Line #49 Film/Spring


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spring_poster_2.jpg]]
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3	''Spring'' is a 2014 romantic mystery drama directed by Creator/JustinBenson and Creator/AaronMoorhead, and written by Justin Benson.
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5	Following the death of his mother and the loss of his job, Evan (Creator/LouTaylorPucci) travels to Italy to get away from it all for a while. In a small coastal town, he meets Louise (Creator/NadiaHilker), an attractive woman who is more than she seems...
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7	!! This film provides examples of:
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9	* AppliedPhlebotinum: Louise has engineered a serum that temporarily stops her transformations. Its only label is a frowny face.
10	* AssholeVictim: The obnoxious American tourist seen a few scenes earlier happens across Louise as she's suffering from [[spoiler: one of her transformations]]. After she doesn't respond to his highly inappropriate propositions, he prepares to rape her. She turns suddenly, and cue the GoryDiscretionShot as all we hear are his screams and loud [[spoiler: biting noises]].
11	* AttemptedRape: The American tourist tries to take advantage of Louise when she is helpless in an alley, but it doesn't go well for him.
12	* AutoErotica: At one point, Louise and Evan try to have sex in the car but get interrupted by the police.
13	* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:{{Implied}}, as Louise theorizes that if she loves someone she'll stay pregnant and not change. The ending indicates that she loves Evan, will keep her form and give birth to their child as they remain happily together while Louis now becomes mortal. How happy this is though isn't clear as Vesuvius erupts again at the end in the background.]]
14	* BaitAndSwitch: The film teases that Louise is one of several types of established monsters. In one scene, [[spoiler:her skin burns on direct contact with the sun, and in another, her face doesn't show up in a photograph, implying that she's a vampire. In another, we see her transform in a hairy dog-like creature, implying that she's a werewolf. In a third scene, we see her performing what appears to be a magical ritual, implying she's a witch. Evan eventually straight-up asks if she's any of these things, but she's not]].
15	* BeenThereShapedHistory: Louise has been around for 2,000 years and apparently ended up on multiple famous paintings which she and Evan visit in a museum.
16	* CelebrityParadox: Not a Celebrity Paradox at the time of this film's release, but early on, a character mentions ''Film/EightMile'', in which Creator/AnthonyMackie had a role. ''Spring'' is in the same universe (via connections with ''Film/{{Resolution}}'' and ''Film/TheEndless'') as ''Film/{{Synchronic}}'', which stars Mackie.
17	* ChekhovsVolcano: Early on at the farm, Evan notices a volcano in the distance. Naturally it would erupt later.
18	* ContinuityNod:
19	** Mike references "Shitty Carl," who is referenced in ''Resolution'' and appears in ''The Endless''.
20	** When Louise flips through channels on the TV, she passes by a scene from ''Resolution''.
21	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Both Evan and Louise have lost their parents. When she learns this about Evan, Louise jokingly compares him to Batman.
22	* DoingInTheWizard: Upon discovering Louise's true nature, Evan asks if she's one of a variety of supernatural beings. She asserts that she is human, although with a [[spoiler: mutation that allows her to live forever. She's studying genetics to learn more about her condition, and has well-developed theories and explanations for it]].
23	* DramaticIrony: When Louise dawdles using her injection to stop her latest transformation, we see a tentacle of hers looming over Evan's shoulder, preparing to strike of its own accord. She takes the injection just in time, and the tentacle drops away mid-swipe.
24	* TheFogOfAges: Louise is about 2,000 years old. By now she can't remember her original name.
25	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Louise points to a woman in a piece of ancient artwork and asks Evan's opinion of her. He says she's hot. Later, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Louise, the woman Evan is falling in love with, ''is'' that woman]].
26	* TheGhost: "Shitty Carl" is mentioned but does not make an appearance.
27	* GenreMashup: The movie is basically a dialogue-heavy romantic dramedy (think of ''Film/BeforeSunrise'') mixed with doses of body horror and science fiction.
28	* GrievousBottleyHarm: Evan punches a guy out after he sees that the man is about to hit Tommy with an empty beer bottle.
29	* HandWave: After Louise insists that [[DoingInTheWizard there's nothing supernatural]] about her, Evan eventually recalls how [[spoiler:her face [[MissingReflection doesn't appear in photographs]]]]. Louise doesn't explain why but instead just states that supernatural legends (like vampires) are based on an imperfect understanding of scientific facts.
30	* HealingFactor: [[spoiler: Louise claims to have one, but it's never shown]].
31	* HorrorHunger: [[spoiler: Louise]] tells Evan she tries to be vegetarian but sometimes craves meat. Later on [[spoiler: she]]’s shown killing and eating various small animals raw (and at least one human).
32	* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler: Louise]]’s unpredictable mutations certainly qualify her for this trope, even if she is technically human.
33	* HypocriticalHumor: After seeing Evan silently crying over his late mother, the horny and obnoxious British tourist assumes he's pining over a girlfriend and relates a story about his own love life, then states smugly that Evan is lucky because the tourist is more open about his emotions than most men.
34	* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: As well as looking in her twenties, Louise [[spoiler: 'regenerates' approximately every 20 years, in spring]].
35	* ImmortalityPromiscuity: Louise has to get pregnant every twenty years to remain immortal and thus has slept with many men across her 2,000 years of life.
