Some Call It Loving (1973) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Troy is drawn to the performance and spectacle of the carnival. After confronting Scarlett about whether she truly loved the man they mourn, he's seeking something new to fill his emotional void. The transaction cost $20,000, and the carny warns that a bottle of potion will keep her asleep. Troy's purchase seems driven by curiosity and a desire to acquire something rare and controllable, fitting the pattern of collecting erotic oddities that defines his world.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Troy and Scarlett discuss the young man they mourn, revealing their pattern of filling emptiness with elaborate performances.

• troy
• sleeping beauty
• carnival
• purchase
• motivation

The Sleeping Beauty has been asleep for eight years. The carny tells Troy this detail when he presses for information about her condition, explaining that she has been in the Sleeping Beauty exhibit for nearly a decade.

• sleeping beauty
• eight years
• coma
• carnival

Troy and Scarlett live together in a wealthy mansion, staging elaborate dramatic games with a rotating cast of women. Scarlett runs what she calls a finishing school, and they perform rituals that blur reality and theater. Their connection appears to be built on shared performance rather than genuine emotion, though Scarlett admits she loved the man they mourn together. Their relationship is described as a private game where power and control are rehearsed like costumes.

Foreshadowing: The opening balcony scene establishes their performative dynamic and shared grief.

• troy
• scarlett
• relationship
• performance
• mansion
• game

After spending time with Jennifer and taking her on a date to the jazz club, Troy realizes his feelings for her are genuine rather than another performance. He tells Scarlett he plans to leave, confessing that his emotions feel real in a way that differs from the manufactured reality they have maintained together. This represents his first genuine emotional connection.

Foreshadowing: Troy dedicates a song at the jazz club to the two people he loves most: Jeff and Jennifer, signaling his authentic feelings.

• troy
• jennifer
• leave
• mansion
• genuine feelings
• authenticity

In the final scene, Scarlett and Angelica dress as nuns while Troy wears a priest costume. Scarlett pretends to initiate Jennifer as a novice into their order. During the ceremony, Troy secretly pours sleeping potion into the wine Jennifer drinks. The ritual represents one final performance, but Troy's act of drugging her shifts the game from playful to tragic.

Foreshadowing: The earlier curtain scene and tableau performances established their pattern of elaborate staged rituals.

• final ceremony
• nun
• priest
• potion
• jennifer
• ritual

Troy pours the sleeping potion into Jennifer's wine because he cannot sustain genuine emotional connection in his world of performance. When Jennifer asks why they cannot keep playing forever like children, and as the potion takes effect, Troy carries her away, returning her to the Sleeping Beauty tent. This act represents his surrender to the cyclical nature of their artificial world; genuine love cannot survive in his environment, so he returns her to the dream state where he can control the narrative.

Foreshadowing: Scarlett earlier persuaded Troy to keep Jennifer to test if his feelings were real, hinting at the failure of authenticity in their world.

• troy
• potion
• wine
• jennifer
• control
• return
• dream

The ending shows Jennifer returned to the carnival sideshow tent, with Troy now playing the doctor role and Scarlett as the nurse. This circular return demonstrates that the world of performance and objectification cannot be escaped. Even when genuine feeling emerged, the machinery of their world absorbed it. The film ends where it began, with the roles reversed but the system intact, perpetual performance has consumed authentic connection.

Foreshadowing: Troy originally purchased Jennifer from this same tent, making the return a complete cycle.

• ending
• tent
• return
• cycle
• performance
• doctor
• nurse

When Troy tells Scarlett he wants to take Jennifer away and admits his feelings are genuine, Scarlett urges him to let Jennifer stay for a while. She wants to test whether his feelings will endure under real-life conditions. This reveals Scarlett's willingness to allow potential authenticity within her world, though the subsequent events show the test ultimately fails, genuine feeling cannot survive in their performative environment.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Scarlett corrects Angelica's mistakes in the finishing school, showing her role as one who tests and shapes others.

• scarlett
• jennifer
• stay
• test
• feelings
• authenticity

The costumes, nun outfits, priest robes, French maid uniform, represent the characters' constant performance of roles. They literally dress in costume to play power games, with Scarlett correcting Angelica's execution of the maid role. The costumes emphasize that identity in their world is theatrical rather than authentic. In the final scene, the nun/priest ceremony represents the ultimate performance, a sacred ritual that ironically contains betrayal.

Foreshadowing: The balcony scene establishes their world of performative rituals from the very beginning.

• costumes
• nun
• priest
• maid
• performance
• role
• symbolism

At the nearly empty jazz club, Troy plays a song and dedicates it to the two people he loves most: Jeff and Jennifer. This moment signals his shift from viewing relationships as performances to experiencing genuine emotion. Jeff is his junkie friend connected to the shadow economy of pills, while Jennifer represents new authentic feeling. The dedication marks the peak of Troy's attempt at real connection before the world of performance reasserts itself.

Foreshadowing: The earlier scene where Troy checks on Jeff establishes their close relationship beyond mere transaction.

• troy
• song
• dedication
• jeff
• jennifer
• jazz club
• love

Scarlett pretends to run a finishing school within the mansion, where women are trained in service and performance. Her newest student Angelica wears a French maid's uniform and serves Scarlett and Troy with careful, ceremonial attention. Scarlett gently corrects Angelica's mistakes, treating the training as a rehearsal of power and control. This 'school' is really a mechanism for staging elaborate games and maintaining their hermetic world of privilege and performance.

• scarlett
• finishing school
• angelica
• maid
• training
• performance

When Jennifer awakens, Troy guides her through the mansion to help her acclimate to the world she missed. She observes Scarlett and Angelica dancing as nuns. When Troy tucks her into bed, she thanks him for waking her with a line echoing the fairy tale: she'd sleep another hundred years for another kiss. This suggests she understood the fictional nature of her situation but chose to participate in the fantasy, wanting the game to continue even after learning its rules.

• jennifer
• wake up
• eight years
• reaction
• fairy tale
• fantasy