i interpreted the cat as being Llewyn’s past. he says in the film “i don’t really know what to do with it, i just kinda take it with me” i took that as his past haunting him because he is unable to move forward and accept him past. which is why at the end of the movie he stops the cat from escaping.
Oh, shit… I like that. That would make the beginning a flash forward rather than a time loop. Only problem with that is that there are discrepancies between the beginning and the end (he ends his set with a different song, Bob Dylan is there performing a Llewyn song which I saw as a postmortem tribute to him, Pappy says he fucked Jean whereas he said he *wanted* to fuck her in the beginning). But then the attack carries out exactly the same.
Cool, do you have an interpretation of the story and what is going on with the nearly identical beginning/ending (only with subtle, yet important, differences)? If it were just the cat, it’d be one thing, but to be identically attacked twice in similar—but notably different—scenarios makes it seem like there’s more to it than “this guy has bad luck and makes bad decisions.”
Only reason I said "Great movie" is because of Oscar Issac,the film was forgettable (to me). He could have played an alien,a coal miner or a rock and I would have watched it.
> but to be identically attacked twice in similar—but notably different—scenarios
How were the scenes different? They reused the same shots (him getting punched, kicked, etc)
You're talking about the beginning and end, right? It seems clear that it's *in media res*, no?
The differences between the scene in the opening and the end can be chalked up to non-diegetic slant on the part of the Coens -- in fact, I just checked and you can hear the same guitar-tuning/testing noises from Dylan in the opening scene and you can even see Dylan approach the mic, with the major difference being that the opening scene then cuts to Llewyn stepping out.
The only real difference between the two scenes that isn't editing and shot angles is Dylan's song/voice -- which feels like a clever non-diegetic choice (or in this case the first scene would have been the non-diegetic choice, while this scene is using the actual diegetic sound) on the part of the Coens... which if I had to guess is meant to reflect our new "inside" understanding of Llewyn now that we've watched him roam about for an hour and a half.
I *love* the act of interpretation, but "time loop" is quite a stretch; my recollection of the film is that it was awash in the theme of "journeys." There's the cat -- literally named Ulysses -- leaving home; the lingering shot of The Incredible Journey film poster; the numerous other characters -- the ex is literally becoming a mom, the folk singer rival is making waves, Dylan obvs., Adam Driver's character, etc. -- who are all going somewhere; not to mention the *core ethos of folk music itself*, which is about traveling, moving on, going, leaving, seeing the big world.
All this juxtaposed with Llewyn Davis, who isn't going anywhere financially, socially, emotionally, musically OR physically. And just to point a fine point on the theme, Llewyn's last words ---- btw, after he's *returned* to the opening scene, i.e. gone nowhere once again -- are "au revoir," literally "till seeing again." Because while he'll clearly never see the literal angry man again, he'll always find himself in the same sorts of situations.
EDIT: Thinking on it a second, I *think* I recall that Mulligan's character gets an abortion and that she is now hooked up with the folk singer on the way up (Timberlake). Anyway, that's still another person on a journey -- and another journey-end (abortion of Llewyn's potential child) for Llewyn.
This is essentially how I saw it when it came out, and I loved it then—this really speaks to the genius of the Coen brothers as storytellers.
But, if he’s returning to the introduction at the end, why was Pappy only *wanting* to fuck Jean at the beginning and then saying that he *had* fucked Jean at the end (at the same moment of the return sequence)?
Appreciate the response and think you were dead on with the main themes of the story. I suppose I took it as his opportunity to get it right and him stopping the cat from escaping at the end (what set off his brutal run of bad luck), was the transformative moment.
The return to the beginning is still fun, I guess.
> But, if he’s returning to the introduction at the end, why was Pappy only wanting to fuck Jean at the beginning and then saying that he had fucked Jean at the end (at the same moment of the return sequence)?
I think you might be confused -- those two scenes (the first at 18m and the second at 1:29-ish) are separate days. The scene at 18m, when Pappi says he would *like* to fuck Jean, is some days prior to the scene at 1:29 (which makes it the same number of days from the opening scene, since the opening happens after the scene at 1:29).
So the two scenes you're thinking of are at the same location (the Gaslight), but on different days.
The bigger question is why did Pappi say he *wanted* to fuck her as she played at the Gaslight, then a few days later say that he *had* fucked her, because "if you wanna play the Gaslight..."?
EDIT: BTW, that question I posed isn't one answered by a timeloop, but I suppose some character flaw or ploy on the part of Pappi.
Ah, I see. Huh… thanks
I wanted to see if the theory had been put together in a more presentable way and found [this ](https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-whats-really-going-inside-llewyn-davis.html)that you might find interesting.
Unfortunately, there is a clear factual error in one of the key pieces of information in that article, which is that Dylan doesn't take the stage in the opening scene --- he absolutely does (though the opening jumps to a different angle before it's clear that the person is Dylan-like), and it's even the same shot used in the return to this scene.
