The Encanto Scene That Left Fans Heartbroken
"Encanto" has firmly established itself as one of the most emotional moviegoing experiences to come out of Disney in a while. On the surface, the film follows the Madrigal family, who have been gifted a unique magical ability to help their town until Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) fails to get her own gift. When she stumbles upon the supposed failing of the magic, she'll have to go to great lengths to figure out what's going on so that her family can remain whole.
However, on a much deeper level, the movie deals with the intergenerational trauma of feeling as though you have to live up to the ideals set by your ancestors. Abuela (María Cecilia Botero) wants everyone to project an image of perfectness and help out in the nearby town whenever they can. This creates a lot of tension within the family to live up to those ideals, as best exemplified in the song "Surface Pressure," where Luisa (Jessica Darrow) sings about constantly feeling like she needs to help even though she has crippling anxiety.
Luisa's not the only one feeling the pressure. Everyone has trouble juggling their own wants with what's expected of them, and that pressure's ultimately what caused Bruno (John Leguizamo) to leave his family. His power, the ability to see into the future, caused people more problems than it was worth, so rather than deal with the shame, he hid within the house's walls. Bruno goes from a mythical character to a tragic one over the course of the film, and there's one moment that really made audiences feel bad for the guy.
Bruno's table setting broke some fans
There are plenty of moments throughout "Encanto" designed to tug at your heartstrings, but it appears one scene hit a little too close to home for some viewers. About halfway through the film, Mirabel journeys into the walls of the house to find Bruno, and once she meets him, she realizes he's not the troublesome figure described in "We Don't Talk About Bruno." Instead, he's a broken man who left the family because he thought that was best for them. He's lived in isolation for so long with nothing but rats to keep him company, but the real gut-punch comes when Mirabel sees how close Bruno remained to them for all these years.
As Mirabel peers through a crack in the wall, she notices Bruno set up a spot to eat right next to the family table. He even drew a plate with the name "Bruno" written on it so that he could feel like he was still part of the family. It shows how all he really wanted was to be accepted and for people to look past his powers. The moment was resonant with many fans of the film, who took to Reddit to voice their opinions, like u/TerrytheMerry: "Okay but heart f***ing broke when I saw Bruno's table setting. That has to be the most quietly heartbreaking things I've ever seen in a Disney movie."
For others, it filled them with a sense of both sadness and anger directed toward the family matriarch, as u/Ravevon wrote, "Abuela should be ashamed her son doesn't feel welcome." It's hard not to feel bad for Bruno, wanting to be with his family but not being able to for fear of hurting them even more, even though those visions weren't his fault. It ensures "Encanto" will continue being watched and discussed for some time to come.