When Michael had to abruptly exile himself to Sicily after murdering McCluskey and Sollozzo, he was in love with Kay and she with him. (Well, I believe he loved her, even though he was too embarrassed to say it over the phone with his mobster cronies around .) Yet while Michael is in Sicily, he falls in love with someone else and marries her. I would think that this would be difficult to do if one has feelings for a special sweetheart back home.

At the beginning of Part III, we learn that he and Kay must be divorced, since Kay has a new husband. Why didn't Michael remarry? (GF3 is not particularly memorable to me, but I'm sure I would have noticed a new wife.)

What I find rather unusual is that Michael had no problem marrying someone else when Kay loved him and was waiting for him back home. Now that their relationship is somewhat estranged (only kept cordial for their children) and Kay will certainly never be his wife again, he did not take a new spouse. It seems so out of character because I thought he was the marrying kind who wanted a family around him. I don't know exactly when Kay divorced him, but I assume he would still have been young enough to have children with a new Mrs. C. Children seemed so important to him. Any thoughts?

And on a side note, did GF3 indicate if Kay had had children with her second husband?

And on another side note, did Michael wear a wedding ring in GF3?

I would like to think that michael was sad about losing Kay even though he is the Godfather i would think that losing Kay would jack him up. That's just my personal belief but hey i ain't no romantist

Cristina,
Very interesting point. My take?

After Michael witnesses the destruction of his entire family, and loses everyone that is of importance to him (his brothers, his parents, his wives, estranged from Tom, even Rocco's dead) at the end of GF2, I believe that he is too emotionally bereft to commit to another relationship. His loss is so complete, with the exception of Connie and his children, that he cannot imagine starting life over with another woman. I think he feels that he gave his heart twice (although I don't believe he truly loved Kay when he married her, but that's for another thread), and both marriages ended tragically. I think he walled himself off from that sort of love, and decided to devote himself to his children.

The nominal reason for Michael marrying Appolonia was less a rejection of Kay, more that he was hit by the "thunderbolt"--an event of the heart that is hardly unknown even among non-Sicilians, and among those who are already married. Filmicly, it sets us up for the immortal scene with Sr. Vitelli in his cafe (one of the best in the film, IMO); the old-fashioned Sicilian wedding; the film's only T&A scene [humming "Thanks for the Mammaries" ;] and the treachery that led to Appolonia's untimely demise. Symbolically, wedding Appolonia underscored an important milestone in Michael's evolution from rejecting his family and its values (including joining the Marines and being engaged to a WASP); to embracing the family's values (by killing Sollozzo and McCluskey for his father's sake, hiding out in Sicily--and now, courting and marrying a Sicilian girl in the old-fashioned way). Appolonia's death also helps set us up for the cold-hearted, calculating, emotionally limited (and later, emotionally dead) Michael.
That last point falls in with SB's excellent explanation: he was too cold and too self-centered to involve himself with another woman after he dumped Kay.

Dear Cristina. Long ago I wrote a long post on the subject of Michael's relationship with Kay and his inevitable, IMO, remarriage. But I won't give you the link. Like Turnbull, I'll copy and paste it. Half of the people here must've read it already, but I hope they won't mind.