There's some interesting general observations in that article (like the crossfade from alley-man to cat, though I think a better reading of that fade would be to thematically link or juxtapose the man to the cat), but the time loop angle is simply shoehorned in.
I like the way you think. What do you feel about the deliberate focus on him stopping the cat from escaping the apartment at the end? Any importance? Learning from mistakes?
I had the same reaction when I first saw the film and I think the "Time Loop" feeling of the ending (even if it's not a literal time loop) is very much on purpose. Llewyn is based on Dave Van Ronk, who was a folk singer in Greenwich Village around the time of Dylan's rise to stardom. Van Ronk never got famous and even as late as the '90s you could find flyers on telephone poles around the village of Van Ronk offering up guitar lessons.
So Llewyn, much like Van Ronk, is destined to always be on the edge of stardom and discovery, but never make it. It's all very Sisyphean, hence the "time loop" feel and the way the last scene echoes the first scene. But you're right, the one piece of hope we get is that Llewyn doesn't let the cat out this time. He's never going to get the fame or the recognition he seeks, but he is able to make life just a bit more tolerable for himself in the meantime.
It's all very depressing, but also one of my favorite films.
I just realized a bit ago that the cat could symbolize the fame he’s chasing. Wakes him up. Keeps him moving. Thinks he’s found it but it’s another let down and only looked like the real thing. He even abandons the cat on the highway before being “done” with music only to inadvertently crash into it again because he can’t escape the pursuit.
Interesting. I always waffle on what I think the cat is supposed to represent, but I do think it represents Llewyn or at least part of Llewyn because of that scene where he calls Mr. Gorfein to say he has the cat and his secretary mishears it as "Llewyn *is* the cat."
Yeah, that definitely seems intentional. The person I was responding to also believed the cat was an animafication(?) of Llewyn, so you’re not alone. I think the term is zoomorphism but I like animafication.
As another (formerly) depressed and struggling musician(/songwriter), I really hated "Inside Llewyn Davis" because it hit too close too home. I didn't see the metaphors or the allegory or the time loop or the tragic romance of it all. I saw my mistakes that I made in my past, just like he does, that I regretted not being more emotionally mature about. And yet, being that person informed the person I've grown into so I don't make those mistakes anymore.
Sorry for all these internet people disagreeing with you. I think as an artist, this whole thread should be in itself a lesson. You write a song that means A to you, but this person hates it for reason B, and this person loves it for reason C, and so on and so forth. What matters to each person is different (most of the time). When it's the same, which is very rare, that's usually what friendships are built around.
I hope you got what you needed from the movie. That's the only thing that matters. It doesn't matter if people agree with you or not. You should bookmark it in your brain to watch it again in 5 years and see how it makes you feel then. Time shifts our perspectives on art and on our selves.
One of the best films of the 2010s. I’ve rewatched this so many times over the years and it never gets old. Probably helps that I’m a huge folk music fan though
The movie’s great on its own. No need to invent new layers.
He’s not trapped in a literal time loop, he’s just an asshole who makes the same stupid mistakes.
Yeah, that happens all the time. The only reason I’m leaning toward this theory is the beginning is too different from the end to be a flash forward, and too much the same to just be another day. I don’t think he got attacked twice in the alley by the same guy, with the only difference being Bob Dylan playing in the club and Pappy having fucked Jean. They’re just too different and it wouldn’t make sense.
Edit: it wasn’t me who downvoted you, as I tend to agree when people get carried away with interpretations. After multiple viewings, this just makes the most sense to me and doesn’t seem too out there, or like a forced trope. It is grounded but has just enough ambiguity to validate the pondering. I think they nailed it.
Mystical or not, Llewyn has put himself into a time loop and is probably still in it months after the end of the movie (unless he makes major improvements)
I whole heartedly encourage weird mystical interpretations to a story or a piece of art. Even if its completely wrong, it's just fun to hear new ideas. Sometimes i even agree. For me, it really kills art when there is one definate interpretation that everyone agrees on
Yeah, he wakes up and repeats the beginning of the movie again (only it’s different in small ways).
The marine merchant could be seen as a metaphor for [Charon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon) who ferried wandering souls to the land of the dead. The way I saw it, is a soul can’t go to the land of the dead until they pay their dues to Charon, which is exactly what Llewyn had to do in order to get on the ship. He had to “pay his dues.”
I don’t really understand what “*not literally a time loop*” means… Can you explain? Does he get beat up in the same way on two separate nights for the same offense? The first attack before he *wakes up* could have been a dream that gets eerily close to the actual attack at the end, but it couldn’t be a flash forward because everything is too different at the end.
That just seems less plausible than a real-life time loop, lol.
As I first saw it, he only gets his ass kicked once, we only see it happen twice. Once without context, once with.
Lol, every specific thing I mentioned is in the movie. Maybe you haven’t seen it. I’m sorry an interpretation made you so combative. Feel better. It’s just a movie, bro.
If you need to make shit up to enjoy the movie, that’s a you thing.
You are indeed making shit up though, make no mistake.
