What's lovely about the bourgeoisie is that they have an exquisite taste (not always) and a level of elegance and delicacy which bring joy to people's life. Eve has an exquisite taste but she's so or, as her daughter said, too obsessed with that.
Joey her daughter, showed her angst toward her mother after her dad married Pearl, a 'vulgar' woman who found happiness in dancing, appreciating African art and in indulging good food and wine.
I think you are really too perfect to live in this world. I mean all the beautifully furnished rooms, carefully designed interiors, everything's so controlled. There wasn't any room for any feelings. None. Between any of us.... You worship Renata. You worship talent. Well what happens to us who can't create? What do we do - what do I do when I'm overwhelmed with feelings about life? How do I get them out? I feel such rage toward you! Come on mother, don’t you see? You’re not just a sick woman, that would be too easy. The truth is there’s been perverseness and willingness of attitude in many of the things you’ve done. At the centre of a sic psyche, there is a sick spirit.
You worship Renata. You worship talent. Well, what happens to us who can't create?
Joey's creativity seemed to have always been suffocated by her mother. Eve's flair in arts had made her the authority in their family, or in young Joey's mindset, the one who set rules for all creativity matters. Lee wrote, in her book Woody Allen's Angst: Philosophical Commentaries on His Serious Films, that "this elite class would pass down its absolutist judgements as to how each person should think, act and appear". Eve's death indicated the demise of this kind of overarching power upon her, and she finally was able to start writing.
To ordinary people like us this film conveys a positive message that, although as mundane as us in this world, we have the right to dream and create.