"The most important of all things that make GF3 plot absolutely unbelieveable is that Michael would NEVER give children to Kay. If something is impossible, that is. After all that we see and read, especially after the stare he gives her when he catches her visiting children, we must be convinced that he would never let her even approach them. That by killing his child she made him feel such pain, disappointment an even hatred, that it killed all his love and respect for her, whatever it could be, and killed forever. She could have no illusions about that, she wished to do it, she said “there would be no way Michael, no way you could ever forgive me.” And there is no way. Even if he didn’t kill her, that never means that he could forgive. And certainly, he is not an idiot to send his children to the only person in the world who would most surely teach them to hate him.
And of course, he would never say “I love you…Forgive me everything...” NEVER! And he would never complaint being feared. Anyone else could. Not he.
I think that he would rather marry again it would be more natural for him, and not only for the sake of his present children, but to have more. He could not be too desperate about losing Kay herself. And he was not the man to dream every night about losing her, and children he is supposed to have given up himself. He is not so sentimental and snotty, and there is a lack of logic in all this.
We know from the book, that he never loved Kay very much. Not even as much as she loved him. He easily forgot her for Appolonia, and then, when he returned home, would never resume their relationship if she didn’t seek it. She found him, came to him, he agreed to sleep with her and said something like, well, what about marrying me, if so? And when she asked him, why did he want to marry her, since he “obviously didn’t love her”, as she said few phrases before, he answered: “because I want you and I want a family. I want kids, it’s time”. In fact, then, having lost Apollonia, he would marry anyone who could give birth to his kids – just because if he was going to become the head of family, he had to have family and kids, the more the better. And kids were his strongest passion in life, remember him nagging Kay: “Does it feel like a boy”? He wanted sons, to help him in business, numerous sons, because he knew what business it was, and remembering Sonny, he knew if he had one son, anything could happen to him. And even if he had only two, the first of them might be killed, and the second might be Fredo…
Pain about the son she killed must have been much stronger than anything he could feel about losing herself. To that he was ready, as we know from the novel, she tried to part with him once, and Puzo gives us enough to show that their marriage could not last long after that lie of his, something most important, their mutual trust, was broken and they could never be what they were to each other. When in GF2 she comes to say that she wants to leave him, and does not feel any love for him at all, he is not surprised or grieved by it. He doesn’t give a damn about her feelings for him, he dismisses it as nothings. He says ”we'll have another child, and we'll go on.” He is not so much interested in her as a person, she is “His wife but not his partner in life”, as he said she would be, when he proposed her marriage. And wishing that child as he did, we can be sure that after losing it he would suffer much and would wish it still more.
And he is a normal man, and rather young, about forty. He can’t live like a monk; the novel describes him as a hot-blooded Italian male, who never refused making love, on the contrary, was quite devoted to the process.
Of course, being broken-hearted as he was, he would not perhaps feel a tremendous romantic love, but it will help him to chose rationally. And personally, I think his choice would be Sicilian. Having already kids with a half of fishy blood of “that washed out rag of an American girl”, he could not expect them to become real Sicilians, and we know from the novel, how difficult it was for Tom to be in the family business because of his not being a Sicilian, not having Sicilian cunning and subtleness. If he would marry a Sicilian, he would have at last truly HIS children, full works, who will understand and accept him, and will never prefer singing and law to the manly deed of family business. "

"A Thing of Beauty Is a Joy Forever."

Very good posts and opinions, all. They got me all keyed up to give my two cents :

The marriage to Apollonia just didn't ring true with me, and I thought Coppola would have omitted it from the film. However, I have to agree with Turnbull that it was probably necessary cinematically. Someone Michael cared about HAD to be killed in Sicily when Michael was the target. If the victim were, say, Don Tomassino, the dramatic impact wouldn't be the same. It had to be a spouse, since that would set the stage for Michael's shift toward wanting to be Don. The double loss of Sonny and Apollonia awakened this coldness in him that called for vengeance and retribution.

It still kind of jars with Michael's previous relationship with Kay and his character, though, especially when you consider the rest of GF1 and all of GF2.

At the end of GF2, we see Michael alone, having lost everything he cared about. That's the main message we're meant to take away with us, and it would lose impact if Kay were someone he married only out of expediency. Family was a cornerstone to him. His family was not just his children, it was his wife too -- the whole family unit. It is notable that in that final image, Michael's left hand is resting against his face, showing very clearly that he is still wearing his wedding ring. If Kay were not the love of his life, then I think the poignancy of that image would suffer.

JustMe, I enjoyed reading your post (we're like-minded about GF3 ). But I do believe that the Michael in the novel is a rather one-dimensional character whom Coppola made more complex on the screen (in GF1 and GF2, that is). That is why I don't think the "book Michael" is a good source for how the "film Michael" felt about Kay, how he felt about love, or how he felt about sex. (If it were, then Coppola would have kept all those details about him in the film; but instead, he changed them.) Yes, he lied to Kay, and the person he became drove her away; but he thought he was doing all he did to protect his family and to keep them close to him. I was touched by many scenes in GF1 and GF2 where Michael is very tender with Kay and their son.

I'm still looking forward to more opinions on why Michael didn't remarry after GF2 . And BTW, I think he loved Kay very much. And another BTW: Did anyone notice if he was wearing his wedding ring in GF3?

Given the insulated life that he led, it wouldn't have been easy for him to meet other women.

