The Women,
based on the play by Clare Boothe, screenplay by Anita Loos
Seven out
of 10
The Women
has a few important merits:
Launched in
1939, it has a stellar cast, nec plus ultra:
Joan
Crawford as Crystal Allen, Joan Fontaine aka Mrs. John Day, Norma Shearer as
Stephen Haines Mary and Rosalind Russell as Howard Fowler Sylvia…
George Cukor
was one of the best directors of all time.
F. Scott
Fitzgerald has contributed to a screenplay that has another genius involved – Anita
Loos – by a strange coincidence; I have finished reading Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes yesterday, an extraordinary comedy adapted for the big screen and
starring Marilyn Monroe.
This motion
picture has been included on the New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
list:
Yet, the
film failed to produce such a glorious sensation.
Therefore, we
come to possible shortcomings – possible, for it is more likely that this
cinephile is wrong.
In the age
of WOKE, #MeToo movements, it may seem bizarre, or outright inappropriate to
cherish the message of the film.
Which seems
to be – granted, among others – that a man can cheat on his wife and manage to
get away with it.
Nay, much
worse – the injured party worships him.
Having said
that, it must be stated that the plot, narrative is much more complex than that
and a group of intelligent – mostly – women are at the forefront and it is not
an easy case of I forgive you.
Another important
merit of The Women is evident from the title, the fact that it promotes Women
at the center of the plot.
Indeed,
even the infamous character of Mr. Stephen Haines does not appear on screen, he
is completely absent.
As are all
other men – there is no male presence in this feminist (?) motion picture and
that is surely to be applauded.
Mary Stephen
Haines finds out about the infidelity of her husband in the most gruesome manner.
She is a
customer in the beauty salon where a talkative employee mentions the spouse and
the well-known affair.
The overwhelmed
wife stands up, without continuing with the service she had come there for.
When the
gossiping nail painter understands she was rambling about the woman in front of
her she is taken aback.
The protagonist
confronts her rival eventually and even if in a way we can see that she has the
higher, moral ground – as a rule, it seems a bit outdated, perhaps conservative
to condemn a love affair.
Even if
outside the marital constraints, if two people fall for each other they might
be understood and not immediately ostracized – we can think of Professor
Marston and his Wonder Women…
Professor Marston
is the inventor of the lie detector test, the one who created the DISC theory and
the character of the Wonder Woman, a celebrated figure now, and he lived with…two
women, in a ménage a trois.
Mary Stephen
Haines separates from her husband, but only with the conviction that with her
out of the house, he will realize how much he loves her and then he will call
and all will be well.
It does not
happen, on the contrary, a friend who says that she has abandoned the fight
first scolds her, she should be with him and not retreated in Reno and this is a
battle she must win.
Somehow, it
seems to the wrong attitude (seen from 2019?) and not just because of what
happens next, when the former spouse calls to say that he has married, in the
meantime, his lover.
Crystal cheats
her new husband and for that she is presented as the villain of the story – why
is that so, she just felt like having sex with another, like she had done with
her present consort.
There are
Games People Play (like in the Eric Berne transactional analysis classic) but
some of them seem out of place today…if I am not mistaken.
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