36	* ImmortalProcreationClause: Zig-zagged. [[spoiler: Louise ''can'' get pregnant, but after a week or so her body will assimilate the fetus and use its cells to regenerate. Genetically speaking she's a new person (technically she becomes her own child, mixing her own DNA with the "father's"), but she retains all her current memories and maintains her apparent age. She believes this can be prevented, however, if she is truly in love with someone; a hormone will be produced that prevents her body from assimilating the foetus. She'll lose her immortality but remain pregnant and be able to grow old with the one she loves]].
37	* IronicEcho: When Evan admits that his parents have died, Louise tries to cheer him up by saying that he has the [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest same backstory]] as Batman. At the end of the film, when Louise shows Evan the remains of her parents, Evan lightens the mood by telling her that she has the same backstory as Harry Potter.
38	* LadyInRed: Louise is an exotic and dangerous woman who wears bright red in her first appearance.
39	* LiteralMetaphor: Louise relates how she spent time in Mexico with her boyfriend, who was an asshole and "obsessed with conquering everything." It later becomes clear that her "boyfriend" was literally conquering ancient nations.
40	* MayflyDecemberRomance: Evan is in his twenties, while Louise is over 2,000 years old.
41	* MissingReflection: A less suspicious variation. When the waiter takes a photo of Evan and Louise, her face is blurred out for no apparent reason.
42	* MsFanservice: Louise is very beautiful, and she's shown topless having sex with Evan. She's also once seen [[ToplessnessFromTheBack naked from the back]].
43	* {{Mutants}}: [[spoiler:Louise is one whose form changes every twenty years, after she's gotten pregnant as this then lets her regenerate, remaining immortal because of it.]]
44	* NewhartPhonecall: When Evan calls Tommy for advice, we hear only Evan's side of the call.
45	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Evan delivers a thorough beating on a pugnacious lowlife at the bar where he works. Mike is shocked, stating that he had to pick up several teeth off the floor.
46	* NotStayingForBreakfast: Louise snuck out after her first night with Evan for reasons we witness onscreen.
47	* {{Omniglot}}: Louise can speak many language, probably due to her [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld very long life]], including Italian, English, Latin, French, German, Turkish and "several types" of Arabic. Not Aramaic, however.
48	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Louise has traits that are similar to the traditional depiction of vampires but mixed up with those of other monster types like werewolves. She explains that this is because our understanding of vampires is faulty.
49	* PitySex: Early on, a girl Evan knows agrees to have sex with him because of his mother's death but then changes her mind halfway in.
50	* PrisonRape: Discussed. When Louise learns that immigration is looking for Evan, she jokingly tells him that they are gonna fuck him in an Italian prison.
51	* Really700YearsOld: Louise.[[spoiler: She's actually approaching 2,000 years old, since, as she reveals near the end of the movie, she was born in Pompeii and survived the famous eruption of Vesuvius]].
52	* ReallyGetsAround: Since staying immortal requires Louise to get pregnant every twenty years and she's [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld about 2,000]], she's slept with ''at the very least'' 1,000 men over the centuries. Louise teases Evan for being jealous about this.
53	* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear: In Evan's NewhartPhonecall to Tommy, he starts trying to explain what's going on, but then he cuts himself off to listen to what Tommy is saying and repeats, "Smoked a bowl? ... Right before I called?" Realizing that Tommy is too high to provide any advice, he hangs up.
54	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When Evan realizes that he has no family and no job, and is wanted by the police, he skips the country and flees to Italy.
55	* ShoutOut: Louise has a page of the ''Literature/CodexSeraphinianus'' framed in her house, more specifically, the one where a human couple having sex on a bed transforms into a single crocodile.
56	* SlummingIt: Justified. Louise explains to Evan that she is actually rich and owns multiple houses all over the world but because she is constantly on the run, she cannot enjoy that wealth.
57	* TheStoner: Evan's friend Tommy is constantly high on some drug.
58	* TransformationHorror: [[spoiler: Louise's transformations. A side-effect of her regenerative abilities, she uncontrollably turns into creatures from humanity's genetic past. They can be managed with injections, or by eating raw flesh]].
59	* UglyAmericanStereotype: Evan is razzed by two British tourists about being American, and Evan admits that everyone hates Americans. Later, he watches an obnoxious American tourist bedecked in star-spangled shorts and bandanna cause a scene and screams the national anthem. That same tourist eventually becomes an AssholeVictim.
60	* UndeadTaxExemption: {{Discussed}} as Louise says she has to change her ID frequently and will herself things, which is a logistical nightmare, so no one knows she's an immortal mutant.
61	* UnrevealAngle: Evan writes two notes to Louise, both of which make her smile, but the camera never reveals what they say.
62	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: When Louise starts transforming in church, Evan worries that the worshippers will notice, but no one reacts before she takes her injection. After they leave, however, a woman calmly tells her husband that she just saw "a zombie doing heroin."
63	* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Louise admits that her accent in English doesn't sound completely Italian, claiming that it's because she learned English in Britain and spent time in America. The actress is German.
64	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Louise at first claims she loves her immortality, and nothing is good enough for to give it up. Evan though says being mortal makes life more precious because every moment counts more with them being more limited. Louise appears to agree with him at the end [[spoiler:as it's implied that her love for him made her become mortal]].

Context Film / Spring