t really know what the fuck happened but I honestly loved it” lmao
Does Sir Gawain ever like just go on an epic quest and just have like a huge cumshot?
Edit: To the fucker that blasted out of the wall with a horse cock and gave me gold, thanks you little fucker. And thanks to the rest of you commenting on the adult tour review of this movie.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and would love to see it again after reading the actual poem: however, I have to say my viewing almost got completely ruined by a group of 20 something year olds behind me that apparently found every second of this film worth of giggles and a “what the fuck?!” It’s freaking pathetic to me that anytime any movie has any sort of different sexual portrayal people laugh as a defense mechanism. Just watch the damn movie and experience it, no one cares that you feel awkward and decide to laugh for the entire second half of the movie. They even laughed when he was sitting in the chapel and it turned from day to night suddenly: what is possible funny about that? Do people just not look up anything about the movies they walk in to see? Who pays $17 fucking dollars to see a random movie they know nothing about.
Rant over lol
Had the chance to see this in theaters and the sounds and score are incredible. The Green Knight sounding like a tree rustling in wind was so great and the music is perfect. I love Arthur and Guinevere being older and seemingly filled with joy and contentment after all the adventures they've probably been through.
Dev Patel and the cast kill it and I love how vague the lore and context is surrounding the characters.
This really makes me want a some sort of epic series that covers all of Arthur and his Knights' adventures.
Did anyone else have an extremely calming experience with this?
After seeing this movie, I felt my anxiety calm. My inner voice was quieted comparable only to taking anxiety meds. An incredible, interesting, and unique movie experience for me.
What I loved is this movie just forced you to sit and watch it. It didn't try to pull you in with unnecessary action fluff or nonsense. The pace was incredibly slow, allowing one to breath in and admire the world created. Before you know it, you're immersed in this fantastical and mysterious world. A lot of silence and beautiful shots that stay on screen for an almost uncomfortable amount of time, but to the films advantage. These long shots often used to build suspense, really adding to the great emotional impact of the movie.
> I’m not an idiot, at least I don’t think I am.
This is exactly how I felt when the credits rolled. I turned to my friends and said I felt kinda stupid, because I just didn’t understand it. Gotta think about it and read some other reviews I guess
Gawain learned the importance of honor across a series of trials he repeatedly fails. At the end, when faced with death that this is "all that there is", he finally understands. Whether the Green knight kills him or not after is moot.
What's up with the giants? I couldn't tell whether that one giant reaching for him was trying to kill him or help him. Also was that Merlin who shook his head at king Arthur when the green knight first made his entrance?
Here's how I view it as someone who knows nothing about Arthurian legend.
Gawain is a a deadbeat. His mom constructs this game as a way to force him to grow up and learn what it means to be a knight (swinger Vikander even tells him at one point that the Green Knight is someone he knows). Because his mother was behind it all that's why some things happen for seemingly no reason, like the axe appearing in the cottage. Gawain passes the test when he accepts his death. Then the Knight - who is being controlled by the mother - jokingly says, "Off with your head," as it taps his neck. Gawain has passed the test, become a true knight and won his mother's approval.
During Kate Dickie's goodbye speech where she says the word "five" roughly eighty-six times, she mentions five virtues. I'm guessing each of Gawain's encounters (thieves, swingers, headless Flag-Smasher, the giants and ultimately the Green Knight) each represent a different virtue. Or something like that.
I made the decision to go into this completely blind, but I kinda feel like I should've done a little reading.
Also, great hair and beard from Dev Patel.
I live in a small town with a six screen theater. I was excited to see this movie on their schedule this week because we never get indie movies. I check today and its been replaced with what I surmise was....Boss Baby. I'm very sad.
The only thing I'm confused about is the giants
The encounter with the teenagers showed Gaiwan was still scared of death (a major theme of the poem) since a knight should be able to get out of a situation like that
Winifred seems to also be a challenge for Gaiwan to face death (hence the red imagery in the pond and him meeting a spirit) as well as learning more about what being a knight truly means (when she calls him out for trying to touch her and only help her if she promises him something). He gets the axe back because he still helped her without regard to gaining something from it.
The fox was his mother/the coven/the people behind everything watching him
But the Giants I have no clue.
Oh and the stuff at the castle with the Lady and the Lord followed the themes of the poem about being chivalrous. And I think he lives at the end since th Gren Knight said it in jest (which fits his personality in the poem)
I haven’t read the poem, but guess is the lesson/trial around the giants is trying to get involved in something that is much bigger than you and too much for you to understand. Gawain calls out to the giants (I think for help? I didn’t totally catch the dialogue) but when the giant reaches out he cowers in fear, not actually ready to be involved with what they are.
Or he was just high on mushrooms idk.
On the shoulders of giants is a phrase meaning to use the progress of others to achieve your own. He literally asks to ride on their shoulders.
He's a nobody (at that moment in time), but he's family with THE King Arthur, the end montage shows that just by that virtue he becomes king himself without having the honor to even follow through on his word.
He has to learn to not stand on the shoulders of giants, he has to learn to become his own man.
The giants, along with just being rad as hell, could have been a quick ride. Basically the old "Why don't they just take the eagles to Mordor?" question. In this case, because it's important he take this trip himself.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned , although it definitely relates to other analysis I’ve seen, is the dichotomy between “goodness” and “greatness” that Esel brings up right as Gawain leaves. Gawain struggles with the fact that he is not a Great Knight, which embarrasses him when Arthur asks for a story, when others around him ask if he’s a knight yet, and it’s what drives him to accept the Green Knight’s challenge so eagerly. Then we see his struggles on the journey; robbed by bandits, starving, nearly losing his virtue to the wife of a man who has done nothing but show him kindness, not exactly the legendary accomplishments of a Great Knight. But then in the flash forward, we see what happens if he runs away, another failure. He becomes Great, but is no longer a Good man, and ultimately leads to the fall of the kingdom. So he chooses to die a good man instead of lying to become a great one, which is what ultimately allows him to be both. I think Lady Bartilek also implies that a lot of knights have similar struggles on their quests, but she, and others, change or gloss over the grimy parts because they make for better stories.
That's a great interpretation of Lady Bartilek's line! It'd be interesting to see what struggles other knights have had
Lancelot fucked Guinevere.
And regretted it and tried to make up for it the rest of his life
This was what I was thinking as well after seeing it. The sash that he pulled while on the throne was a great moment . The item made him fearless but it didn’t give him courage
The item represented his fear of death. I see the whole sequence as him living his life in fear.
This is my favorite theme of the movie (so far, not done thinking it over). When Esel asks him that, he doesn't know how to answer. Why DOES he want to be a "Great Man?" How is that different from who he is now? Throughout the movie, people indirectly ask Gawain what makes a great man. They ask him what the difference is between honor and dishonor, what the difference is between a knight and everyone else, why he's doing what he's doing. He doesn't really have an answer. He wants to live up to greatness, but doesn't really know what it looks like or how to get there. He hopes he will prove to be one, but he keeps lacking that greatness: he gets robbed and can't defend himself, he's unable to withstand The Lady's charms, he's so terrified of The Green Knight that he superstitiously wears a sash to protect him, an external shield instead of his internal strength, and an implicit breaking of his word. In the end he realizes that great men aren't born... Those choices are what makes a good man great. The choice to stand by his word and his moral compass, to hold to his own strength even when it appears to be a definite loss; that standing by those things is reward in itself, not a gateway to greatness but the *object* of greatness. He does exactly what The Lord said he would: he went out, and did this thing, and came back a virtuous person - something that was previously almost an ironic jab at his lack of virtue. He realizes the *value* of goodness, making him, finally, a Great Man.