I mean, he wasn't the type to go out and hit the singles bars or anything, and he didn't seem to have any friends or family members who could provide him with introductions, either.

Had he wanted to remarry, what possible strategy could he have employed to find the right gal?

Cristina,my point is...

I agree with Sicilian Babe that the destruction of the Family at the end of GF2 could be a reason, but I have to add another point.

Somehow Michael is like his father, with the old rules, the marriage is forever, even though he got married twice, but Apollonia died, and we could understand he got married again, but I think Apollonia doesn`t count for me, I do believe his real love is Kay, after he lost her, I think he doesn`t want another woman in his life, he was not like Freddo and Sonny, a woman who you haven`t known for enough time could be dangerous, she could be a trap. Plus Michael had some kind of hope to get Kay back to him, when they are having lunch together alone in Sicily they got a little closer but Calo knocked on the door to bring the bad news about Don Tommasino`s death, interrupting this scene!
What could have happened if this scene would have gone on?


And later, Mary`s death.

With this Michael`s hope is over.

In the Mark Winegardner`s GF Returns, Michael is hanging out with a movie star!!! Bullshit, Michael is not like Freddo!

My belief is if Michael didn`t get married again is because he still loves Kay, no matter Apollonia, Kay is the only Michael`s love forever.

Another possibility (admittedly, a reach): Michael had a rare moment of objective introspection and realized that he could never be in a satisfying marital relationship after Kay, given the kind of life he led. He may have realized that no woman would have been satisfied (much less happy) sharing his life. I'm basing this on his reply to Senator Geary, after the "oily hair/silk suit" rap: "Senator, we're both part of the same hypocrisy [emphasis added], but never think it has anything to do with my family." The fact that he was willing to acknowledge his facade as a "legitimate" businessman as "hypocrisy" astounded me--even though he tried to exempt his family from it.

That's funny - I mean, how opinions may differ. To explain you my position only (God forbid, not trying to convince anyone ) - I am absolutely positive that the book is the only original and the most integral part of the Godfather story, and the only possible source of knowledge on its characters. Most of the changes Coppola made to the book are untrue to characters, and the complexity and depth of Michael's character in the book is absolutely lost in the movie due to these changes. And not only Michael's. Book forever

JustMe, I think I have to clarify something in my mind. A few weeks ago in one of the threads, a discussion came up about the novel. I said that I didn't like it; I found the characters too "cardboard." You responded with a post similar to what you wrote above -- that the real complexity of the characters was in the book, not in the movie.

Because you put some smilies at the end of your post, I thought you were joking and that you actually meant the opposite of the words you had written.

Now reading your current post, I'm not so sure . Help me, I'm confused. What is your position on the book? Do you believe it has more character development than the movie? I just want to be clear on this so I'm not debating with you over something we already agree on .

Yes, I think so. I have no doubts about it. I guess I really put those smilies so you wouldn't take it as any aggression, I didn't mean to change your opinion by force. It was not a "spank" you were talking about, but absolutely benevolent post. I dislike arguing over such points. In all kinds of art, people tend to esteem verrry different things.

I gotcha. I also like people to freely express their opinions on the films. I like to debate and make counter points if my opinion differs, but that's just for fun and not to get them to change their views. (They could change their views if they want to, but that's not my intent. I just enjoy the discussion.)

So please don't feel that I will get upset if you disagree with me. As long as we all post in our usual cordial and/or respectful manner, then I'm sure we can disagree with each other as much as we like , and no feelings will be hurt.

So now that that's cleared up, JustMe, I must remark that I'm surprised that the two of us, who are so much in agreement over GF3, have such divergent views on the novel. I guess there's no such thing as two minds thinking exactly alike -- especially when it comes to The Godfather.

Well, as long as I'm concerned, there's no contradiction, I dislike GF3 because it makes already existing characters, brilliantly created in the book, act in a manner they never would, perfectly unnatural to their personality and way of thinking.

make her an offer she couldn't refuse?

I strongly disagree. But I don't feel like elaborating it now. Just know you're completely wrong!!!

I totally agree with SB's thoughts about it. I think only solitude could be the proper condition to Michael's damnation. Maybe a self-damnation. I think ageing Micheal's life was nothing but an endless sequence of remembrances of his crimes and the consequences of them over the ones he loved and over himself, a long nightmare, haunted by memories and remorse. No room for a new love.

