Ok since bashing the WASP school teacher(which is what I'll be in May when I graduate)seems to be so popular Ive got a question.
Does anyone else notice the look on Kay's face during the Senate hearings of GFII?
She is all "What!!??!!
Mafia,what Mafia?
Michael what is all of this about?"
I mean really she has known this guy for at least thirteen years by then and still acts so shocked. Her righteous indignation is just a little too much.

Part of the complexity of the Michael-Kay relationship is the fact that there is alot of decption going on even between the two of them. Kay initially was satisfied when Mike promised her that the family will be legit in a few years. Years later, by GF II, things have not changed, in fact Michael has changed greatly and his only redemption from totally villany is going legit which proves harder to do even if he was willing (GF III). Kay is the most forward seeing and one of the wisest characters if you think about it, she leaves Michael due to the danger that is put on her family due to activities. When the family is reunited in GF III, with Michael still surrounded by organized crime, her realization comes true.

The nature of the relationship between the Michael and Kay was one where Michael told her the very least she needed to know. Michael is always secretive about his plans and it is clear she knows little when Michael says "Never ask me about my business".

Although she doesnt' know anything directly she is far from stupid and knows what he does, how much of it he does, although straight facts may ellude her. In this situation it's very easy for someone, especially if she loves the other person to purposly delude themselves, or become complacent in a reality that is not befittin gthem. Out of sight, out of mind type thing. Although she knows full well of what's going on she is still safe, her needs are met and although in her head she may be coming to crossroad, there still is the delusion factor.

When you think about it Michael is the ultimate male that refuses to change. Kay loves him but although she does she can not put up with or subject the life he is leading. Like a woman in a relationship where the man is treating her poorly and she knows the relationship is past the point of no return Kay stays around and hopes against hope that Michael will change. Although Michael isn't abusive or neglectful or cheats on her, he is a Don of a major crime family.

Before the trial I think Kay's true feeling were still very unconciously buried and repressed, she didnt' come to full grips with them. So I don't think she's as shocked at the revelation of what he's being accused with as she is shocked at her own mental realizing of her own feelings and true outrage at the gravity of the situation Michael has put them in, she has just subverted and repressed all these feeling. The world of the Godfather is a very closed world that we are let into. But during the trial the world of the Godfather is opened up to the american public for maybe just a private glance. This is symbolic of Kay's feeling coming to the surface as well and this is the straw that broke the camel's back. So he feelings were not at the unbenownst truth of what her husband does but of the realization of her own feeling.

I thought the look on Kay's face during the Senate hearings was "dutiful wife-neutral"--that is, not betraying any emotion, which had the effect of distancing herself from Michael even while she showed nominal support. Of course, by that time she'd decided she wasn't going back to
Tahoe.
Check out the look on her face right after the Tahoe attack, when she's clutching Anthony. If looks could kill...

I agree with UnderBoss-Kay like pretty much all mafia wives, was kept in the dark. She knew that Michael killed people, but she didn't know when, where and who. She knew Michael did a lot of ilegal things, but exactly what they were were kept from her.
At first she was okay with this-she trusted that soon, everything was going to be okay. But at the Senate Hearings, Kay knew that nothing was okay. Reality kicked her in the face and that is when Kay aborted the baby and left Michael.
They both loved each other-but Michael's secrecy on top of his ruthlessness, was just too much for Kay.

*And just to add something. Kay was a smart person, in her own right but sometimes she was kind of a dits in a bratty sort of way. She never really confessed to herself that she was in a bad situation. Any half-minded girl would have got out of the rerlationship when they heard the band-leader story at the wedding.

She loved Michael and wanted to believe in him when he told her that the family would be legitimate.

By the end of Part II, she wisens up - that things will never change so she leaves, well tries to, and then gets kicked out.

But even in Part III she said she always loved him, and always will. Well that probably changed when Mary was killed, but she knew that he was just as crushed as she was.

I agree with Turnbull. There is certainly no look of "Huh, whaaaa...??" on Kay's face during the hearings. She knew exactly what was going on, and it's even more indicated by her congratulating him later at the hotel ("I want you to know that I'm very happy for you. I suppose that I always knew you were to smart to let any of them beat you.")

I always thought of her as being asked to appear with her husband as the dutiful, loving wife. Which she obviously agreed to do, all the while planning to leave him after it was over.

Speaking of Anthony...one of the deleted scenes I really wish had remained in the film is during the 1st Communion party, where Kay desparately tries to keep her son away from the house while Michael is conducting business. She really wants to shelter her child from the world of his father as long as she can. It's almost a preview of her later outburst after admitting to the abortion ( "I wouldn't bring another one of you sons into this world. It was an abortion MICHAEL. It was a son MICHAEL, a son and I had it killed -- .because this must all end!" )

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I always found it amusing the way Kay dealt with Mike and his "business", talk about being in denial! Did she really think he was legit? Didn't she notice that instead of spending time at the country club, he was cavorting around with his mob buddies? What did she think Neri and Rocco were all about?

Kay was probably either naive, or in denial, or both, until the very last scene of GF. There, I believe, FFC made a point of showing the shock and realization on her face when Clemenza kisses Michael's hand and says, "Don Corleone...", and Neri closes the door on her.
By the time we catch up with her during Anthony's party, it appears that she knows all about Michael's business, Rocco, Neri, etc. Her attitude seems to be, "Ok, he's a gangster, but he said he's trying to go legit, so I guess I'll have to wait a while longer for him to redeem that promise." But the bedroom shooting surely pushed her right over the edge.

Kay knew what it was all about. I think when she married him she really trusted his word that the family would be 'legitimate' within 5 years. After all, he had once told her that he was NOT like his family; and at the time he said it, he wasn't. She was remembering that innocent college boy, war hero she had fallen in love with years before. She believed what she wanted to believe...including his lie that he was not responsible for Carlo's death. (Hey, she loved the guy...whaddya want????)

Over the years it gradually dawned on her that the legitimacy Michael promised would never happen...we see her impatience & disappointment while they are dancing at Anthony's party ("...That was seven years ago, Michael.")

It appears the Tahoe shooting was what did it for Kay...it was after that she knew her husband's business could NEVER become what she had hoped. It was then that she finally decided to get out...foolishly thinking she could just take the children, Michael's SON...with her.

Apple