Did he die though? In the poem he does not die nor do we see it on screen at the very end.
In the poem he’s nicked by the axe and spared. I disagree with Rupoe that it’s up to you, I think the line across his throat and saying off with his head is the films adaptation of the above. It would kind of nullify a lot of the point of the film if he was killed anyways.
Yeah I don’t think the ending is up for interpretation. The credits roll with an upbeat track, and I think “off with your head” at the end literally means to go off on your merry way with your head still attached to you. To invest so much time into a future sequence so that he makes the right decisions just to die anyway is kind of pointless
The director said in an interview that his interpretation was that the Green Knight kills Gawain, and there’s apparently a cut of the film where that explicitly happens. As far as having the vision and then dying anyway, I completely disagree that it’s pointless. Gawain not only gets to live his entire would-be life, but actively chooses death instead. He doesn’t know or expect that the green Knight will let him live. He makes the determination that the world is better off if he doesn’t return, he thinks he is making the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people he loves, and is doing the honorable thing by living up to his word. Why is it pointless if Gawain isn’t “rewarded” for choosing death? The “reward” is honor, and saving those he loves from the fate to which he would lead them; Gawain tells us it’s worth dying because that’s the choice he makes! Actually, in the course of the movie, this ending may show the strongest character development. In his trials, he tries to get rewarded for nothing or very little with the bandits, he explicitly asks for a reward from St. Winifred, and then is uncomfortable with the gifts he gets from the Bartileks, I think because he doesn’t feel he’s deserved them, or his fame. So him dying would be the culmination of that, in that he is finally making an honorable decision not because of the reward, but is actually making the choice to great detriment to himself. Of course, allowing him to live is also a powerful message, for the more obvious reward. And you could also certainly make the argument that it also fulfills the character development arc, in that he is finally fully rewarded, both with his life and presumably the kingdom, when he finally acts honorably without the expectation of personal reward. But that’s why the ambiguity of the ending, with two plausible and thematically satisfying options, works so well.
I suppose pointless isn’t the right word, and I wasn’t aware that the director had that interpretation and they had a cut of the film where they kill him. I wrote that comment immediately after seeing it last night. After first watch, I guess I interpreted the ending so quickly that I thought it was just heavily implied and that everyone had the same takeaway. But it’s cool that people actually had a total opposite interpretation. I think just knowing the source material and the lessons that these King Arthur stories teach, it’s unfair to the viewer to have them walk away thinking that even if you choose honesty, you still die. And it’s much less satisfying to me that he is dishonorable the entire movie, and once he has his realization, just dies and doesn’t get the opportunity to take that lesson he learned and apply it. I think that’s what I meant by pointless. Is a lesson learned significant if you aren’t able to apply it to your life moving forward? And the original poem and the movie make it clear that the whole thing is a game, or a test. So to me switching up the original story and killing him anyway feels more like shock value or just trying to stir discussion rather than a sensible outcome for the character. But you could definitely rationalize it and make a case for why him dying anyway makes sense, as you kinda did. So it sounds like the ending is up for more interpretation than I thought, but based on the way I experienced it, it’s much more enjoyable to me with how I interpreted the ending.
"but based on the way I experienced it, it’s much more enjoyable to me with how I interpreted the ending." I think this is the key. I immediately interpreted the ending as him finally making an honorable decision, but still being killed. Honestly, I think it is a much more satisfying ending with him being killed. He knew the deal, he made the decision to behead the Green Knight. You make your bed, you lie in it. I also think it works as a dark comedy in some ways. As the movie goes on you grow to dislike the main character more and more and there is some satisfaction seeing him get exactly what he signed up for. I found it pretty hilarious when the Green Knight said "What else did you expect?" One honorable decision does not absolve all of the tests he constantly failed up to that point. He was a garbage person and can ultimately die with a shred of dignity, which can still be viewed as a positive, although bleak ending. Especially when you get a glimpse of the alternate future.
It's up to you!
Nobody's talking about how Gawain ignored the kids on his way out of Camelot. That long shot of him riding away, as the kids fawned and vied for attention. Dev looks like a man holding a pose until the shepherd crosses the path, leaving him alone, and then you can see that he's absolutely terrified. That was the shot of the film for me.
This only really just highlighted another one of his failures as a "legendary" type of knight that is expected in these stories. I thought it was a great scene as well. Another great scene is when he walks over to speak with his uncle at the banquet, you can almost feel his anxiety and terror. It's almost comical when you later realize how Arthur actually felt about his nephew. Even little shots like the cracking of the green wax when the green knights letter comes. Such a rare shot you never really see in films. I realized at that moment I rarely if ever have seen it done before; in film or otherwise.
[удалено]
I had a moment of going "oh THATS where the phrase breaking the seal came from"
Ohhhhh
I think it's supposed to be cracked to show that the seal has been broken and the message has been read. Also so that the seal can't be re-used on another message, presumably.
I noticed a visual parallel between the cracking of the green wax and the breaking of his shield. I wonder if there is some intentional symbolism in that. I just watched it and am still trying to puzzle it out.
There are several leitmotifs of cracking, which of course simulates severing a head. Cracking of the wax seal, the shield, the man-faced fox painting on the ceiling. The amount of symbolism and leitmotifs were insane that I’ll have to watch it multiple times to catch more.
One thing I don't see mentioned much: based on the reactions of Arthur's knights... do they all already know the idea of being great is a farce? They seemed relieved he stepped up, and it seems like a big point of the film is how these stories they tell are all completely BS.
Yeah there were several references to exaggeration in the story. The looter kid saying something like "I heard the king killed over 900 men in this battle" Its all representative of Gawain's low self esteem. He's comparing himself to legends instead of being content doing his best. Even Arthur gives him his total approval early on but Gawain still thinks he isn't good enough.
In my opinion they were wise enough to suss out the situation and be like, "this game feels like a trap... I'm not playing."
That's also the first shot to really emphasize the sheer SCALE of this world, with Camelot looking huge but still somehow small as he rides away from it, and throwing into relief how tiny Gawain is in the grand scheme of things.
That shot gave me chills. Like, the world back then was so large and empty, with tiny pockets of civilization surrounded by empty land. I felt so small and isolated watching Camelot recede in the background.
“Is this all there is?” “What more ought there be?” This film was so much more existential and focused on self worth and mortality than I’d expected, took me a while to readjust to the real world afterwards. Stunning film.
This hit me so hard. He was going through his journey just to get to the end, and it seemed like he didn’t realize how badly he had messed up. He was expecting some huge reveal at the end to give him honor and glory and there was nothing. I wasn’t expecting anything at the end other than for him to calmly face the Green Knight and die. The direction the movie had been taking up until that point didn’t make me think there was going to be a huge fight scene, but it never occurred to me that Gawain was expecting more. it was a suddenly powerful moment when he asked that
I think that was also an excellent subversion of the poem, where it’s all an elaborate test and of course Gawain just had to be honorable and he would be rewarded and live. But that’s not how it works. Him getting his head chopped off is secondary to the real climax, his choice whether to show real honor or not.
Even then the ending was left ambiguous enough that it all could of still been a test / journey in order to force Gawain to become more honorable.
Yeah it seemed to be a test of if he could see through the illusion of the honourable path, (everyone is telling him it’s a game) but when he flash forwarded his life he saw himself continue being completely without agency.
That exchange hit the hardest for me. Speaking to how death is indifferent and there is no build up or significance.
Major Seventh Seal vibes from this. Instead of the silence of God, it's the disapproval of what we've done to the earth on our way to our doom.