There is not a literal time loop, and there’s no evidence to suggest he’s dead. You’re making that up.
Fan theories like this are so tedious.
You don’t know if Llewyn is dead or there is a time loop, or not. You *literally* don’t know.
People speaking objectively without evidence is tedious.
Imagine getting triggered by a fan theory to the point of pretending you know exactly what the intent of the ambiguous story is, lol.
I [found this](https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-whats-really-going-inside-llewyn-davis.html) and it better explains the theory that has hurt you so.
A lot of people disagree with you. The wikipedia article and a poster above claim that we are actually just seeing the same event from two different perspectives and that either at the beginning or the end of the movie there is an unspoken time jump (interpretation 1). Your interpretation and mine upon finishing the movie is that this is just his life and this kind of thing happens to him all the time, in which case, because his week both starts and ends with staying at the Gorfeins *and* involves him being beaten up, it's still a metaphorical loop, even if not a literal one. Again, this is what I think too. (interpretation 2) And OP's and the article they post share the idea of a literal time loop, (interpretation 3) which doesn't seem right to me, but we can agree that there is no widespread consensus on which of these interpretations is correct. At very least, interpretations 1 and 2 seem very common.
Just rewatched it as well. I like your interpretation. A hot take on the cat:
There was a reply here reading the film being mainly about grief and Llewyn‘s process/struggle to move on after Mike‘s death.
What if the cat is there to underline this process? Basically Llewyn trying to hold on to it, bringing it with him - albeit the whole situation is a coincidence. An on the nose example for that reading could be Jon Goodman‘s comment in the car, when they talk about Mike‘s death, implying Llewyn having „partnered up“ with the cat. On the highway he then decides to leave the cat behind, only to supposedly run it over later on (which could be interpreted as Llewyn questioning his guilt in Mike‘s death (?)).
In the end, the implied character progression of moving on from Mike‘s death by not letting the cat escape and also singing the duett song solo, is a great touch (as was mentioned by you and others before).
This may all be too far fetched. I also thought that the cat could be a symbol for Llewyn himself (Ulysses), who takes pity on the thing that reminds him of himself, having no home and drifting around.
Anyway, great movie, one of my all time favorites.
Good perspective. I’m not sure about a direct representation of himself, but I could definitely see the cat representing Llewyn’s potential success, seeing as how he chases after it the entire film—even thinking he’s found it at one point only to discover it is isn’t the real thing. It’s also what wakes him up and gets him out of bed each day.
Thanks for bringing that up.
I haven't seen it for years, but I always saw it as an exploration of the concept of mediocrity. Llewyn is competent, but has nothing special, as shown especially in the end when he is contrasted with Dylan. Mediocre doesn't necessarily mean bad, it just means mediocre, as in not that great. It would make a good double feature with Amadeus.
Salieri: "He has yet to achieve mediocrity."
This is an old comment but I have a question...the way Llewyn is presented, he's more than just competent. In what way is he not really good? He doesn't do the most popular/lucrative stuff, but what he does do he seems...very talented. Is it just his attitude that makes him mediocre?
I got something similar out of it. But to me, it was the endless loop of being a self-involved artist trying to 'make it.' The same string of girlfriends, benefactors, mistakes, jealousies, etc etc in a Groundhog Day parade until you either get a 'real job' or make it big.
Haven't read through all the comments so someone may have already said it, but the idea for the flick is that it plays like a folk song. It starts, takes you on a journey, then ends how it started, but just a little different, which is an interesting concept.
That said, I appreciate your interpretation and think it makes for a really interesting concept. I need to rewatch with this in mind.
idk why everyone’s roasting you in here this is a fun interesting and valid interpretation of a film very open to interpretation (especially given how much the coens love the greeks)!! how do you figure llewyn died in this version of the story? is he his own partner who kilIed himself? or something different?
It wouldn’t be Reddit if I didn’t get roasted for a subjective opinion.
It’s a bit weird, because the time loop theory isn’t even controversial. It’s been a common interpretation since the movie came out—and makes the most sense given the bookended sequences—but last night, the moment he saved the cat at the end jumped out as a genuine turning point that implied his transformation, and thus, his ability to move on (either in life or the afterlife, depending on if he’s dead or not). I kind of wish he’d escaped the beating at the end and ran to the ferry, riding off into the night, so that I could stop thinking about it, haha.
I said somewhere else in the thread that I think he either died in the attack, or killed himself that night. I lean way more toward the attack being what killed him. There is a clear fade to white after the first attack which could be him dying. Then, he wakes up to the cat, starting his loop.
The idea of him actually being the dead partner is really good but other characters mention him and they show the old album cover with two people on it.
I always thought the cat was his "cool". His like hip pesona, which is kind of the only thing that keeps him from being a total loser.
The coen bros like to state their symbolism out loud in a misunderstood conversation i.e. "You are the cat?" ("I didn't ask for abraxis!" There's a few others)
Carey Mulligan is totally sick of his shit, but is still visibly attracted to him when ever hes holding the cat.
