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Finally I Saw Quid Pro Quo Movie
Written by Elisabeth on Monday, February 22, 2010
I read plenty of comments on this site about Quid Pro Quo. So I was ready not to expect a great movie but rather a movie with many weaknesses. But you know what? I loved the movie anyway.
It’s easier to watch a movie on DVD. Some things need to be seen more than once to catch certain meanings. I had that advantage.
I grand you the objection that the transabled community meeting in a basement was a bit unrealistic. (But the black guy’s answer to Isaac about BIID that it is not something that we choose was right on.) Seeing them wheeling somewhere across the Hudson in New Jersey would be more like it. But the movie is primarily not about BIID. It’s about forgiveness, acceptance and inner healing. It’s about a journey of two people whose lives were changed by meeting each other.
It’s easy to judge Fiona as a bit crazy. I found her actions really crazy just once – when she gave up her beautiful apartment in New York. Common! How unrealistic is that! But otherwise, one needs to see Fiona as a girl who killed two people, put one in a wheelchair, all while her mother was sleeping off her alcoholic stupor. She carries her guilt with her. Is her BIID reflection of that guilt? Perhaps partly. But seeing Isaac walk doesn’t heal her. Fiona longs for forgiveness from Isaac, longs for reconciliation with her mother. And longs for paraplegia that she wants Isaac to do. Quid pro quo. She put him in a chair, he is supposed to put her in a chair too.
Isaac. Now I can imagine on this site Isaac has a big following from both the girls and boys. He is so totally cute as a para. Even if the transabled community was portrayed a bit off, the director got the world of disabled fairly well. It was in little details. In looks. In a few words. I loved the little exchange between Isaac and his pretty co-worker who was setting him up for a date with Charlene. Isaac: "Charlene AB?" Co-worker is puzzled. Isaac: "Able-bodied." "Yes, AB. Also HB, hot bodied. And a lawyer. HBL." PWD (person with disability) and AB, those are part of vocabulary in disability world. Another good detail was when a little boy runs into Isaac and the boys father is so embarrassed. Isaac tries to say that it’s OK. How many of us experienced that long litany of apologies? When people keep apologizing after I told them it’s Ok, sometimes I say: "Please don’t apologize like you just killed my grandmother." That gets their attention and laugh. Another great proof of understanding of paras is when Isaac comments on people’s stares. Or the void they give him. The void. The non-existence of PWD. If we don’t look, they don’t exist and we don’t have to confront our inner feelings.
Toward the end, Fiona confronts Isaac. She explains to him that his paraplegia is of hysterical origin. It’s a plausible explanation and his magic shoes somehow worked like hypnosis. My teacher – psychiatrist who was not fond of hypnosis would use it to heal hysterical blindness or deafness. She asks him: "Why would anyone want to be paralyzed who isn’t?" The question is aimed at Isaac more than at her. She pulls him out of his chair and waits for him to start moving his legs, without his magic shoes. And it works. He is healed. By Fiona.
Why Fiona wants to be paralyzed by Isaac Knot – we know the answer at the end. It’s quid pro quo. She gave him paralysis, he gives her one as well. But at the end, it’s Fiona who gives twice and Isaac who receives twice. She gives paralysis, she gives healing. He receives both. We get the chance to see only his journey at the end. His journey of healing and forgiveness. And we wonder about Fiona. And we hope that she will hear his message to her on the radio.
Tags: Quid Pro Quo
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1 On 23 February, 2010, Chloe said:
I loved this movie too, and I agree that it is not primarily about BIID. If one takes it only at a literal level then one will miss the point of the metaphorical language.