sauvin wrote:Apart from "bli mig lite", what scene does LTROI have that LMI doesn't?
Abby doesn't cry over the body of the jogger, in fact, she high tails it out of there...Eli lingers over a victim and cries, definitely not the optimal move for a calculating predator.
sauvin wrote:Abby killed Thomas, that's true, but a fairly convincing argument could be made for euthanasia in this case to people whose minds remain open. The rules for life, death and everything in between when you're an Abby or you're living with an Abby are apt to be very different from what you or I grew up with, no matter how rough was your hometown. It doesn't make her evil, it just makes what she has to live with evil.
Oh, I may have said "killed" for ease of comparison, but what damns Abby in my eyes is not that she kills Thomas, but rather the fact that she allows a friend to get to that point. There must have been a point in time when Abby could have left a teenaged Thomas with a few thousand bucks and snuck away into the night...before he killed, before there was nothing to live for but her. But she didn't do it, and when the chips are down, she sees Thomas's sadness and understands his last request, but she still watches him leave to kill for her. She could have stopped him from leaving that night, she could have tried, but she didn't, because she's happier with Owen. So it's not about euthanasia, but about the years that preceded it.
I've no doubt the rules of life are different. I'm using the word "evil" only in the sense that Abby's interests are diametrically opposed to everyone else's including Thomas, at the point we see them. With this definition, Eli would be as evil as Abby with regards to society as a whole, what makes Abby more evil, (more opposed in interests) is that she's also evil to Thomas-whom she claims to love whereas Eli is not evil to Oskar, the one she loves, (she's still evil to Hakan, less so, but an argument could be made that Hakan was better off not meeting Eli, or, all things considered, would have chosen not to meet her if he could). It's the fact that Abby claims to love Thomas that makes her more evil than Eli, and only that, and not her diet, or victims, or whatever else.
And as for an open mind, I've no doubt that that a benign Abby exists. In fact, one of the reasons I don't like LMI is the fact that I think that Chloe gave a much more nuanced performance than the role called for. That is to say, if the story was a puzzle, it would be much more satisfying if all the pieces fit together perfectly- if Abby gave a bit more hint that she was in control of everything, (some small look of satisfaction to the audience, maybe) It would be in sync with the tone of the movie: the "good v. evil" theme, the abandonment of Owen by his mom and the abandonment of Thomas by Abby.
In fact I *WANT* Abby to have a masterplan, because to me that is more preferable than how Chloe seems to play her: as a pathetic girl that does nothing but suffer and spread suffering. She can either be the hapless victim of eternal torment, sucking everything in her path dry (especially the ones who befriend her) and so oh so sad about the tragedy of it all, but more afraid to change or face the sun-in a metaphorical hell of her own creation, or she could be the apex predator, masterfully hunting her natural prey and completely in control of her own destiny, thinking decades ahead in the most innocent of gestures. She'd be a demon of the night, sure, but that is more glorious than a mere slave to her own loneliness and savagery.
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven-in a sense.