Thoughts on “Violet Evergarden: The Movie”
Note: spoilers for Violet Evergarden: The Movie
I experimented with taking notes while watching this movie. I can’t remember exactly what inspired me to do this, but I’m glad I did because it caused me to reflect more deeply on the film.
It was a nice way to express my frustration with it too.
This isn’t meant to be a complete essay of my thoughts on the movie, or even tracing a particular theme. I was just really frustrated with the movie, so I wanted to express those thoughts here in a semi-organized fashion.
I wish the movie focused on the idea expressed by this piece of dialogue from quite early in the movie. The immediate setting here is that the CEO and employees of the letter-writing company were walking together down the street.
Claudia: It goes to show, anything’s possible if you wish hard for it.
Violet: Not everything, no matter how hard you wish. What should you do then?
Violet’s line in the original was「強く願っても叶わない思いは、どうすれば良いのでしょうか。」I’m not a translator by any means, but if I were to translate this myself, I think it would be closer to…
What is one to do with desires that remain unfulfilled, no matter how deeply one wishes for them?
(I think this works well as a translation of Violet’s line, but it wouldn’t lip-sync well, so that disqualifies it as a subtitle translation)
What is one to do with desires that remain unfulfilled…
To leave aside the source material for a second, the TV series (prequel to the movies) had the courage to leave Violet’s greatest wish—to be reunited Gilbert again—unfulfilled. The movie follows what (I’ve heard) the source material chose, which was to bring Gilbert back and focus on reuniting the two of them.
My greatest frustration with this choice is that it betrays Violet’s growth and development as a character from the TV series.
We first met Violet as a “tool of war”, an emotionless and dangerous weapon that had no outward appearance of agency. Gilbert then takes her in, and under his nurturing, we see her begin to develop as a person—just the initial sparks of emotion and empathy. Yet at this point, she still only knows how to follow orders. While Gilbert can tell that she cares for him, Violet cannot understand her own emotions, and has to rely on Gilbert’s orders to do anything at all.
After Gilbert “dies”, Violet is left in the care of Claudia. At the company, she takes on the challenge of understanding human emotion so that she can understand Gilbert’s final words for her,「愛してる。」Over time, and through many trials, she grows in her understanding, emotional capacity, and develops a personality beyond her training as a tool of war. By the end of the series, she has learned the many shapes love can take, and what people mean by「愛」。Most importantly, she developed a personality and direction in life that can guide her. She can lead her life without orders, from Gilbert or anyone else.
She obvious still hopes Gilbert is alive. His body was never found, hence the line,「強く願っても叶わない思いは、どうすれば良いのでしょうか。」And that is the reality of war. Bodies are often not found, or even if they are, they are often not identified. People are left to wonder for years if their loved ones will return, unsure of their ultimate fate.
To grapple with this, to challenge it, and to find solace in her new life—that is what this movie could have been. The TV series set her up perfectly for a story like this.
Alas, Gilbert is alive.
During their reunion, she only ever calls him「少佐」。So much for growing past orders.
The movie was beautiful and the story was good, at least, as good at it could have been given the choice they made. The narrative framing of the great-granddaughter of one of Violet’s clients discovering the events of the main plot was clever, and the writing was solid.
I just wish they took the movie in a different direction.
I’ll leave that thought there for now. I also felt that the choice they made with Gilbert was a betrayal of this characterization thus far, or at least, the switch was poorly executed. I’ll come back to that later if I have the time.