Saturday, August 7, 2010
An Education
Another movie post. Peter Sarsgaard again. He does a wonderful puer aeternis and one in the grips of "mother". Great movie. I am giving a presentation on betrayal and using this movie as an illustration how betrayal can be transmuted into gowth and individuation. A high school girl preparing for admission to Oxford starts to question the worth of this educational pathway that only leads to an adult world that is dreary and devoid of passion, art and fun. She is smitten by an older man who is charming and worldly (I thought of Nick Arnstein from Funny Girl) played by Peter Sarsgaard. In this case not only is she seduced but her parents as well, who seem willing to give up their ambition of their daughter going to Oxford as long as David (Sarsgaard) is willing to marry her. Her parents give their daughter over to the archetypal puer. I am reminded of Rapunzel and the parents giving their child over to the enchantress for a little rampion. In both cases their is a betrayal by the parents. When the parents are seduced by the enchantress the daughter becomes the completely taken over by the archetypal witch. In the movie at hand it is the daughter being taken over by the charm of narcissus and we all know what happened to Echo as a consequence. The only adults protesting her abandonment of her Oxford dream is her teacher and principal. Each of these women seem as though the world of enchantment which seduces our young heroine was a world they had to abandon top pursue their education but its seems eahc is grieiving that loss and are a bit jealous of her escape into this realm. Consequently they do a poor job of mentoring her during this period but it is the teacher that comes through even after the principal abandons the girl and does not allow her to return to finish school to prepare for Oxford. The teacher privately tutors her through to the exam. I love this movie and the most touching scene is when the father played by Alfred Molina admits his failure as a father to his daughter and asks for her forgiveness.
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I love your analysis of "An Education." I saw it myself last year and it made an impact. It seemed to be about so much more than gender and sex. Betrayal and loss of innocence are universal, no matter what life situation presents them to us. I was glad that the main character was left with an opportunity to work her way back, a year older and many years wiser.
ReplyDeleteI saw a terrible yet interesting film yesterday called "Tim." Made in 1979, it stars Piper Laurie as a single woman in her late forties who befriends a young, borderline retarded man played by Mel Gibson. The two form a bond. He does her yard work. She teaches him to read. The young man's family is initially resistant and suspicious of her intentions. But when the young man's mother dies, his father sees his own mortality impending. He asks the older woman to take care of Tim, and eventually she and Tim decide to marry.
Now this premise is ripe with interesting questions. What does the woman see in this young simpleton? Is she taking advantage of him, or does she truly love him? Is he merely moving from one mother to a new mother, albeit an Oedipal mother figure?
But the filmmakers explore none of these issues. Torn between making a romantic film and an after-school special about unconventional relationships, they split the baby and end up with a safe story about nothing at all. By the end, we don't care if the two main characters make love or if everything works out. We feel cheated, because the premise is complicated and the creators lie to us and claim it is simple.
The two characters settle somewhere between a mother-son and husband-wife relationship. The more honest version of that story ends twenty years later… with Janet Leigh dead in a motel shower.
And more interesting from the sound of it. Maybe that's what Mel is all pissed off about. A story that lies to itself is just morally wrong. A contrasting movie- I am thinking of Harold and Maude as another uncoventional relationship but a movie I think that was very honest. Her fascination with death gave her life meaning and his fascination with death was pathological and a side effect of his mother complex but the age difference is fully explored in a comedic way and in the end he abandons his fascination with death by driving his sportscar-turned-hearse over a cliff. The paradox of course was the woman who he fell in love with because she represented death taught him the value of life.
ReplyDeleteHarold and Maude is a great example. (Given the years these films were made, it is likely the creators of Tim were familiar with Harold and Maude, but they clearly lacked the courage to be as honest.) Harold is actively fighting his way out of the mother complex. