Ah. I could sit here and poo-poo on all day about how brilliant the cast was & how well written this and how beautiful this or that was, etc. But as you know, I won't. As usual, if you didn't see the movie and/or don't want to know everything (including dialogue and scenes) don't read this.
The movie as I saw it:
Setting: The "Deep" south - circa 1900 (or something)
Cast- Bette Davis as the head of the household. The matriarch with a cast-iron will and a driven need to get all she can out of life.. at the expense of everyone if need be.
Let's face it, not many people know any of the rest of these actors so I'll just refer to them as follows:
Okay, so. There are a few things that will catch your attention immediately in this film. Mainly, the role of the "colored" .. "black"... "negro"..."african-american".. (what have you) in this film. It's set in a time where.. well, they were pretty freaking indifferent to keeping up Politically Correct appearances. So get over it. Otherwise you will gnash your teeth and cringe and shudder your way through much of the film. I know I did. But then had to just steel myself and face the fact that they were not intending to be racist, it was just how things were done back then and the portrayal was pretty standard for those times.
Moving on.
Bette.... Bette... Bette... *le sigh*
This is the "deep" south and things are pretty rough. Plantations are a thing of the past and living la vida loca off the backs of slaves is no longer an option so what are the lily white upper-crust gentry supposed to do with the sickening smell of poverty closing in around them? Why.. try to get MORE money to keep the social boundaries in place. Hey, if this means trying to marry your daughter off to her first cousin to keep the money (literally) in the family ... ehh *casual shrug*
Better yet, if one can exploit the poor in the process, more's the better. After all, who is going to protest? Who is going to be able to stop the greedy grasping aristocrats?
To me, this movie was good for several reasons. Mainly because of Bette's character (what else is new?). To me, she is a study in all things that I hold in the highest regard. She is a woman who, not only knows what she wants, but wants everything. If she can't get it, she will make sure she can get someone who can get if or her. She doesn't make any bones about this or use deceptive tricks. She is who she is, if you think she will change just for you.. well, on your own head be it. She is merciless and unforgiving and demands that everyone be as she wants them to be. Don't like, that's fine... she just asks that you do one thing in the event you get in her way -DIE!!!!
Point in case.
She has a daughter. Young. Delightfully naive (aka stupid). She's had lasik eye surgery that causes her to see the world through rose-tinted glasses and was secretly fed helium so that she can only speak in a high-pitched childlike voice at all times. *a-goo*
Her daughter is the complete antithesis of Bette. Apparently she got her genes from her father (Or so one would think). There is this sub plot going on with her & the Journalist but it's only slightly relevant to the actual story. Basically he educates the dumb little barbie doll and helps her get rid of her tinted glass by patronizing her and teasing her relentless about how naive she is.. *awww* Ain't love grand. Anyway, all this is only relevant because Barbie's grand realization makes way for this showdown at the end between mother and daughter.
Oh wait - - - This review (which really means I just tell everything) - - - Will reveal EVERYTHING there is to know about the movie.
Anyway, at the end, her daughter has finally formed a spine and can stand up erect (no more knuckle dragging thank god) and confronts her mother. Basically, she's had enough of her mother's selfish morally deprived narcissistic inhumane existence and is leaving dammit.. oh, and mother, there ain't a damn thing you can do about it.
There is another story between Bette and her oily brothers but really, it's all so .. well, who cares. They were excellent actors and the story revolves around an investment they want big sis to "go in" with them on. When big sis says she doesn't have the money but feels sure she can get the money by bleeding it out of her husband but fails when she tries - Oily dark-haired brother#2 dispatches his mentally-challenged son (who works at the bank no less) to steal money out of Bette's husband's safety deposit box... *whew.. taking a deep breath*
My point in revealing all this is because I want to address what is great about this film without having to make any effort to properly summarize the story first. Cause I'm that lazy.
Bette's husband is sick. He doesn't live with her and the daughter. He went north to (was it Maryland?) to see the best doctors years ago and... well, he never came back. (If I were married to Bette I wouldn't either).
Bette sends her daughter (all alone mind you) to Maryland to convince her father to come home... telling her daughter to pass the message along that, "oh yeah, and momma wants you to come home too". Needless to say, he comes as soon as he can get there. (Yeah, she's a beeyotch, but man, she is one of those women you just can't seem to resist dammit!).. could be her killer figure. Sure as hell isn't her sweet disposition.
She tries to take the passive aggressive approach (you know, give me the money... honey). When that fails she she just gets aggressive. (i.e., Didn't you hear my request the first time punk? Give me the money!).
For some reason her husband is less than charmed and he says no. Bette being Bette, she is undaunted and promises him he will indeed be departing with his money, even if he thinks he isn't.... *silly goose*
See, to me. Bette's characters are always misunderstood. Yes she's selfish. Yes she is a brute. Yes she is just down right scary. But she is human. Just maybe not the dancing twirling sun-doesn't-set-on her 'darling' that we're all told are the only people worthy of love and understanding.
To me, the scene where she has the first huge spat with her brother (in which she came out the loser) and she turns and re-enters her home only to find her gloating husband standing at the top of the stairs glaring down at her contemptuously and ecstatic with her misery.
See, some women would feel shamed. Some women would take time for self-reflection and wonder and worry about how their loved ones see them and fret about not being held in high esteem. Well my dears, Bette spits in your eye.
Bette starts to ascend the stairs and glances up to see her husband's smug face and freezes; sizing him up like a pit bull who has caught the eye of a poodle (who doesn't realize he's a poodle but thinks of himself as a doberman).
He says (oh so bloody smugly) "I've been waiting for this day when you'd cross swords with those brothers of yours" and he is so happy with her misery you'd really think, just this once, she'd be affected. Ha. Still staring him right in the eyes she accuses him of being jeleous of her because he's dying. He's dying and she's going to live. Then she continues up the stairs and saunters and swaggers towards her bedroom door. Head high and regal. Back straight with contempt for him. He is nothing but dirt under her boots.
He is all worked up and she is so cool. My god her performance is staggering. The scene where she turns back from her bedroom and just ~stares~ at him with cold eyes sent chills down my spine. Then she says in the frostiest tone ever, "I hope you die. I'm just waiting for you to die." Was the icing on the cake.
I was in love. She came into this world alone and without anything but her dignity and she will go out alone and with her dignity.
To me, this movie was probably supposed to be a warning about how not to be self-involved, etc, but at the same time... one has to ask themselves, "If I don't look out for me, no one else will." And Bette said this herself during the film.. though not many people probably remember. She said she grew up in a large family and it became clear to her at a young age that what she wanted was of no relevance and that it was made clear if she wanted anything.. she'd have to go out and get it anyway she could.
Let's face it people. Those days were not kind to women. Wasn't like she was going to go get a job as a top exec at the local corporation or equivalent. It was supposedly a man's world. So how could a woman get all the things she wanted when the world was designed to only allow men that achievement... well, get a man who can get those things for her.
During one scene where her husband asked dejectedly WHY she married him she told him in this cold monotone that bordered on boredom, "I married you because I was lonely. Oh not lonely like you think. Lonely for all the things I wanted but never had". She told him that she thought he could get those things for her. When she met him he was small time but, let's face it, with a women like her backing him he could be nothing less than spectacular and soon he became one of the rich members of society (but does she get any credit? Nope).
This "discussion" (for some reason) upsets hubby and he suffers a heart attach (or was it a stroke?). While he is grasping for his heart medicine he spills it. Bette's face. Let me say this again. Bette's FACE! Academy Award expression. This scene is creepy as all hell. She just sits there as her husband (a fellow human being) falls and stumbles his way out of the room in search of extra medicine in his bedroom.
Again, to me, I had split emotions. yeah, she's kind of a monster. But then again, didn't she just tell the dude not but a day before she hoped and was waiting for him to die? Why was he so shocked that she didn't bat an eyelash to help him? And why is she the villan in this movie? He married her because she was beautiful and all the things he thought and convinced himself he wanted.
Why is it when a woman wants something she is a grasping conniving beeyotch? If her husband didn't take the time to get to know the womans character before he married her oh well. Just because he realizes later on that "oops" my arrogant assumption that I could tame her or that "oops" she didn't 'behave' for him like a trained monkey... this somehow gives him the right to point his finger and condemn her character.
Sorry buddy, she doesn't come with a "doesn't perform" lifetime guarantee. To me, he was just as culpable as she and that's probably why they had him die a horrible twitching death.. but I doubt most viewers would see it that way. Bette is just evil and that is that. He was sick and therefore he was a saint.
Her daughter's little stance against her at the end was also good for two reasons. A, it gave her a backbone (that ironically she learned through her mother - but does her mother get a thanks for being a tower of strength and teaching her how to take it on the chin and keep going? Nope). B, Bette did deserve the put down.
To me, the moral of the story is this. If you are going to be selfish and dastardly, don't be a sniveling hypocrite about it. Arragonce doesn't make you "more" evil than a humble selfish and dastardly person. So go ahead and indulge in a little haughtiness I say. Let's face it. Everyone in this movie is a bit shady.
All in all, this movie was just a study in the nature of human depravity. Yeah poor Bette was left all alone, but then, that was the story of her life anyway and as she said herself, "I've always been lucky... and I'll be lucky again."
Good cheese. Hats off to Bette. I'm sure she will find another man more than willing to indulge her every whim. *wink*
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Average
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Outstanding
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Excellent
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DVD
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