Legends of the Fall

• Legends of the Fall
  

  

  Albert

  
  

  Hi- I recently sat down to watch the movie Legends Of The Fall, starring Brad Pitt, and Julia Ormond. Brad and Julia had beautiful hair, theres a seen where she's walking through her garden and she's got this beautiful prerafealite look going on, but anyway. Her and Brad do not work out and she ends up marrying his brother. She is so unhappy that her love with Brad is unrequited that she decides to kill herself with a gunshot to the head at her vanity table. My question is why does she comb her long hair and than cut it off and than lay the hair on the table before she puts the gun to her head, there has to be some symbolism, I did not uderstand it, but its made me think. Has anybody seen this movie and if so do they have a theory on why she cuts off her hair before committing suicide?

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  • Re: Legends of the Fall
    

    

    Loren

    
    

    In Native American (American Indian) cultures, men use a
    knife to cut off their long hair as a sign of mourning
    following the death of a family member. This was shown
    in the film, "Smoke Signals," the story line of which
    featured two young men who were members of the
    Coeur d'Alene tribe of northern Idaho.

    I haven't seen the film that you mentioned. But maybe
    the woman's cutting of her hair was a symbolic act
    similar to that which I have mentioned above.

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    • Smoke Signals
      

      

      Bill

      
      

      In Native American (American Indian) cultures, men use a
      knife to cut off their long hair as a sign of mourning
      following the death of a family member. This was shown
      in the film, "Smoke Signals," the story line of which
      featured two young men who were members of the
      Coeur d'Alene tribe of northern Idaho.

      In the movie the Indian youth did not cut his long hair all off, though. He just cut it back to a length around the shoulderblades. This was a enough of a shortening to show his mourning without depriving himself of the spiritual meaning of having his hair. As he said in another part of the movie, "An Indian ain't nutin' without his hair."

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      • Re: Smoke Signals
        

        

        Margrave

        
        

        In addition, I always attributed the cutting of her hair to the repressed role her husband kept her in (ie, with HIM, she was a society woman who lived the way a society woman should....)- cutting her hair was a nod to the fact that Brad Pitts character was unconventional, and would've allowed her to be unconventional as well........

        IMHO

        In Native American (American Indian) cultures, men use a
        knife to cut off their long hair as a sign of mourning
        following the death of a family member. This was shown
        in the film, "Smoke Signals," the story line of which
        featured two young men who were members of the
        Coeur d'Alene tribe of northern Idaho.

        In the movie the Indian youth did not cut his long hair all off, though. He just cut it back to a length around the shoulderblades. This was a enough of a shortening to show his mourning without depriving himself of the spiritual meaning of having his hair. As he said in another part of the movie, "An Indian ain't nutin' without his hair."

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  • Re: Legends of the Fall
    

    

    Tim Beard

    
    

    Hi- I recently sat down to watch the movie Legends Of The Fall, starring Brad Pitt, and Julia Ormond. ... Has anybody seen this movie and if so do they have a theory on why she cuts off her hair before committing suicide?

    When I saw the movie, I attributed her self-haircutting to suicide. It's not unusual for suicidal people to destroy things they have always cared about.

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