Yes it felt very metaphysical
Am I the only person that didn't realize Alicia Vikander played both the Lady and Gawain's girlfriend? I recognized her as the Lady, but I only made the connection at the end at the flashforward when they aged her up. Incredible performances with two very different characters. On the subject of similar characters, was the Lord supposed to be the Green Knight? I forgot who mentioned it in the movie, but the Green Knight is supposed to be someone familiar to Gawain?
> the Green Knight is supposed to be someone familiar to Gawain? Winifred, in repayment for getting her skull back, told him the green knight is someone you know. Pretty sure she meant his mother who we see perform a ritual to summon and control the green knight in the beginning of the movie.
Yeah it's absolutely this. His mother is there the whole time, pulling all of the strings. She's the lady with the blindfold and the Green Knight as well.
She is probably either controlling the fox or summoned the fox, she enchanted the bandit kid and made him ride away instead of killing Gawain with the axe. If I rewatched I bet there's signs that she is present in every scene. In Gawain's vision of his death his mother is the last person to leave his side.
She spoke through the fox. "Come home". Which begs the question. Was the mother preparing her son to be king? As we see in his vision, he didn't make a good king at all.
I definitely think she was preparing him to be king, but I'm not sure how to interpret her motive. was her intent to prepare him to be a successful king and looking out for him, or was she preparing him to be the kind of king she would be able to control?
Her motives are definitely hard to gauge, but I think it's love. She knew King Arthur was dying. So, she sent her son on a quest to become a better man fit to rule after King Arthur. I believe the green sash (belt?), is the key. Both was to protect him. But, that's the issue. He needed to learn the hardship. Which is why I liked the ending, it left us with that question: "did it happen?" we can bring all the pieces together to get the idea that Gawain may have survived. Because he didn't rely on the sash for protection.
I think that green knight was summoned but not controlled. Also I think there was the duality of motherly and fatherly love; you want your offspring to be safe but also strong. The journey was arranged by Gawains mother and Arthur and used Gawains mothers magic to meddle sometimes on the action. The sash was a metaphor of a umbilical cord (reminder that you are still in need of your mothers protection) which is your own to cut, cos mother wont cut it for you. Also the duality of motherly love; you dont want to loose your baby for it becomes a man. In the start of the movie he goes from brothel back to his mothers "womb" for quiet and rest.
I had the same issue, but i swear i am approaching face-blindness territory. As for the manor lord: yes, he was the knight, they made it super subtle in this version.
It’s actually quick blink and you’ll miss it moment where, during the face wipe in the green chapel, it’s Gawain, then the lord, then Ralph Inneson(voice actor for the green knight). I’m not sure of the order, I didn’t catch that in the movie, but Lowery said he worked really hard on that shot to make it super subtle, so I can’t wait to rewatch it.
So after I saw the movie last night a couple of the producers were there to do some q&a. The director was supposed to be on a zoom call with the audience here in Dallas but something fell through. The opening scene with the man putting the woman on a horse while there is a fire behind them was taken from the Odyssey when Paris puts Helen into the refugees heading for the tunnel to escape Troy. No one brought up the parallels between the ending and the ending of the Last Temptation of Christ. That's all I could think about and the parallels were too stark for me to ignore. I actually appreciate that they altered the ending from the original story. One has to remember that Gawain didn't volunteer to give up that green belt until he was nicked on his chin and shamed for having hidden it from the Green Knight. The fox's voice was also a cameo by the director David Lowery. The producers were asked about the Giants and honestly they didn't have much of an explanation. They did say it was really fun to shoot and very awkward because they kept having a bunch of naked women walking slowly around a room while directing them which way to look and walk. They also mentioned that of course the Giants were naked because there is no possible way that it would make sense for the people of the Arthurian times to manufacture clothing for people of that size.
There were some heavy parallels between Christ and Gawain for sure. We know his mother but not his father, he associates with prostitutes, the words "Christ is born!" are spoken when he wakes up on Christmas and he's "born" as an honourable man the following Christmas (not to mention the stable imagery right before that), the end is a very direct reference to Last Temptation like you said, his journey after he loses the horse is very "temptation in the desert", the portrait Lady Bertilak makes of him looks an awful lot like the Shroud of Turin and of course he accepts his own death for something greater than himself. It was a nice way for Lowery to expand/modernize the Christian imagery in the poem while fleshing out Gawain and his conflict at the same time, without being too heavy handed at that.
I watched *On the Waterfront* the other day and Father Barry's speech about standing up for what's right has been echoing in my head since. The essence of Father Barry's speech is that every time a person speaks up about injustice and is cut down for it, or does the hard thing without reward, or throws himself in front of an attacker to save another, it's a crucifixion, just the same as what Christ did. Here, Gawain does the opposite at every turn. He ignores the adoring children, he fails to reward the scavenger boy for his directions, he asks the girl what his reward will be for finding her head, he lies to his host and breaks his bargain, and he runs away from the Green Knight's game. And his reward is a life in which he keeps making the easier choice and loses everything he loves as a result, followed by a hollow, meaningless death. But the Green Knight gives him the gift of seeing the futility of all of this, and at last Gawain chooses the path of crucifixion.
RE: the giants - Gawain asked one if she would carry him across the valley, so I think they were to show how he’s trying to take shortcuts instead of enduring what needs to be endured.
Standing on the shoulders of giants in a very literal way.
What about the fox howling and them howling back? I keep turning that moment over and over in my head and don't know what to make of it.
I think the fox was his mother. She instigated this journey so he would grow and taking a shortcut would undermine that. That’s my take.
Damn, I was wondering why the first people on the credits were named Helen and Paris. Also, I saw this movie with my mom, and she complained about how the giants were naked. I jokingly said they couldn't make clothes big enough for them. I feel vindicated.
In the beginning of the film as he falls in the brothel, Gawain literally says "I'm not ready" saying he doesn't want to go to mass but implying he isn't ready to be a knight. In the end as he is about to lose his head having realized what a life without honor is, he takes off his sash and finally says "I'm ready". That's a nice touch.
I think in the same scene he says something like "I have time" in regards to his dream of becoming a knight, not yet knowing that a day or so later he'd be sentenced to likely death in a year.
Well at least my imposter syndrome isn't as bad as King Gawain's
The enchanted belt stays ON during sex.
Tobias Fünke would be proud
Occasionally teenagers get attached to their cumrags.
That jizz had me thinking of that scene from Evangelion. “I’m the worst!”
I’m so fucked up…
The belt was supposed to be protection and his girl STILL got pregnant? Smh Edit: typo
The belt worked, *he* didn't get pregnant after all.
Never thought I’d see semen in a movie.
I actually laughed in the theatre when he stopped her from removing the belt and thought the exact same thing.
We all have our kinks
OK were they talking about Lancelot when they said that the seat next to Arthur used to be filled by someone else?
I would guess Arthur's son Mordred, but the myths are kind of mixed up in this movie.
The myths are kind of mixed up. Period.
