But her version of the song acknowledges he is a jerk, which is part of the obstacle she is facing in deciding to walk away from him. And if you're concerned about how a modern audience receives the politic, taking a song away from Beth in order to give one to Frank (who we've already hear a lot from) is a much deeper disservice to a character who, yes, is otherwise thinly sketched.
And again, if we want to see Frank receiving the consequences of how he has lived (which I don't know that we do, since he doesn't appear to learn anything from this moment, since we've already seen how he makes further bad choices), then perhaps the best thing he can do is listen. Let the actor play the impact of seeing her truth, rather than - to use a common trope of today - mainsplaining how much she has hurt him.
In terms of the original text, this song comes directly after Frank rails that Beth can't do this to him and to his kids, so that really does cut against the idea that this song isn't carrying an agenda. An actor can attempt to play it as action neutral (I want to experience my feelings, rather than I want you to call off this divorce), but the (original) text doesn't really support that. |