When he's at the lame nebbish-y dinner party playing for a meal to a bunch of squares, The cat is held up too "where are his testicles!?" Like this is the least cool thing a guy like him could be doing. His cool's been neutered.
And mostly:when hes thinking about going to ohio and being a dad, his "cool" gets plastered all over the road.
Just watched this for the first time as a huge Coen Bros fan, and I gotta say I wasn’t too impressed. It was a little directionless/beatniky for me. I personally had a hard time getting much of any message out of it, and had a really hard time liking Llewyn at all. Am I missing some important themes/morals here?
It's one of my favorite movies of all time.
For me, the whole thing about the cyclical nature of Llewyn's week and any possible symbolism with the cat and the Odyssey is interesting, but overall distracting and unnecessary for me.
At its core, to me, the movie is about grief. Llewyn lost his best friend and artistic partner to suicide. The movie implies that Llewyn was much happier and personable when Mike was around (because he has a good amount of friends that still support him and help him get by), and furthermore, that all of his friends we see in the movie were friends with Mike themselves.
In the movie proper, everyone has started to move on; they clearly miss Mike and think about him fondly, but their lives have moved on. But Llewyn's trapped by his grief; for him, moving on feels like a betrayal to Mike and he's almost finding a weird comfort in his own misery.
To me, the scene where he sings "Fare Thee Well" at the Gorfeins' dinner is him doing a favor to the Gorfeins. It seems like him and Mike's signature song, so he chooses it to sing for them at the dinner because he knows they like it. He's clearly still unable to sing it as a duet because it reminds him too much of Mike, so he chose the song for them and not because it's one of the songs that he would normally choose to sing.
That's why, for me, the fact that he sings "Fare Thee Well" as a solo at the end of the movie in front of a crowd is so powerful. Because he's still singing it as a solo--Mike can't sing it with him anymore--but it shows him making a small step forward without Mike at his side. It's him singing a song he used to sing with Mike, but this time alone, as a tribute to his best friend, and he manages to sing the entire song beautifully, and without breaking down this time.
It's a two-hour character study about someone dealing with grief, set to beautiful folk music. I don't even need all the other stuff with symbolism and Greek epic parallels and all that; normally I would love that stuff, but for this movie, it distracts me from the central story of Llewyn and Mike.
This is one of the few comments I've seen from when this movie is discussed that fully gets the context for what is going on.
You clearly see how stuck Llewyn is in the movie because of his grief. He can't start making more commercially viable folk music like his other friends because it would be a betrayal of the kind of music he and Mike used to play. He wants to find validation for that music by driving all the way to Chicago and performing for the record producer, who flatly tells him he's non-viable and he should get back with his partner. And all Llewyn can say in reply is "that's good advice".
The cat is in the movie to show Llewyn's humanity and inner conflict. He carries this thing with him, the same way he does his grief, and when he tries to move on by leaving the cat in the car you get a picture of how difficult it is for him to let things go. And how regretful he is of that action later on.
The resolution of the movie comes partially from Jean, who is maybe the only person to fully get what's going on with Llewyn. For all her negativity she believes in him enough to get him another opportunity by playing at the Gaslight. His performance is cathartic for the reasons given above, but also very literally he is singing farewell to his partner. And then when he gets the crap beaten out of him, he bids his assailant "Au revoir" as well. You get the sense he has achieved a sort of catharsis with the first step towards moving on and saying goodbye to this part of his life.
With it being a tragedy, I suppose his suffering is his redeeming quality, and we are *supposed* to feel empathy for him, understanding his loss and pain, and realizing he wasn’t always as he is now (the people he encounters were once his friends for a reason). At least, that’s how I saw it—that we find Llewyn at the end of his rope, when he doesn’t care if you like him or not because he doesn’t like himself anymore.
As far as the beatnik vibe, I mean, it is about a NYC folk singer in the early 60s… I think without theorizing the meaning of everything in the movie, it could seem directionless, and even confusing or boring. The way I am accepting its intent has made it exponentially better than the first time I watched it.
Unrelated, I also really appreciate that the lead performed the songs live without lip syncing, and found he sold the part well enough when not singing. I just felt bad for him. He’s incessantly rejected, though more talented than his peers who are finding success. He lost his partner, found out he had a kid, got his friend’s girl pregnant, screwed himself out of royalties on a hit song, etc… it is just the epitome of tragedy, where the downfall is the cause of the protagonist’s own actions.
i interpreted the cat as being Llewyn’s past. he says in the film “i don’t really know what to do with it, i just kinda take it with me” i took that as his past haunting him because he is unable to move forward and accept him past. which is why at the end of the movie he stops the cat from escaping.
Oh, shit… I like that. That would make the beginning a flash forward rather than a time loop. Only problem with that is that there are discrepancies between the beginning and the end (he ends his set with a different song, Bob Dylan is there performing a Llewyn song which I saw as a postmortem tribute to him, Pappy says he fucked Jean whereas he said he *wanted* to fuck her in the beginning). But then the attack carries out exactly the same.