WOW, Cristina, no Appollonia?? I don't know if I've ever heard anything I disagree with more (of course it's your opinion and you are quite entitled to it). Appollonia represented not only his love for something innocent and pure, but the beginning of an understanding and an embrace of Sicily and his roots. Long estranged by choice from The Family, trying desperately to be "American" (Iby League college, WASP girlfriend), his exile in Sicily begins his understanding of the life his father came from, how Vito came to be Don, and Michael's turning away from that college boy that he had been. It is his beginning down the path of a Don, and Appollonia is a huge part of that. She is a woman much like his mother, one that will unquestionably stand by her man and the life he has chosen.

IMHO, he no longer loves Kay, as he is no longer that boy. His marriage to her is more something that he feels he "should" do, settle down, have kids and so on. Kay is the logical choice, not a choice of the heart.

I agree. Appolonia was the true love of his life. I think that his marriage to Kay was part of his facade to try to make the Corleone Family Business a legitimate one. The Wasp wife, his doing things differently than his father, etc. She was part of his trying to convince himself that he could legitimize and Americanize the business.


Don Cardi

He loved Apollonia, but I don't think it was (or would have been) a lasting love. I think Kay was THE love his life. Here's why:

(1) Michael and Apollonia's attraction, courtship, and marriage was impulsive. After everything Michael has just been through emotionally, he's practically ripe for getting hit by the thunderbolt.

(2) Michael wasn't looking for an unquestioning mafia wife who understands the way of that world because HE HAD NO INTENTIONS OF BECOMING DON. That was Sonny's inheritance, and Sonny had not yet been killed.

(3) The only reason for Michael's marriage to Apollonia was so that someone Michael cared about deeply -- and only a spouse could fill this role -- could be killed before his eyes by the far-reaching hand of Barzini. This is the required trauma that propels Michael toward becoming Don.

(4) It's notable that FFC changed the novel's depiction of Michael's feelings toward Kay. In the book, Kay seeks out Michael after his return from Siciliy. He does not tell her he loves her even though they marry. In the movie, the fact that Michael seeks out Kay and tells her he loves her points toward Michael's never having forgotten her and having sincere feelings for her.

(5) Michael is troubled by anxieties about losing his family after Kay's miscarriage. He feels responsible, which is why he has a heart-to-heart talk with his mother. That's a very poignant scene, and I don't believe that Michael would have been concerned if he did not love and care about Kay very much.

(6) In that last scene of GF2, Michael is sitting alone, having lost everything he cared about: his father, his mother, Sonny, Fredo, Kay, Tom (through estrangement), etc. If Kay were not the love of his life and he only married her out of expediency, then I think that scene would lose some of its resonance. He's also still wearing his wedding ring.

(7) As much as I dislike bringing up GF3, I have to ask this: How can anyone still not believe that Kay is the love of Michael's life after watching GF3? When Kay tells Michael that she knows he married someone else while he was in Sicily, Michael replies, "But I thought of you." And I believe him. If I recall correctly, in every scene they're in together he's darn near trying to win her back.

Perhaps Michael wasn't thinking that he was going to be a Don yet because Sonny was still alive, but he had to know that after shooting a police captain and fleeing to Sicily, there was no way he was going back to his old life. He was going to be involved in the family business in some capacity, not go on to be a history professor.

As for the Kay's miscarriage, I think he was more upset about the loss of the son, not for Kay. If you remember, when Tom first told him the news, he never once asked after Kay. His only concern was for the baby that was lost.

And regarding the talk with his mother (and I agree that it was one of the most beautiful scenes in the film), I think that Mama misunderstood. He was NOT talking about the miscarriage. He had just found out about Fredo, Connie obviously hated him, and he did feel estranged from his wife. Therefore, he felt that he was "losing" his family. If you recall, Mama says, "You're thinking about the baby that you lost," but I don't think he does.

As for his proposal to Kay, I think that it's rather cold. I didn't feel any great passion coming from him. There was no sense of "You're the love of my life, please come back." It felt more like a business proposition than a proposal. He never even looked for her until he was back over a year.

I agree that in GF3, he wanted some peace with her, but I think that's for his own sense of redemption. I do believe that he regretted his treatment of her, that perhaps he had misled her when he proposed. Of course he loved her on some level. He had built a life with her, she was the mother of the children that he adored, but, again, I never sensed grand passion.