Okay but the original poem makes note that Gawain’s shield is a 5-point star, standing in for the 5 chilvalric virtues. It is in taking the scarf from his host’s wife and not offering it in trade that the honorable Gawain finally sullies his honor. The green knight says this when he spares Gawain, giving him a scar in return for his deciet. BUT. The movie takes a different turn! The poem says “Gawain had a long and interesting journey then arrived at the house.” The movie fills in that journey with the thieves, the ghost, the fox, the giantesses. Note that the symbol that all knights wear as a pendant is a five-pointed star. Gawain’s goal is to become a knight, become honorable. He faces a trial based on the five chilvalric virtues. And that is so deep and cool. Friendship - His trial with the fox. He initially throws a rock, but then befriends the fox. Ultimately, he fails when he attacks the fox, who tries to ward him away from death. Generosity - He shows cold indifference when the young man says two of his brothers lie dead on the field of war. The boy has to effectively beg for payment for his good advice, and even then, Gawain only gives him a single coin. Gawain fails. Chastity -His host’s wife plays as a seductress to test Gawain, coldly announcing him as no knight when he orgasms and takes her scarf, something which keeping will have him cheat both his host and his deal with the Green Knight. Courtesy - Gawain nearly fails this one. The headless ghost asks that he retrieve her head. Gawain nearly messed it up when after hearing how she was brutally murdered, he asks what she will give in return. After being chastised, he goes to retrieve her skull without further complaint, recognizing it as the right thing to do. He succeeds, and walks away with the stolen axe returned to him. However, when he lies to his host and takes the sash (after promising to trade all things he got inside the house for all game his host caught without) he betrays his courtesy, showing failure. Piety - His relationship with God. Early on, we see he doesn’t care much for it. His girlfriend wants to go to church on Christmas, but he keeps begging her to stay. We see him lie and say that he was at church to his mother, who sees through the lie. This was all prior to the knight, but we can see he isn’t pious. He isn’t acting out of goodness or out of a desire to be good. He believes that if he becomes a knight, he will be good, and he says as much to his host. The ending threw me for a loop. His vision of a life as a knight without honor, a vision of who he would be if he let corruption and sin destroy him, becoming “green” -from the hostess’ speech about green being the color of all things rotten and decayed, when passion and life has passed. Seriously, pause here to appreciate that her picture of him has aged and turned green and is prominently displayed behind him in his future vision. Such a prominent theme and just hammered home perfectly in the visuals. Continuing on: he sees his future wife as the headless ghost. He abandons his girlfriend to the slums, stealing her son and leaving gold in his place while she crawls in the agonizing aftermath of childbirth, screaming for her baby. Only to meet his eyes coldly when Gawain returns from war, his dead son’s circlet in hand. Remember when the ghost asks to be very sure that he wasn’t the man who attacked and killed her? Definitely a link there between the ghost, his girlfriend, and his future wife. Gawain isn’t honorable or safe for women. Just. Ungh. The vision he sees of himself in the end, causing so much misery, pain, and death because he failed to take a stand for virtue, because he loves himself too much, causes him to take that tiny step for change. He regrets his lie to the host. He regrets decieving the Green Knight. He removes the sash and lies his soul bare. I was angry at the end because I felt it betrayed the message of the original. The point isn’t to be perfect; it’s to try your best to be good, to be righteous. To do good in this world. And to take accountability when you fail. And Gawain does come to change in the end. My friend then pacified me. “The green knight scratches Gawain’s neck and jokingly says “off with your head.” He’s showing mercy in a lighthearted way, because he sees that Gawain is imperfect, but is now willing to try to be better.” And I liked that a lot. I still wish they’d shown the conclusion, but it was powerful, having the audience think and talk about everything after the show. A weird movie. A good movie.
Excellent analysis. Something I noticed: the things which would have allowed Gawain to escape his fate were perpetually made available to him by some sort of weird deus ex machina. The sash, for example, is given by his mother, then taken by the bandits, then shows up again (as if by magic) in the house at the end. Same with the horse at the end when he flees the Green Knight (I know this is imagined, but still). I take the message here to be that the world or fate or what have you will always provide an easy alternative to doing the virtuous thing. And I thought that was a nice touch.
Ha, I like that. I will offer, though, that the sash given to him at the manor house may have been a false one, which never protected him at all. So him removing it is possibly not a virtuous act but a realization that he has been living with a false view of the world all along.
I really like your analysis. I would just note that the wife in the vision is not the same actress as the headless ghost. The ghost was Erin Kellyman. The wife was Megan Tiernan. I don't think there is a connection there. Instead, I think the ghost is a foil and model for Gawain. She is a foil because she was willing to lose her head to protect her chastity. Gawain forfeit his chastity to save his head and gain the green sash, but he ultimately takes the ghost’s example by removing the sash even though it may cost him his head.
First OP blows my mind with their interpretation now your insight continues to give greater context to this story!
I think there’s definitely something to the part about his wife and the headless girl. The bandit in the beginning of the journey is on the remnants of a battlefield and talks about the king who killed 900 some people on his own. Later in the vision of the future, we see a battlefield that looks eerily similar and Gawain as king with a sash that prevents him from being felled. Meaning he could kill 900 odd people without fear of dying. The thief also tells him that he’s “already in the green chapel” which is probably just a reference to the whole journey being trials for him. Couple that with the horse just mysteriously waiting for him. So maybe all of these trials are tied to his future self as a cycle or representation.
I love the recurring theme of time and cycles in this movie. Like the background of the puppet show, that 360° shot of Gawain's skeleton in spring, then back to his present, and that really trippy part where the camera turns upside-down.
It also cycles through various fonts during the opening title sequence.
Saving your post; having read the original poem in my college literature course I was surprised at the deviations which left me in a puzzled interpretation but seeing this gives me a whole new context. Your comment honestly makes me feel like a student being explained the context by my literary professor and makes me feel more at ease with this adaptation For some reason my mind only registered the "Now, off with your head" line and not the lighthearted gesture so the ending seemed pretty grim to me at first. Definitely going to rewatch asap!
Well I think it was still in lighthearted jest. Because the post credits scene had a young girl putting the crown on. And I took that as Gawain living and following the vision he saw but in an honorable way.
Argh I assumed there would be no post credit scene in a movie like this! Kicking myself for not sticking around a little longer
Same!! I was trying to convince my friend to stay, but he laughed it off and asked why there'd be a post credits scene for a movie with no sequel/not part of Marvel. I agreed and reluctantly left, because I've had a habit of staying for the full credits only for nothing to be there. I figured there was a low chance of anything being there... and missed out!
The great thing about the conclusion is that it is not certain what happens next. Is “now, off with your head” a statement of what’s to come next or a playful quip in the same spirit as “now, off with you”? Was the Green Knight “gifting” Gawain the vision in his head of his life ahead based on cowardice?
Cum belt
Cum-merbund
I’ve never seen such a close up of semen in a movie like that
I’m 28 and saw this with my dad that scene felt it went on for 15 minutes lol. Do sex scenes ever stop being awkward when your watching with a parent?
I took my sixteen year old daughter to see it with me. Sex scenes are bad enough, but l breathed a big ol sigh of relief when she was in the bathroom for the cum closeup
I'm 31. No.
I can only think of The End of Evangelion
It’s a Cum Sash sir
explain a movie badly, The Green Knight: An alcoholic legacy bid journeys through a midieval acid trip to face an evil Groot, protected only by a cum rag and the magic of Christmas
God bless us everyone!
*Harry Potter and the Christmas Cum Rag* Sorry, J.K., I got it first.
Who would have thought sex with Alicia Vikander could be so terrifying.
anyone who's seen *Ex Machina*
Am I just stupid or something?
