About a Boy. AIBU to think the mum was very very annoying?

[NotSoSlimShadee]

The way she forced her kid to wear weird clothes knowing he’d get picked on for it, the way she forced him to be vegetarian because that was HER beliefs, the way she encouraged him to randomly start singing despite knowing it would make him a target …

AIBU to find her insufferable? I used to know a woman like this in real life, her kids were miserable.

She was meant to be, wasn't she?

She was horrific, played so well though!! Epitome of narcissistic, me-centric, holier than thou twat!!

Book is written and based around kurt cobain dying. There were people like that who would be worthy of being written about

About A Boy isn't about Kurt Cobain?
It's about a lonely kid in North London with a depressed mum (who yes - was a bit annoying).

I know loads of parents like this... drives me potty.

Totally agree op

If you're going by the film, then you must read the book.
The whole " killing me softly " thing is just for the film. The book is so much more thoughtful and nuanced.
It explores the relationship really well. Imo

Kurt kobain plays a decent sized part in the book.

Yes she was - but agree that was the point.

Mum was too lentil weaver hippy and emotional and oblivious to what it was like for her kid

Hugh Grant character was the opposite, too self centred, shallow and image centric

Between the two of them they got it right for the kid.

I do confess it's a long time since I've read it.
I don't remember anything about Kurt Cobain in it.
Apologies if I am wrong.

I haven’t read the book. I really didn’t know about the Kurt connection.

I enjoyed the film, I rate Toni Collette. She played that unappealing woman so well.

That's one of my favourite films and I agree. I hate the mum. She is so self absorbed. I remember watching it when DC were tiny, promising myself I'd be the opposite of her. Brilliant performance by Toni Collette.

No but there is a massive bit about how kurt has died and the girl who has taken Marcus under her wing reacts by saying - you won't understand- then there's a lot about the reaction to this.

She thought she was doing the right thing but was oblivious to the real lives of kids and the importance of fitting in and participating in popular culture, and that her idea of individuality was hers, not her son's. Will was the opposite - too obsessed with being cool and superficially fitting in. Together they found a balance.

I just googled the plot of the novel and I apologise because I was wrong about the Kurt Cobain bit.
Thing is......I don't remember the character of Ellie (teenage girl) at all.
Was she in the film?

If she’d been a perfect mother, what would the story have been about?

Yes Ellie was in the film, she was Marcus’s crush and liked rap rather than grunge like in the book.

I'm ashamed to say my brain has completely forgotten her character 😳
Might be time for a re-read of the book and a re-watch of the film.

Yes, an insufferable character. Superbly played by Toni Colette. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the film, may need to re-watch, although for some reason it’s a Christmassy film in my head.

@Needmorelegoin the film Ellie first becomes aware of Marcus when he’s walking down the corridor in school behind her, singing along to ‘Shake Ya Ass’ by Mystikal (via a CD in a DiscMan, both given to him by Will as Christmas gifts and as part of his bid to educate Marcus in the ways of Hip Hop/modern culture). She turns and says something like “Do you always go around telling girls to shake their arses?” She’s in year 10 or 11, he’s much younger (year 7?) but like Marcus and Will, Ellie and Marcus form an unlikely alliance.

In the book Ellie comes to Marcus’s attention because she’s always in trouble at his new school in London because of the Nirvana hoodie which she refuses to take off (and which is against uniform regulation). The age gap is similar to in the film. The final act of the novel involves Marcus and Ellie ending up in a provincial police station after he takes her with him to Cambridge to visit his father. They don’t end up making it that far because Ellie smashes a shop window to “free” a cardboard cut out of Cobain.

It was one of my favourite books as a teenager and is one of the few instances where they change the story for the film but it somehow still works (although I never really understood why they couldn’t have kept in the stuff surrounding Kurt Cobain, but I guess it might have dated it). The soundtrack album (all by Badly Drawn Boy) is also absolutely brilliant and worth a listen if you don’t know it.

@Crushed23I also think of it as a Christmas film, probably because of those ‘Santa’s Super Sleigh’ royalties which are keeping Will going. Although it originally came out in the summer; I remember distinctly because my best friend and I went to see it at the cinema when we were on “study leave” for our GCSE exams. Time well spent… I remember nothing about most of my GCSEs, but 23 years later I still remember even the smallest details about this film! 😂

I felt huge empathy for the character, as she was so principled, so sad, and so lost, that she couldn’t see her young son was sacrificing himself to valiantly and make her happy.

@LambriniBobInIsleworthISeesYa I think I had the soundtrack on CD 🙂

Fuuuuck. The actress who plays Ellie was Osha in GoT. And whats-er-name in Harry Potter. Well I never.

But that was the whole point wasn’t it?

she was annoying, and set in her ways, with views which were damaging her son.

the whole story was that the main character supported the boy, and eventually opened her eyes to it?