I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree on this one, Sicilian Babe . I may come up with a few rebuttals to what you've written, but then I'm sure you'll be able to respond with equally compelling counter-arguments; we can go back and forth (which might be fun, actually... we'll see how the topic progresses ).

I just felt -- from the vibe I picked up while watching GF1 and GF2 -- that Kay was the love of Michael's life. Yet many others, you among them, didn't get that feeling at all.

I just wanted to add that I too noted that Michael's proposal to Kay wasn't expectedly romantic; but I think the reason for this is that Michael was scarred after giving his heart to someone and witnessing that person's horrible death where he himself was the target. This also explains why he could not bring himself to contact Kay until after over a year. He was never going to be that romantic soldier boy again; but from that moment he also became very protective of Kay. During those times when he is able to relax and trust in the network of security he built around his family, we see that he is very tender with her: when they're dancing at Anthony's party, and when he strokes her face later that evening while they share a smile over Anthony's drawing, for instance.

I also wanted to add that I agree that when Michael talks to his mother, he's not talking about the miscarriage (and Mama misinterpreted). But I believe Kay is very much on his mind. In Washington, when Kay announces she's leaving with the children, Michael longs to tell her that he has known something is wrong; he wants to make changes; he has been thinking about how she must feel after the miscarriage; he feels responsible ("I know you blame me for losing the baby"). I found it notable that in the draft script for GF2 (which probably doesn't count, but I'll refer to it anyway because it shows what ideas were bopping around FFC's mind) when Michael is told about the miscarriage, he asks Tom if it was a boy or a girl, if Kay is all right, and if she blames him for the loss.

(I'd also like to mention that in that draft script, after the Tahoe incident, Michael gives Tom sealed instructions about the care of his operations, his household, and his family while he is away. He tells Tom that the most difficult part for him to write was relating to Kay and how she should be taken care of should Michael be killed. It was very touching that he should mention that.)

... Now look what I did. I wrote a big long post again with a few rebuttals in it; and I told myself I wasn't going to do that . Oh well, feel free to disagree back -- or I'm sure someone will, as there are plenty more who disagree with me on this Michael & Kay issue.

OK, I just visited sites that contain pictures from Godfather III, but none of them give me a clear enough view of Michael's hands.

I'd really like to know if Michael was wearing his wedding ring in GF3. Does anyone know?

Why didn't Michael remarry?

Two wives is enough for any man, maybe he just wanted to be able to eat takeout food in front of the TV and sleep in on Sundays without getting nagged.

but seriously - wasn't the inclusion of Kay in 3 a big studio-hollywood-political thing? Like FFC didn't want her but the studio did? Maybe if he'd had is way and Kay hadn't featured, we would have seen a new Mrs Corleone. The danger is that she would have been the "Lady MacBeth" character that Connie transmorgified into in 3.

Cristina, Agreeing to disagree is half the fun of these discussions!!

Nothing unusual about it, since the relationship with Appolonia was love at first sight. The moment he laid eyes on her, Kay was history, and would have remained history if Appolonia hadn't been killed.

If he had already been married to Kay (let's say they had eloped) by the time he met Appolonia, then perhaps Michael might have had the necessary second thoughts or guilt feelings about poor Kay back home, but as it was there was nothing holding him back either legally or emotionally.

To answer the original question...what possible reason would Michael have to remarry after Kay? He already had his children and potential 'heir' in Anthony. His sister Connie had vowed to 'take care' of him. Obsessed by now with The Family Business there was absolutely no reason for Michael to either pursue or even want another relationship/marriage with anyone.

Yes, they did have a son. But when Kay saw that Mary was falling in love with her younger step-brother, she had him sent away to a boarding school in Switzerland, in the hopes that Mary would pursue a more sane relationship, say with a First Cousin.

Apple

Reading this reminded me of these lines from draft script.

------------
Michael sits at a table having a sparse lunch. He is
attended by his sister Connie, who seems to be the closest
person now living on the estate with him. We see from the
way she pampers him with his lunch, that she has fallen into
the role of a surrogate Mother-Wife. He seems older than
his years, as though his illness, diabetes, has taken its
toll.
------------

Is there a subtle implication of incest?

See how much more knowledge and insight you get when you read the book?


Don Cardi