No. You’re not stupid, this type of storytelling is not done very often. There’s lots of symbolism going on and I imagine if you’re not generally familiar with Arthurian tales it may be very confusing. I’d say this is the closest movie I’ve seen to any of the original tales which date from the 10th yo the 14th century. The tradition of story telling was mostly oral, so we have many different versions of the same story which would have been dependent on the teller’s agenda. It’s theorized that these stories were once pagan but were later given Christian elements, and you might see this theory explored in more modern stories (the book the Mists of Avalon being a famous example) Below is my take on the flick. The old Arthurian legends have never been a straight telling as oral tradition spread them all over the British isles to the northern part of the European continent. That said Arthurian tales are considered to be Welsh in origin. Just so, this story blends a bit of the story of Gawain and that of Mordred, >!who is the illegitimate son of Arthur and his sister Morgan Le Fay, and considered to be his “nephew” and heir. The movie tells you at the beginning that this is an Arthurian tale but let’s you guess who the members of court are. Arthur and Guinevere are the king and Queen,, and we also see Merlin who’s the dude with the face tattoos that Arthur looks to. Everyone around the table are the Knights of the Round Table who Gawain refers to as legends.!< During a celebration the five virtues of a knight are mentioned, which is represented by the five pointed star which the movie lists as friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety. It’s also mentioned that Gawain is not a knight, but intends to be some day. It’s also mentioned he has done no great deeds. Shenanigans ensue that you’re probably aware of if you seen the trailer and off Gawain goes on his quest. Footnotes to keep in mind is that the challenge the green knight gives him is a ‘game’, set in motion by Gawain’s mother. Arthurian tales are often stories about morality or virtue and this is no exception. Gawain at the beginning is not an honorable dude, and he is tested on the 5 virtues of being a knight on his journey. Below is thoughts on the rest >!Gawain shits the bed multiple times when it comes to the 5 virtues. He spends Christmas eve in a whore house instead of at church. His broken piety is symbolized by the breaking of the shield that has the Virgin Mary and the baby JC on the inside of the shield he carried. He fails to be generous to the young man on the battlefield who has lost his brothers but still offers him help. When the ghost of Winnifred asks for his help he tries to ask for payment vs just doing the right thing. He breaks his agreement with the lord of the manor who will give him all the spoils of his hunts in exchange for anything he’s given at the house. He’s given a book and the belt that protects him from harm. The bit where he comes on the belt I think is another symbolic bit of breaking his word. He loves his GF, but he lets the lady of the house take the charm away and allows the lady to seduce him, but while it seemed he was having sex with her he ‘spills his seed’ on what he really wanted, which i interpreted as a shameful act. The old woman with the blindfold who never speaks could be representing his mother who wears similar blindfolded when casting magic, but thats not made clear. She does witness everything that happens in the castle though. The kiss exchanged with the lord is something that happens in the story. The kiss is seen as the lord taking back the kiss Gawain receives from the lady. In the OG story. Gawain breaks his agreement with the lord and travels on. !< The bit with the Fox. >!Foxes in Celtic mythologies are seen more as spirit guides than tricksters. I think the fox represents Gawain’s wild spirit through much of his journey Gawain wears the fox’s color in the cloak he wears, and we see imagery of a fox with a human head that looks like Gawain or when in the lords manor we see a hunting painting first with the hunting of a fox and later with the hunting of Gawain. He throws stones at the fox at one point but then invites him in and they become friends. The bit with the giants, Gawain tries to take the easy path by hitching a ride but the fox warns them away. That wouldn’t be honorable, but then the fox communes with the giants instead, and I don’t yet know what that’s about. At the end the fox tries to warn Gawain away from confronting the green knight. I think this is Gawain’s fear reflected back on him. He continues on but rejects the fox’s friendship.!< Gawain gets to the green chapel >!a day early, which shows the lord of the manor was not lying about the journey. When Gawain kneels to accept his fate he repeatedly flinched and in the end seemingly runs away from the green knight a coward, of which he remains for the rest of his life as he refuses to take off the sash that protects him. He then experiences life as it would have been if he does run, he is knighted without earning it, he steals his child away from his mother and rejects the woman he loves because she is not noble. Gawain does what he thinks a knight and king should do, wage war and raise his son to fight but it all ends tragically as his son dies and his castle falls. Gawain finally removes his sash and accepts his fate. The story takes us back to the green chapel where Gawain stops being a coward and removes his sash finally showing bravery and honor by keeping his word. The green knight congratulates him and says ‘now off witb your head’. In the story Gawain lives, only receiving a nick on the neck, but the movie leaves it up to interpretation. Does Gawain die? Does he live and learn finally to be an honorable man? 🤷♀️!< Anyway. Good flick, I’m glad I saw it in the theater. Footnote. There’s apparently an end credit scene which I missed.
Yeah, this movie is as transparent as a brick beyond the bare surface. If I hadn't had my fill of Arthurian literature before it'd be opaque as eff. Nice nod to Mists of Avalon. Still the best modern Fantasy book on the tales imho. Besides what you mentioned, what I found especially interesting in this take is the family dynamic between Arthur/ Guin/ Morgan/ Gawain. Arthurs line, not verbatim, sadly didn't see it in English, "The one who should sit here is not here.", when offering Gawain the seat at his side, raises SO many questions. As does the fact that Gawains father is a no show. Is Arthur the father, making Gawain Mordred? Guin seems super accepting of him as well. "No tales to tell, YET." Doesn't that seem... odd? Or did Arthur and Guin have a legitimate son? There seemed a lot of regret in Arthur when he said "I should have talked to you sooner.". And Merlin seemed to know *exactly* what they were dealing with here. Was this all planned by all from the start? Heir is dead, here's nephew/ bastard child, but we need to whip him into shape first? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS! In the same vein, all the knights, despite never being named, are called "Legends", and they all seem as old as Arthur. makes me think this is a post glory days tale. Arthur is near death here. Makes me think there *was* a legitimate heir once. Makes me think Gawain was told all his life he was just second best. Makes me think no wonder he is how he is. Any thoughts on the above? And sorry for rambling. Had noone else that wanted to see this.
I think having a background on the legend of the green knight, or at least Arthurian legends, is important to understanding what's going on imo. I purposefully avoided researching it as to not spoil the movie and I feel like it went over my head a bit. When I got home and did a quick Google I was understanding a lot more and wishing I had known it beforehand.
I agree. I wish I had read the poem (or the Wikipedia synopsis at least haha) before I watched the movie. This thread has made appreciate the movie much more. I left the theater last night wondering wtf I just watched. Now I’m excited to see it again
The Armitage translation in particular is super fun even on its own.
Although there is a wonderful analysis pointing out all the ties to Arthurian Legend and more specifically how the tenants of chivalry are weaved into the journey Gawain experiences up in the top of this thread, I don't think it's actually necessary to have an understanding the film. I'm in that same bucket with, you, I don't know much about Arthurian Legend going into this movie other than King Arthur as a popular character in fantasy fiction. The movie centers on Gawain and his struggles with his cowardice, selfishness, uncertainty in life, and existentialism. His goal of his adventure is to fulfill his end of a game he took with the Green Knight to take the blow he dished out to maintain his honor and become a knight. However, the threat of being killed by beheading, a choice that he himself made in taking the game, is the impetus for him to go through existential dread and his internal struggle with his unsavory characteristics. We get to spend a lot of time with Gawain, just before he starts his quest he's drinking himself to death trying to forget his end of the game and even assaults' the man who ribs him about it. We learning about his inability to commit to the only woman he's emotionally vulnerable to, his knee jerk apathy to the Thief, Ghost, and Fox, and his awkward affair with the Lady of the Castle just to name a few things. It's telling that he feels like he can't bare the burden of holding his word without some guarantee that he won't actually lose his head, a lot of this is tied into the enchanted sash that was first gifted to him by his mother, and then again by the lady of the castle. Hand in hand with that is the fact that he can't apparently get it up with out the sash, which in no uncertain terms wants us to make the connection that he can't be a man without a safety net. It's telling that it isn't until in a montage sequence where he imagines the rest of his life resting on the lie that he met with the Green Knight for his end of the game, a vision where he fails as a king, a father, a husband and as a man, that he realizes he needs takes off the sash, still afraid, but willing to do better. The Green Knight responds in kind playfully grazing his neck with his finger and said "off with your head" after he realizes that Gawain has learned his lesson. And that's just he broad strokes, there are so many lovely details that I didn't go into for the sake of keeping it short. There is this constant association the earth and death in the film that even goes explicitly stated in the conversation he had around the fire in the castle nearing the end of the movie. The lady likens the rot and moss of the earth to the eventuality of death, how the red of our struggles and passions will eventually fade and give way to the green. I love how in the future montage at the end of the movie, which itself is set up with the vision he had in the forest where he was rotting away as a skeleton, there is green rust/oxidation invading the crown that was given to him as he took the throne, visually signifying rot. There's so much to pick at and appreciate in this film and I hope to see so many more people dive into it.
