[quote] When Conrad surprises her in Buck’s room, or asks her if she took Trig after she just said she did, she interprets it as him messing with her.
Both of these moments have little to do, if at all, with Beth thinking that Conrad is “messing with her.” (That comes later.) The sequence in Buck’s bedroom is centered on Beth’s internal landscape, how protective she is over it, and the lengths she will go to, even subconsciously, to guard it.
When she gasps after Conrad appears and says, “Don’t do that!”, she does so because she’s been caught being vulnerable and can’t bare to have her own fragility reflected back to her, especially through the eyes of her grieving son.
Moments later, the following exchange between the two is probably the most telling sequence regarding Beth’s internal state:
Conrad: I got 74 on a trig quiz.
Beth: 74? Gee, I was awful at trig.
Conrad: You took trig?
Beth: Wait a minute... Did I take trig?
(a perplexed beat, followed by sudden perkiness and a smile)
Beth: I bought you two shirts. They're on your bed.
Beth, mostly preoccupied with surface appearances and keeping things, including emotions, “neat and tidy,” was on autopilot most of the time. When thrust into uncomfortable or unfamiliar circumstances, especially with people from which she felt the need to guard herself - i.e., namely everyone, save for Calvin - she morphed into whatever she felt was necessary to get through and out of the situation. In the scene above (clip below), this propensity manifests as a subconscious lie, i.e., she isn’t even aware that she’s doing it, so on edge is she about having her fallibility exposed.
The real revelation of the film is that, while most people are prone to side with or claim to relate to either Conrad and/or Calvin, most people, even the messiest and most disorganized people, are really more like Beth than they’d care to admit. Similarly to Beth, most of us are more concerned with how we appear, both the impressions we make and how we physically look, than how we truly feel. Like her, we fear being caught at our most human, and we mask our vulnerabilities with frivolities and superficialities.
I find “Ordinary People” and, in particular, Beth Jarrett endlessly revealing and fascinating. Both are elegant, heartbreaking, and achingly relatable.
I am Beth Jarrett.
“You know, I think this can be saved. It’s a nice, clean break.” 🤌🏼
