cap 21: let us pray

"I do believe I have just been upstaged...by a fibbertygibbet!"

Could Gretl still be in the middle of clasping her hands and the camera cuts to Maria before she's done?
And Liesl's definitely giving her a look. She gives her a similar one when they walk out the door after the frog incident. And that makes me think (and I realise I'm talking about a completely different scene, but) why does Georg send them out the front door for their walks? Wouldn't it be easier to march about the gardens by going out to them, rather than the driveway, which would seem to be a much longer way to get there?

Back to dinner and prayers...
I think Georg is probably thinking much the same as Liesl - not happy at all, but he just has a different way of showing that or has learned to control his emotions.

"Does this woman ever do anything she is told?!"

This is probably the first time Georg has come across anybody (particularly a female employee) who doesn't just say "Yes, Sir", and he doesn't know how to handle it!

It's really the hair, but in this cap he looks a bit like Charlton Heston.

Julie's hair changes in this film - not as much as Chris, but...
Film wise, not really. The woman is ageless. She did change as the years went by - obviously - but it was so slowly that you almost don't realise.
She looks different in STAR, but I think that's all the wigs she wears - she's missing the fringe she had in the '60s.

Hello. Welcome back!

absurdlittlebird I'm not sure I can agree that he's affront at her assumption re: saying grace. She's a nun or almost nun. She prays. He can hardly be surprised that she would bring it up. Hiding the light under a bushel and all that... and while I can agree that he might be angry at God and cut outward religious duty from his life (and his children's lives), I don't think he'd be the guy that loudly "harrumphs" when others do it. He'd want to keep his reasons private so he wouldn't make a deal of it. Also, while I agree that Maria would know about his grief (RM tells her right off he's a widow) prior to her arrival, I don't think she would have analyzed it to the point where she would wonder if prayer is acceptable. It's been a few years. I think if she did analyze it, she would have come to the conclusion that the worst of his grief is over. Later she finds out that his grief *was* deep (no singing, no laughter) but also find out that he plans to remarry, so...

I'm not normally disagreeable and I do appreciate all that you said, good discussion.

Interesting indigoblue ...
I always assumed he was religious. Not nearly as religious as she was, but I wouldn't have picked him as an atheist. At least not before Agathe died. I could see him being agnostic after she died, but I always assumed he had some sort of faith. If I remember correctly, the real Captain was a Roman Catholic.

I disagree in thinking that he was atheist. He and Maria are married in a Catholic Church, the Abbey, which is something that non-Catholics cannot do, if I'm not mistaken.

I simply think that he'd been too sad about Agathe's death to do anything that reminded him of her (did someone say no music?). I think the blessing before the meal was more likely something Agathe had offered, and when she died, so did that ritual.

Until a certain postulant arrived....

Yes, and the spoons are all turned over - strange!

This American eats with her fork in her left hand, as do most left-handed people. 

Imagine that you are a very religious person living at an abbey and praying all the time for everything, and suddenly you go out and you sit at dinner-table with other people who do not pray. Isn't it normal for her to say that we must thank the lord? I mean that she is accustomed to this way of eating, first pray then eat. She also sets the example for the kids who watch her and she sets the ground for making them feel guilty for the frog afterwards.

As to the captain, maria is late at the table. He must have been impatient and thinking, where is she? we are waiting, we are hungry, we want to eat. When she comes and sits at the pinecone, everyone expects her to be ridiculed but she handles the occasion with smartness and ease, and does not blame the children. The captain tells her "enchanting little ritual, something you learned at the abbey?? and she answers "rheumatism" just to avoid the difficult position. Instead she asks all to pray, the captain accepts reluctantly and utters ''amen'' with a heavy tone of voice, like saying ''ok now you prayed, it is enough, let us eat!!!'' it is like she says if you put a frog in my pocket earlier and a pinecone now to embarass myself in front of your father, no I will not do you the favour. I will show you that praying is the right ritual before eating and not pinecones, and for the frog? I will make you understand how awful you made me feel''.

The interesting think here is that the Captain knows everything but looks like he has no clue about what is going on.

This is the scene where anyone else would be intimidated by him, both by the reception she had in the hall on arrival, and by him glowering from
the other end of the table. But, as you say, she manages to skewer him with her forthrightness, and he realises he has a battle on his hands.

I detect the hand of CP himself in this scene; there is such a duel of one-upmanship going on between them, I'm sure it is the product of that time when CP and Ernest Lehman shut themselves in a room and thrashed out a more sophisticated dialogue for the main characters.