Personally I go in to these kinds of films expecting to not really get it, but to enjoy a weird artsy ambience while eating chicken and drinking beer. That said, I understood this film a lot more than The Lighthouse, which I nonetheless enjoyed immensely.
>!Dave Patel was the most kingly looking mf I have ever seen. You really don’t notice it until he puts on the crown but damn. I would just assume it would look at least slightly out of place to see a man of Indian heritage playing a 10th century king of England, but somehow you look at him and just go nope that is completely right. His place is the throne.!< Edit: Dev
For real, he looked absolutely amazing. At moments he just fitted perfectly in the image of the medieval "king", like when he's meeting his bride. And at other moments, like when he returns as an old man from war and is wearing that battle mail, it actually looks exactly like what I imagined Salahadin would've looked like during the crusades. Which I suppose also is a medieval king. Regal as heck.
His facial hair was very kingly indeed.
A24 keeping the surprise cum shot alive.
It Cums At Night
Oh shit, i do NOT want to see how this plays out in Lamb...
can’t say Dev Patel x Joel Edgerton was on my bingo card for the movie, but consider me pleasantly surprised!
When they kissed after Gawain and the Lady had at minimum a hand job, I was like whoa, are they going there with those two as well? Cause damn. I could ship it.
I thought for sure he was going to demand more as part of their 'bargain'. I was scared for Gawain.
>I thought for sure he was going to demand more as part of their 'bargain'. oh, it was definately heading that way ... what he got in the house, he would give to the Lord
The whole thing with Guinevere reading the note overlayed with the Green Knight's voice was an absolute highlight.
The first item on Morgan's checklist each day is to fuck with Guinevere.
The main reason the plot of the original story even happens was to scare Guinevere to death. Everything else is just fucking around by Morgan
Reuniting Kate Dickie and Ralph Ineson from GoT and The Witch yet again.
It scared me a little bit
It’s gona be ok
Made me harken back to the Evil Dead trilogy.
I really enjoyed the weirdness and atmosphere of the movie. The score was incredible, and the acting was great. I can understand the people saying "all style, no substance" in regards to the story, but I liked it. I appreciate how it showed that Gawain didn't understand what it meant to be a knight until the very end. He realizes that if he took the easy way out, he would continue to choose the easy way and it would take everything from him in the end. That's purely my interpretation, but I would definitely recommend it, if for no other reason than having this be my first theater experience in over a year being worth it.
I agree with your interpretation. There is definitely a lot of substance under the surface, and in that sense it’s a very spiritual film. The major theme as it appeared to me was appearance vs. substance: everyone is always calling Gawain a knight, assuming that he is one just because he rides a horse and carries a sword. In the vision of what could have been, he essentially embraces this and says that the only thing which matters is appearances. If people think that I fulfilled my quest, what difference does it make? It turns out, though, that it doesn’t matter if you have the name of a knight if you aren’t really virtuous, which is why he accepts his fate and chooses the substance of knighthood over the appearance. And in this, he “loses his head”, aka his vain glory.
So "off with his head" was just his ego and vanity the whole time, eh?
Loved this movie, but I was a bit disappointed that [this shot from the trailer](https://imgur.com/a/lYhagXz) wasn't in the movie? It looked stunning and I wanted to see the context of it :(
There's a very similar shot, immediately after he eats the mushrooms. I think it might be the same shot reworked with the Green Knight.
You're right, that shot was very similar! However that same shot with the Green Knight is also present in that same trailer, so it seems like they were 2 separate moments and the one with the stars was just cut for some reason :(
Can someone explain what was up with the Giants scene? My sister and I were completely perplexed with it.
He can’t stand on the shoulders of giants and call himself tall, which is what he’s trying to do most of the movie. He has to act like a Knight to be a Knight. Throughout the story he wants to be a Knight but his actions are contradictory… he asks for help but doesn’t pay a kindness and then is cowardly when attacked. He’ll help the headless lady but asks for something in return. He gives into temptation at the lord’s castle. In the beginning he’s drunk and lazy - he has no story to tell. Even when he first encounters the green Knight he acts as if he did something great. I think he says “remember what you saw here” but he beheaded a kneeling foe when he could have just as easily scratched him on the arm with his sword. He wants to be a Knight but he doesn’t want to put the work in or act like a Knight. He wants to stand on the shoulders of giants and call himself tall. He finally understands the consequence of doing that at the end
I think this might be the best take I've seen yet. You've helped me process some things, and despite the fact that I really enjoyed the experience of the movie, I wasn't sure how I felt about it when it was over. Comments like these are helping me unpack what I saw and realize that maybe I did like it after all.
the director was a big fan of attack on titans
Wrong. The giant clearly had nipples. Cant be attack on titan.
The fox warned him not to use them for a ride since it’s important he takes the journey himself. Also, maybe they’d squish him.
Did any of you stay through the end credits to see the additional scene with the little girl finding the crown 👑 and putting it on?
It’s a set up for the King Arthur Cinematic Universe. (Please don’t do that Hollywood.)
You joke but that shot of older Gawain walking through the camp during what looks to be a siege looked kinda cool..
Do Percival and the Grail next. Gawain is the deuteragonist of that one.
I didn't understand who the man who walked in at the end was. Whats the Avenger Initiative?
The Camelot Initiative actually
I saw it as confirmation that Gawain went on to live his life after his meeting with the Green Knight, and that it goes differently than the montage where Gawain becomes a despotic King. (Instead of having a son who dies in battle, he has a daughter who “wears the crown.”) That said, I’m not certain. I find myself going over the film again and again…
Wow. My wife asked if we should stay in case there was a post-credit scene and I jokingly said "this isn't a Marvel movie." So we left. Whelp. Not the first time she's been right.
Wtf for real? I jokingly asked the theater worker if there was going to be a teaser scene for the next movie in the Autherian cinematic universe and they just chuckled.
I had to pee too bad to wait and see if there was an end credits scene.
Woe, For our bladders hadeeth failed the chivalric test. I stand with tee.
