Thursday, January 11, 2007

Lost in Translation

In Lost in Translation, there is always something underlying what is said and is not said between Bob and his wife, Bob and Charlotte and Charlotte and her husband. Their voices say something but their respective spouses aren't hearing it or what they are really saying; they are not reading between the lines. Charlotte's and Bob's thoughts are not being translated from the brain to the words that are coming out of their mouths when they are saying it to their spouses.

It is reflected in the scene when Bob Harris is doing the Japanese commercial where the director says something in Japanese that is so long and when it is translated to Bob, it seems so short and there is something lost between it being said in Japanese and translated in English.
The characters' glances speak volumes also but only Charlotte and Bob understand these glances. Charlotte's husband does not see her look of longing for something more fulfilling in her life but Bob understands it because he is going through the same sort of issue with his mid life crisis. Bob and Charlotte find a companionship in each other that they can not find in their spouses. Their eyes speak for what isn't being said; it's just understood. They have this connection that is unspoken. Bob and Charlotte are able to banter back and forth unlike they are able to do with other people.

The end raises many questions: What is going to happen between them? Are they going to see each other? What did he say? Is she going to keep talking to him? Is she going to become more than friends with him? Does their friendship end there? Where do they go from there?

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