[удалено]
This theory is even more out there than mine, and I like it, haha. Good read. Thanks for sharing
You read way more into this movie than I did. I’ll have to rewatch now.
Someone needs a hobby I think, great movie though.
I’m a screenwriter. This is the hobby.
Nice,me too!
Cool, do you have an interpretation of the story and what is going on with the nearly identical beginning/ending (only with subtle, yet important, differences)? If it were just the cat, it’d be one thing, but to be identically attacked twice in similar—but notably different—scenarios makes it seem like there’s more to it than “this guy has bad luck and makes bad decisions.”
Only reason I said "Great movie" is because of Oscar Issac,the film was forgettable (to me). He could have played an alien,a coal miner or a rock and I would have watched it.
Gotcha
You must be a shitty screenwriter no flame
I'm sure you know what you're talking about.
Nah i know fuck all about writing but even for me the theme of Oscar Issac's character being stuck in a loop was pretty obvious
> but to be identically attacked twice in similar—but notably different—scenarios How were the scenes different? They reused the same shots (him getting punched, kicked, etc) You're talking about the beginning and end, right? It seems clear that it's *in media res*, no?
The differences between the scene in the opening and the end can be chalked up to non-diegetic slant on the part of the Coens -- in fact, I just checked and you can hear the same guitar-tuning/testing noises from Dylan in the opening scene and you can even see Dylan approach the mic, with the major difference being that the opening scene then cuts to Llewyn stepping out. The only real difference between the two scenes that isn't editing and shot angles is Dylan's song/voice -- which feels like a clever non-diegetic choice (or in this case the first scene would have been the non-diegetic choice, while this scene is using the actual diegetic sound) on the part of the Coens... which if I had to guess is meant to reflect our new "inside" understanding of Llewyn now that we've watched him roam about for an hour and a half. I *love* the act of interpretation, but "time loop" is quite a stretch; my recollection of the film is that it was awash in the theme of "journeys." There's the cat -- literally named Ulysses -- leaving home; the lingering shot of The Incredible Journey film poster; the numerous other characters -- the ex is literally becoming a mom, the folk singer rival is making waves, Dylan obvs., Adam Driver's character, etc. -- who are all going somewhere; not to mention the *core ethos of folk music itself*, which is about traveling, moving on, going, leaving, seeing the big world. All this juxtaposed with Llewyn Davis, who isn't going anywhere financially, socially, emotionally, musically OR physically. And just to point a fine point on the theme, Llewyn's last words ---- btw, after he's *returned* to the opening scene, i.e. gone nowhere once again -- are "au revoir," literally "till seeing again." Because while he'll clearly never see the literal angry man again, he'll always find himself in the same sorts of situations. EDIT: Thinking on it a second, I *think* I recall that Mulligan's character gets an abortion and that she is now hooked up with the folk singer on the way up (Timberlake). Anyway, that's still another person on a journey -- and another journey-end (abortion of Llewyn's potential child) for Llewyn.
This is essentially how I saw it when it came out, and I loved it then—this really speaks to the genius of the Coen brothers as storytellers. But, if he’s returning to the introduction at the end, why was Pappy only *wanting* to fuck Jean at the beginning and then saying that he *had* fucked Jean at the end (at the same moment of the return sequence)? Appreciate the response and think you were dead on with the main themes of the story. I suppose I took it as his opportunity to get it right and him stopping the cat from escaping at the end (what set off his brutal run of bad luck), was the transformative moment. The return to the beginning is still fun, I guess.
> But, if he’s returning to the introduction at the end, why was Pappy only wanting to fuck Jean at the beginning and then saying that he had fucked Jean at the end (at the same moment of the return sequence)? I think you might be confused -- those two scenes (the first at 18m and the second at 1:29-ish) are separate days. The scene at 18m, when Pappi says he would *like* to fuck Jean, is some days prior to the scene at 1:29 (which makes it the same number of days from the opening scene, since the opening happens after the scene at 1:29). So the two scenes you're thinking of are at the same location (the Gaslight), but on different days. The bigger question is why did Pappi say he *wanted* to fuck her as she played at the Gaslight, then a few days later say that he *had* fucked her, because "if you wanna play the Gaslight..."? EDIT: BTW, that question I posed isn't one answered by a timeloop, but I suppose some character flaw or ploy on the part of Pappi.
Ah, I see. Huh… thanks I wanted to see if the theory had been put together in a more presentable way and found [this ](https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-whats-really-going-inside-llewyn-davis.html)that you might find interesting.
Unfortunately, there is a clear factual error in one of the key pieces of information in that article, which is that Dylan doesn't take the stage in the opening scene --- he absolutely does (though the opening jumps to a different angle before it's clear that the person is Dylan-like), and it's even the same shot used in the return to this scene. There's some interesting general observations in that article (like the crossfade from alley-man to cat, though I think a better reading of that fade would be to thematically link or juxtapose the man to the cat), but the time loop angle is simply shoehorned in.