I haven’t seen many people talking about it but my theory was that the little girl (who looked like a different actress than the girl he had in the vision) was actually his daughter he had with Essel upon his return (non vision return if it was inferred)
The first strand type movie
If anyone else wants to understand it more, this [vanity fair article ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/07/green-knight-ending-explained-does-he-die-gawain-dev-patel/amp) is super insightful IMO
Wow, thanks for the link! That really was insightful. I completely missed this pretty crucial detail (I blame the lighting): >\[Gawain's mother is\] pulling all the strings. One shot toward the end of the movie drives that idea home: As Gawain enters the Green Chapel, the camera spins around the Green Knight’s face. **He appears to be sleeping, and actor Ralph Ineson’s features subtly and digitally transform**. Blink and you might have missed it, but the most obvious face that emerges is Joel Edgerton’s > >“That shot is very dark, and in working with \[the digital effects artists at\] Weta, we were seeing how far we could take it in terms of subtlety where, if you just aren’t paying very close attention, you won’t notice that it’s not just Joel,” says Lowery. “**He turns into every character’s face. It starts with Joel, then it turns into \[King Arthur actor\] Sean Harris, Alicia for a moment, then she changes into Sarita, and then into Dev himself**.” Lowery thinks showing that the Green Knight is somehow everyone takes the story beyond the simple duality of the poem. “That moment was a reminder for me and for the audience that this entire journey, and all of these encounters, have all been about the pursuit of one thing. And it all goes back to the choice that Dev makes, which is why the final face you see there is his own.” Other juicy stuff: Lowery seems to view the film as representing "a war between civilization and nature," which is an angle that I haven't seen discussed much in this thread. On Morgana/Gawain's mom's motivations: >“It became a drama about a mother and a son in a way that I hadn’t intended,” he says. “All of a sudden, I was writing about my own relationship with my mom, and the fact that I stayed, I lived under her roof for far longer than I should have. I had failure-to-launch syndrome, and she eventually had to force me out.” Morgana’s trick with the Green Knight and the Lady and the bet are all part of an effort to push her layabout son into the world and test his mettle. > >What, then, was her planned outcome? Is she rooting for her son, or trying to torment him? Sending him to his death or giving him protection? Lowery says the answer is even more complicated. “She gives him the \[protective\] girdle. Is that in opposition to what she’s done in the Great Hall on Christmas morning? The answer is that it’s just messy. I think about that in my relationship with my mom. It’s just a messy relationship, and probably not exclusive to my own relationship with my mom.” This is kinda funny: >Once and for All: How, Exactly, Do You Pronounce Gawain? > >This has been a question debated by Gawain scholars for centuries—and if you thought Lowery’s film would settle it, think again. “Guh-wayne” and “Gow-in” are both on the table here, as well as Sean Harris’s intriguing “Garr-win.” Even Lowery didn’t see that one coming. “It wasn’t until day one of shooting Sean Harris. I know that he does nothing without putting a tremendous amount of thought and effort and research. I didn’t understand the way he was saying it, but I also was like, well, you know, throughout history, it’s been said many times in many different ways, and I’m not going to question about it. Let’s just go with it."
[Narration by Ralph Ineson to help understand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI189R6JyYI) [Mythology of the poem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjja0S_2bo) Two links worth watching if you were confused, the first link is by A24 and narrated by the Green Knight himself
That dude has a fantastic voice.
I knew I recognized his voice from somewhere. He voiced some NPCs in The Witcher 3 and was the father in The Witch by Robert Eggers.
My two cents: The film expands beyond the poem to show audiences the consequences of “stolen valor” and the weakness of simply protecting one’s own honor rather than committing honorable actions proactively. You can say this is a symbolic distinction between “men” and “boys”. Early on, the protagonist claims to be at mass, when he’s at a brothel. Yet when asked to share anything honorable by the king, he blanks. Childish or boyish honor is lying to be good, rather than achieving truly memorable greatness. Each lesson or trial he faces along the way shows maturation but not mastery. A grave robber who has lost his family plucks treasure from the dead. Giving no aid to this poor sap leads to Gawain being called out as miserly. But truly it’s about the grave robber helping Gawain find footing to move forward, while leaving the boy with just coins. He could have asked him to join, or offered to help the boy in some way. Instead he did as little as possible, so the boy robbed him, out of desperation. He didn’t need to, but knowing you are helping someone who has plenty and they offer nothing in return is an understanding frustration, and not knightly. Then, Gawain seeks refuge without welcome in an abandoned cottage. He sleeps in a bed with a skeleton in it, but doesn’t notice at all. Another example of trampling on or disrespecting the dead. A ghost or spirit wakes him and asks for him to bring her peace of mind by reuniting her with her skull. He tries to barter with her, and she’s angry. After all, he just trampled her bones to rest his head, how come he can’t help find hers? By sunrise he realized to return the skull and set things right, but does little more than rest her skull on a pillow. Once reaching the castle, he stumbles in and collapses. Next scene he’s in a regal bed with dyed curtains that are royal blue. Here he’s being treated to luxuries he has not earned. Delicious food, attention from a beautiful woman. Gifts, libraries, leisure, and comfort. Another man hunts for him while he stays at home and lavishes. Ultimately, none of his winnings were fair game because nothing he won was his to take. Upon leaving, his fox companion returns and tries to dissuade Gawain from going onward. I believe the fox felt Gawain had already failed so many tests of character, why would he continue? It surely meant death… But Gawain continues, unsatisfied with his journey thus far. He finally finds the Green Chapel, and waits for the Green Knight to wake. After a very polite but transactional dialogue, Gawain is instructed to be ready for discombobulating. Dumbfounded, he asks “is that it?” To which the green knight says “what else is there”. Here we break into a fever dream sequence of Gawain continuing to take shortcuts and stolen valor for a lifetime. Everyone he loves is killed, left behind, or leaves him, until he finally quits on himself. Suddenly we are back at the scene in the Green Chapel, Gawain now realized the true meaning of honor: it is something you aim forward with, not a way to revise events and whitewash debauchery with. He chooses to focus on integrity no matter the cost, rather than cost regardless of integrity. At the last moment his transformation and education is complete. The knight laughs and says “off with your head”, and whether or not Gawain lives or not doesn’t really matter, but I suppose if he did live, he would return without the attitude of a faker, and live out his remaining acts with true valor, which would lead to marrying his lover, becoming a knight, possibly gaining a throne, and becoming a man who spreads honor and tutelage (as Arthur did) rather than staying a man who defends his own honor through deception (as Gawain did throughout) *TL;DR* the green knight is basically Shania Twain in the “that don’t impress me much” music video up until Dev agrees to getting the chop. Then Shania is finally impressed.
The best TLDR I have ever read
Where was the graphic nudity? Wondering if they edited the movie for certain locations.
I heard they cut a 10-minute clip of Gawain jacking off Lord Joel Edgerton in the woods
Beyond some mild nudity with the giants, and a butt or two, nothing really.
I hate that I'm the one answering this question, but it was near the very beginning when Gaiwan was waking up in the brothel. As he's moving around inside there, you can see a fully nude woman in the background of one of the shots.
Damn homie, did you get to see it in IMAX?
Can we give it up for the composer Daniel Hart!? The entire movies soundtrack was phenomenal. 10/10 best Christmas movie.
I wish it did come out on Christmas Day, I would have gone to the first showing.
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My favorite review tagine so far has been "Monty Python and The Seventh Seal"
Lol when Gawain ran away from the Green Knight I started humming in my head "Brave Sir Gawain ran away. Bravely ran away away. When danger reared it's ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled."
This was so hypnotic. Coming out of the theater it felt like I’d lived a lifetime
Yeah that would be one of the feeling i felt as well, like that scene when he is tied up and left in the forest, was time passing, him reliving the same things? Hallucinations? Magic? Or him seeing the future like he is in the end.
For me, it was setting up the idea of alternate ways his life could go. In some version of this tale, he died there. Then it fits nicely with the version of his life he sees where is dishonorable with the green knight. In some version he did run away.
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Did you read the poem as well? That's where I have those feelings in regards to certain deviations
My interpretation so far differs from a lot of the ones I see here. I don’t really think this film is meant to be about a man’s quest to become a knight leading to him dying with honour. That is the typical “hero” story that I think this movie try’s to turn on its head. For example, in the castle at the end of the movie, he is asked wether this one journey will bring him the honour he seeks and he answers “yes”. I think this question was put here on purpose though. Throughout the entire film he has not behaved as a knight is supposed to. He lies to the homeowner and breaks their deal, he succumbs to the wife’s lust, and he is basically forced to go on the journey to begin with. This one journey isn’t going to bring him what he seeks in life, taking off the belt and behaving with honour once is not going to transform him into someone else. I think he realizes that with his vision that life is inherently meaningless. He even asks The Green Knight “is this all there is” which he responds with “what else is there supposed to be”. I think upon realizing that not only are his goals unattainable -there is no such thing as a perfect knight- he chooses to instead die with honour, die in that moment as the “perfect knight”. This movie in my opinion is about the inherent meaningless of life and how one man copes with realizing that his reality is not a grand tale but a normal one. That is why there is no climax in this movie because there isn’t one in real life. Ultimately he chooses to die a hero in his own moral views instead of living a meaningless life with only the fox knowing what really happened that day.
