Ok, so today's film, Babyface, was, let's say, unorthodox. I'm not even entirely sure if I could name another movie that has the same portrayal as Lily Power does for this film. What I found really interesting was that she had no shame doing the things she did, choosing the decisions she chose, etc. up until the end, of course. Though the film obviously exposes the "double standard" within the parameters of gender roles, etc., this film hit the nail right on the head, and then some.
Ok, hold on, there is one film i could think of, Pretty Persuasion(2005) by Marcos Siega, featuring Evan Rachel Wood. The main character plays, basically, a promiscuous, scheming bitch who manipulates and has sex with everyone around her, male and female, to get what she wants. So, in that regard, I do know of a film, but Pretty Persuasion was filmed just a few years ago, where as Babyface was filmed in the 30's, right before the establishment of "the code." I'm surprised that such a topic and story could even be fathomed at that era. I guess the 20's were not the only decade of "craziness."
I'm still in shock, in shock from the train car scene. My jaw hasn't come back up yet. I just never knew women at that time could be so direct and evil. I'm surprised Bette Davis wasn't offered that role. She's always type casted as "the bitch."
So anyways, one thing that I want to discuss further is the camera angles and how they were always upward movements and such.
It does make sense that the film is about a woman who gets what she wants and "climbs her way to the top," a bit literally actually, since she stepped all over all those men. Yet, the specific idea that i wanted share was that idea of "when you reach the top, there's no where else to go but down."
Throughout the film, the exterior shots of the bank corporate building kept getting higher and higher, as if we would never see the top. Yet, when we finally do, it was too late, Trenthold tried to commit suicide. "Coming back down from that high," that rush of being rich and powerful, and gaining back her sense of humanity, she was able to give up her material earnings.
I'm really glad the film ended the way it did, not just symbolically with the camera angles, but with the character development as well.
Bravo.
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I really enjoyed reading this blog, especially the ending. I thought that was a really good point and that you nailed it when you said coming back down from that high...etc. I didn't really think about that until reading what you wrote and that's a great discussion point that I completely missed while watching the film.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jeremy; that's a really good point, Royce.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in her career, Bette Davis was fighting for better roles; she had done OF HUMAN BONDAGE, a good film, but she also appeared as just another Warner Brothers contract actress in some others, such as THREE ON A MATCH.