For each question below, I would like to see your thoughts in the form of notes.

Jot down key-words,

whole sentences and central observations you have about the characters and their relationships.
This does not have to be a "finished," typed paper. What is important is that you don't merely
consume film-images (like a half-chewed pizza), but think critically about them. I will collect your
written notes on Monday as a homework assignment.

1. Clementine: The real shock is not that she has married John in the same way that she might buy
a new dress on a shopping trip, but that she continues her...extra-curricular activities...even after she
has become "Mrs. John."

Why does she go into the motel room with a guy she obviously doesn't care about, especially since
the dialogue has made clear to us that her motive wasn't financial (John has enough money, we are
told). Does she perhaps see herself and her body only as a thing to be traded? What might this
indicate about the logic of the casino (a microcosm of American capitalism) and its power to seep
into "private" life? (After all, sex is something "private," don't we think?)

2 . Sydney: The film's final scene is one of the most powerful--and bleakest--statements I have ever
seen about modern life. What does Sydney notice on his sleeve as he is drinking that weary cup of
coffee in that weary diner again? How does he react to it? What does this gesture suggest to us
about his relation to his own past? about his role as the (presumably) "good guy" of the film? What
kind of future will he have?

3. What image of the father is developed by the plot of the film?

We might say that the plot contrasts two family-types: there is the "natural" family (into which you
are born) and the "ethical" family (which you choose, in contrast to the former!). How does Sydney
connect these two concepts in the course of the film's action?