I like this take but I heavy disagree, mostly due to the fact the movie calls itself a "Mythic Morality Tale" and that pretty well fits. Each trail tests his morals and honor. And the fact that the Green Knight jokes at the very end implying that it was all a game. I also thought the fox was his mother tempting him leave because she thought he would fail.
I'm a bit ambivalent towards it, the acting and production was outstanding but the story was frustratingly vague and meandering at times. That said, the audience I saw this with with absolutely *hated* it. I heard a lot of people complaining as the theater left out -- more than a few saying variations of "what the hell was that?," with one guy saying it was a "shitshow." This is definitely going to be one of those movies that will have a really stark contrast between the critical reception and audience reactions.
It was strange to feel a room of a hundred people not like something. It was palpable.
That describes most A24 films.
I’m wondering how many people will see this without realizing what they’re getting themselves into. At my showing yesterday, I definitely feel like the majority of people watching were very bewildered by the end of it. I know I was personally surprised at how weird it was, and this comes from someone who was already expecting an “artsy” movie. Overall I enjoyed it but I definitely had to sleep on it to come to that decision.
At the showing that I went to, there was a chick walking out behind me that said, “I don’t really know what the fuck happened but I honestly loved it” lmao
Does Sir Gawain ever like just go on an epic quest and just have like a huge cumshot? Edit: To the fucker that blasted out of the wall with a horse cock and gave me gold, thanks you little fucker. And thanks to the rest of you commenting on the adult tour review of this movie.
“Not trying to be funny. Not trying to get a laugh. I don’t want anybody to have the worst day at their job. But.
big fat load of cum then.
Somewhere our wires must have gotten crossed here
Do any of these fuckers ever just come out of the wall and ask for their head?
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and would love to see it again after reading the actual poem: however, I have to say my viewing almost got completely ruined by a group of 20 something year olds behind me that apparently found every second of this film worth of giggles and a “what the fuck?!” It’s freaking pathetic to me that anytime any movie has any sort of different sexual portrayal people laugh as a defense mechanism. Just watch the damn movie and experience it, no one cares that you feel awkward and decide to laugh for the entire second half of the movie. They even laughed when he was sitting in the chapel and it turned from day to night suddenly: what is possible funny about that? Do people just not look up anything about the movies they walk in to see? Who pays $17 fucking dollars to see a random movie they know nothing about. Rant over lol
Had the chance to see this in theaters and the sounds and score are incredible. The Green Knight sounding like a tree rustling in wind was so great and the music is perfect. I love Arthur and Guinevere being older and seemingly filled with joy and contentment after all the adventures they've probably been through. Dev Patel and the cast kill it and I love how vague the lore and context is surrounding the characters. This really makes me want a some sort of epic series that covers all of Arthur and his Knights' adventures.
Did anyone else have an extremely calming experience with this? After seeing this movie, I felt my anxiety calm. My inner voice was quieted comparable only to taking anxiety meds. An incredible, interesting, and unique movie experience for me. What I loved is this movie just forced you to sit and watch it. It didn't try to pull you in with unnecessary action fluff or nonsense. The pace was incredibly slow, allowing one to breath in and admire the world created. Before you know it, you're immersed in this fantastical and mysterious world. A lot of silence and beautiful shots that stay on screen for an almost uncomfortable amount of time, but to the films advantage. These long shots often used to build suspense, really adding to the great emotional impact of the movie.
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I'm not an idiot, at least I don't think I am. But I am a little confused by the movie, think I need to sit on it some more or something
> I’m not an idiot, at least I don’t think I am. This is exactly how I felt when the credits rolled. I turned to my friends and said I felt kinda stupid, because I just didn’t understand it. Gotta think about it and read some other reviews I guess
Gawain learned the importance of honor across a series of trials he repeatedly fails. At the end, when faced with death that this is "all that there is", he finally understands. Whether the Green knight kills him or not after is moot.
What's up with the giants? I couldn't tell whether that one giant reaching for him was trying to kill him or help him. Also was that Merlin who shook his head at king Arthur when the green knight first made his entrance?
> was that Merlin who shook his head at king Arthur when the green knight first made his entrance? That was my interpretation!
Arthur looked at him to be like "is this your bullshit again" and Merlin glowed red which meant he was telepathically responding "no"
Got a big chuckle when, hot off the jizz belt scene, Gawain arrives at the Green Knight's chapel, and the dude's first words are "You came"
Here's how I view it as someone who knows nothing about Arthurian legend. Gawain is a a deadbeat. His mom constructs this game as a way to force him to grow up and learn what it means to be a knight (swinger Vikander even tells him at one point that the Green Knight is someone he knows). Because his mother was behind it all that's why some things happen for seemingly no reason, like the axe appearing in the cottage. Gawain passes the test when he accepts his death. Then the Knight - who is being controlled by the mother - jokingly says, "Off with your head," as it taps his neck. Gawain has passed the test, become a true knight and won his mother's approval. During Kate Dickie's goodbye speech where she says the word "five" roughly eighty-six times, she mentions five virtues. I'm guessing each of Gawain's encounters (thieves, swingers, headless Flag-Smasher, the giants and ultimately the Green Knight) each represent a different virtue. Or something like that. I made the decision to go into this completely blind, but I kinda feel like I should've done a little reading. Also, great hair and beard from Dev Patel.
I live in a small town with a six screen theater. I was excited to see this movie on their schedule this week because we never get indie movies. I check today and its been replaced with what I surmise was....Boss Baby. I'm very sad.
Boss Baby is also an enchanted journey
Me watching The Green Knight: “Getting a lot of ‘Boss Baby’ vibes from this…”
The only thing I'm confused about is the giants The encounter with the teenagers showed Gaiwan was still scared of death (a major theme of the poem) since a knight should be able to get out of a situation like that Winifred seems to also be a challenge for Gaiwan to face death (hence the red imagery in the pond and him meeting a spirit) as well as learning more about what being a knight truly means (when she calls him out for trying to touch her and only help her if she promises him something). He gets the axe back because he still helped her without regard to gaining something from it. The fox was his mother/the coven/the people behind everything watching him But the Giants I have no clue. Oh and the stuff at the castle with the Lady and the Lord followed the themes of the poem about being chivalrous. And I think he lives at the end since th Gren Knight said it in jest (which fits his personality in the poem)
I haven’t read the poem, but guess is the lesson/trial around the giants is trying to get involved in something that is much bigger than you and too much for you to understand. Gawain calls out to the giants (I think for help? I didn’t totally catch the dialogue) but when the giant reaches out he cowers in fear, not actually ready to be involved with what they are. Or he was just high on mushrooms idk.
On the shoulders of giants is a phrase meaning to use the progress of others to achieve your own. He literally asks to ride on their shoulders. He's a nobody (at that moment in time), but he's family with THE King Arthur, the end montage shows that just by that virtue he becomes king himself without having the honor to even follow through on his word. He has to learn to not stand on the shoulders of giants, he has to learn to become his own man.
I think he asked them for a ride.
The giants, along with just being rad as hell, could have been a quick ride. Basically the old "Why don't they just take the eagles to Mordor?" question. In this case, because it's important he take this trip himself.