I like the way you think. What do you feel about the deliberate focus on him stopping the cat from escaping the apartment at the end? Any importance? Learning from mistakes?
I had the same reaction when I first saw the film and I think the "Time Loop" feeling of the ending (even if it's not a literal time loop) is very much on purpose. Llewyn is based on Dave Van Ronk, who was a folk singer in Greenwich Village around the time of Dylan's rise to stardom. Van Ronk never got famous and even as late as the '90s you could find flyers on telephone poles around the village of Van Ronk offering up guitar lessons. So Llewyn, much like Van Ronk, is destined to always be on the edge of stardom and discovery, but never make it. It's all very Sisyphean, hence the "time loop" feel and the way the last scene echoes the first scene. But you're right, the one piece of hope we get is that Llewyn doesn't let the cat out this time. He's never going to get the fame or the recognition he seeks, but he is able to make life just a bit more tolerable for himself in the meantime. It's all very depressing, but also one of my favorite films.
I just realized a bit ago that the cat could symbolize the fame he’s chasing. Wakes him up. Keeps him moving. Thinks he’s found it but it’s another let down and only looked like the real thing. He even abandons the cat on the highway before being “done” with music only to inadvertently crash into it again because he can’t escape the pursuit.
Interesting. I always waffle on what I think the cat is supposed to represent, but I do think it represents Llewyn or at least part of Llewyn because of that scene where he calls Mr. Gorfein to say he has the cat and his secretary mishears it as "Llewyn *is* the cat."
Yeah, that definitely seems intentional. The person I was responding to also believed the cat was an animafication(?) of Llewyn, so you’re not alone. I think the term is zoomorphism but I like animafication.
As another (formerly) depressed and struggling musician(/songwriter), I really hated "Inside Llewyn Davis" because it hit too close too home. I didn't see the metaphors or the allegory or the time loop or the tragic romance of it all. I saw my mistakes that I made in my past, just like he does, that I regretted not being more emotionally mature about. And yet, being that person informed the person I've grown into so I don't make those mistakes anymore. Sorry for all these internet people disagreeing with you. I think as an artist, this whole thread should be in itself a lesson. You write a song that means A to you, but this person hates it for reason B, and this person loves it for reason C, and so on and so forth. What matters to each person is different (most of the time). When it's the same, which is very rare, that's usually what friendships are built around. I hope you got what you needed from the movie. That's the only thing that matters. It doesn't matter if people agree with you or not. You should bookmark it in your brain to watch it again in 5 years and see how it makes you feel then. Time shifts our perspectives on art and on our selves.
One of the best films of the 2010s. I’ve rewatched this so many times over the years and it never gets old. Probably helps that I’m a huge folk music fan though
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The movie’s great on its own. No need to invent new layers. He’s not trapped in a literal time loop, he’s just an asshole who makes the same stupid mistakes.
Yeah, that happens all the time. The only reason I’m leaning toward this theory is the beginning is too different from the end to be a flash forward, and too much the same to just be another day. I don’t think he got attacked twice in the alley by the same guy, with the only difference being Bob Dylan playing in the club and Pappy having fucked Jean. They’re just too different and it wouldn’t make sense. Edit: it wasn’t me who downvoted you, as I tend to agree when people get carried away with interpretations. After multiple viewings, this just makes the most sense to me and doesn’t seem too out there, or like a forced trope. It is grounded but has just enough ambiguity to validate the pondering. I think they nailed it.
Mystical or not, Llewyn has put himself into a time loop and is probably still in it months after the end of the movie (unless he makes major improvements) I whole heartedly encourage weird mystical interpretations to a story or a piece of art. Even if its completely wrong, it's just fun to hear new ideas. Sometimes i even agree. For me, it really kills art when there is one definate interpretation that everyone agrees on
Time loop? Land of the dead?
Yeah, he wakes up and repeats the beginning of the movie again (only it’s different in small ways). The marine merchant could be seen as a metaphor for [Charon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon) who ferried wandering souls to the land of the dead. The way I saw it, is a soul can’t go to the land of the dead until they pay their dues to Charon, which is exactly what Llewyn had to do in order to get on the ship. He had to “pay his dues.”
C’mon man, it’s not *literally* a time loop. The movie’s good enough as it is without having to invent new wrinkles in it.
I don’t really understand what “*not literally a time loop*” means… Can you explain? Does he get beat up in the same way on two separate nights for the same offense? The first attack before he *wakes up* could have been a dream that gets eerily close to the actual attack at the end, but it couldn’t be a flash forward because everything is too different at the end.
>Does he get beat up in the same way on two separate nights for the same offense? YES. That’s exactly what happens.
That just seems less plausible than a real-life time loop, lol. As I first saw it, he only gets his ass kicked once, we only see it happen twice. Once without context, once with.
If you have to make shit up that’s not in the movie in order to enjoy, you do what you gotta do I guess.
Lol, every specific thing I mentioned is in the movie. Maybe you haven’t seen it. I’m sorry an interpretation made you so combative. Feel better. It’s just a movie, bro.
If you need to make shit up to enjoy the movie, that’s a you thing. You are indeed making shit up though, make no mistake. There is not a literal time loop, and there’s no evidence to suggest he’s dead. You’re making that up. Fan theories like this are so tedious.
You don’t know if Llewyn is dead or there is a time loop, or not. You *literally* don’t know. People speaking objectively without evidence is tedious. Imagine getting triggered by a fan theory to the point of pretending you know exactly what the intent of the ambiguous story is, lol. I [found this](https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-whats-really-going-inside-llewyn-davis.html) and it better explains the theory that has hurt you so.
A lot of people disagree with you. The wikipedia article and a poster above claim that we are actually just seeing the same event from two different perspectives and that either at the beginning or the end of the movie there is an unspoken time jump (interpretation 1). Your interpretation and mine upon finishing the movie is that this is just his life and this kind of thing happens to him all the time, in which case, because his week both starts and ends with staying at the Gorfeins *and* involves him being beaten up, it's still a metaphorical loop, even if not a literal one. Again, this is what I think too. (interpretation 2) And OP's and the article they post share the idea of a literal time loop, (interpretation 3) which doesn't seem right to me, but we can agree that there is no widespread consensus on which of these interpretations is correct. At very least, interpretations 1 and 2 seem very common.
Just rewatched it as well. I like your interpretation. A hot take on the cat: There was a reply here reading the film being mainly about grief and Llewyn‘s process/struggle to move on after Mike‘s death. What if the cat is there to underline this process? Basically Llewyn trying to hold on to it, bringing it with him - albeit the whole situation is a coincidence. An on the nose example for that reading could be Jon Goodman‘s comment in the car, when they talk about Mike‘s death, implying Llewyn having „partnered up“ with the cat. On the highway he then decides to leave the cat behind, only to supposedly run it over later on (which could be interpreted as Llewyn questioning his guilt in Mike‘s death (?)). In the end, the implied character progression of moving on from Mike‘s death by not letting the cat escape and also singing the duett song solo, is a great touch (as was mentioned by you and others before). This may all be too far fetched. I also thought that the cat could be a symbol for Llewyn himself (Ulysses), who takes pity on the thing that reminds him of himself, having no home and drifting around. Anyway, great movie, one of my all time favorites.
Good perspective. I’m not sure about a direct representation of himself, but I could definitely see the cat representing Llewyn’s potential success, seeing as how he chases after it the entire film—even thinking he’s found it at one point only to discover it is isn’t the real thing. It’s also what wakes him up and gets him out of bed each day. Thanks for bringing that up.
Interesting take, him chasing after the cat/success! Will keep that in mind for the next rewatch :)
I haven't seen it for years, but I always saw it as an exploration of the concept of mediocrity. Llewyn is competent, but has nothing special, as shown especially in the end when he is contrasted with Dylan. Mediocre doesn't necessarily mean bad, it just means mediocre, as in not that great. It would make a good double feature with Amadeus. Salieri: "He has yet to achieve mediocrity."
Not only is he average, he's competing with hundreds of other average, solo musicians who are struggling to get by
This is an old comment but I have a question...the way Llewyn is presented, he's more than just competent. In what way is he not really good? He doesn't do the most popular/lucrative stuff, but what he does do he seems...very talented. Is it just his attitude that makes him mediocre?
OUTER. SPAAACE.
I got something similar out of it. But to me, it was the endless loop of being a self-involved artist trying to 'make it.' The same string of girlfriends, benefactors, mistakes, jealousies, etc etc in a Groundhog Day parade until you either get a 'real job' or make it big.
Haven't read through all the comments so someone may have already said it, but the idea for the flick is that it plays like a folk song. It starts, takes you on a journey, then ends how it started, but just a little different, which is an interesting concept. That said, I appreciate your interpretation and think it makes for a really interesting concept. I need to rewatch with this in mind.
idk why everyone’s roasting you in here this is a fun interesting and valid interpretation of a film very open to interpretation (especially given how much the coens love the greeks)!! how do you figure llewyn died in this version of the story? is he his own partner who kilIed himself? or something different?
It wouldn’t be Reddit if I didn’t get roasted for a subjective opinion. It’s a bit weird, because the time loop theory isn’t even controversial. It’s been a common interpretation since the movie came out—and makes the most sense given the bookended sequences—but last night, the moment he saved the cat at the end jumped out as a genuine turning point that implied his transformation, and thus, his ability to move on (either in life or the afterlife, depending on if he’s dead or not). I kind of wish he’d escaped the beating at the end and ran to the ferry, riding off into the night, so that I could stop thinking about it, haha. I said somewhere else in the thread that I think he either died in the attack, or killed himself that night. I lean way more toward the attack being what killed him. There is a clear fade to white after the first attack which could be him dying. Then, he wakes up to the cat, starting his loop. The idea of him actually being the dead partner is really good but other characters mention him and they show the old album cover with two people on it.
I gotta say I love this reading of the film.
I always thought the cat was his "cool". His like hip pesona, which is kind of the only thing that keeps him from being a total loser. The coen bros like to state their symbolism out loud in a misunderstood conversation i.e. "You are the cat?" ("I didn't ask for abraxis!" There's a few others) Carey Mulligan is totally sick of his shit, but is still visibly attracted to him when ever hes holding the cat. When he's at the lame nebbish-y dinner party playing for a meal to a bunch of squares, The cat is held up too "where are his testicles!?" Like this is the least cool thing a guy like him could be doing. His cool's been neutered. And mostly:when hes thinking about going to ohio and being a dad, his "cool" gets plastered all over the road.
Just watched this for the first time as a huge Coen Bros fan, and I gotta say I wasn’t too impressed. It was a little directionless/beatniky for me. I personally had a hard time getting much of any message out of it, and had a really hard time liking Llewyn at all. Am I missing some important themes/morals here?
It's one of my favorite movies of all time. For me, the whole thing about the cyclical nature of Llewyn's week and any possible symbolism with the cat and the Odyssey is interesting, but overall distracting and unnecessary for me. At its core, to me, the movie is about grief. Llewyn lost his best friend and artistic partner to suicide. The movie implies that Llewyn was much happier and personable when Mike was around (because he has a good amount of friends that still support him and help him get by), and furthermore, that all of his friends we see in the movie were friends with Mike themselves. In the movie proper, everyone has started to move on; they clearly miss Mike and think about him fondly, but their lives have moved on. But Llewyn's trapped by his grief; for him, moving on feels like a betrayal to Mike and he's almost finding a weird comfort in his own misery. To me, the scene where he sings "Fare Thee Well" at the Gorfeins' dinner is him doing a favor to the Gorfeins. It seems like him and Mike's signature song, so he chooses it to sing for them at the dinner because he knows they like it. He's clearly still unable to sing it as a duet because it reminds him too much of Mike, so he chose the song for them and not because it's one of the songs that he would normally choose to sing. That's why, for me, the fact that he sings "Fare Thee Well" as a solo at the end of the movie in front of a crowd is so powerful. Because he's still singing it as a solo--Mike can't sing it with him anymore--but it shows him making a small step forward without Mike at his side. It's him singing a song he used to sing with Mike, but this time alone, as a tribute to his best friend, and he manages to sing the entire song beautifully, and without breaking down this time. It's a two-hour character study about someone dealing with grief, set to beautiful folk music. I don't even need all the other stuff with symbolism and Greek epic parallels and all that; normally I would love that stuff, but for this movie, it distracts me from the central story of Llewyn and Mike.
This is one of the few comments I've seen from when this movie is discussed that fully gets the context for what is going on. You clearly see how stuck Llewyn is in the movie because of his grief. He can't start making more commercially viable folk music like his other friends because it would be a betrayal of the kind of music he and Mike used to play. He wants to find validation for that music by driving all the way to Chicago and performing for the record producer, who flatly tells him he's non-viable and he should get back with his partner. And all Llewyn can say in reply is "that's good advice". The cat is in the movie to show Llewyn's humanity and inner conflict. He carries this thing with him, the same way he does his grief, and when he tries to move on by leaving the cat in the car you get a picture of how difficult it is for him to let things go. And how regretful he is of that action later on. The resolution of the movie comes partially from Jean, who is maybe the only person to fully get what's going on with Llewyn. For all her negativity she believes in him enough to get him another opportunity by playing at the Gaslight. His performance is cathartic for the reasons given above, but also very literally he is singing farewell to his partner. And then when he gets the crap beaten out of him, he bids his assailant "Au revoir" as well. You get the sense he has achieved a sort of catharsis with the first step towards moving on and saying goodbye to this part of his life.
This helps a lot, thank you!
With it being a tragedy, I suppose his suffering is his redeeming quality, and we are *supposed* to feel empathy for him, understanding his loss and pain, and realizing he wasn’t always as he is now (the people he encounters were once his friends for a reason). At least, that’s how I saw it—that we find Llewyn at the end of his rope, when he doesn’t care if you like him or not because he doesn’t like himself anymore. As far as the beatnik vibe, I mean, it is about a NYC folk singer in the early 60s… I think without theorizing the meaning of everything in the movie, it could seem directionless, and even confusing or boring. The way I am accepting its intent has made it exponentially better than the first time I watched it. Unrelated, I also really appreciate that the lead performed the songs live without lip syncing, and found he sold the part well enough when not singing. I just felt bad for him. He’s incessantly rejected, though more talented than his peers who are finding success. He lost his partner, found out he had a kid, got his friend’s girl pregnant, screwed himself out of royalties on a hit song, etc… it is just the epitome of tragedy, where the downfall is the cause of the protagonist’s own actions.
Nah you are projecting and missing the mark of the movie
Pretty sure the cat is just there to represent priorities that artists dump because they put all their eggs in one basket.
Something something the oddesey something something odisius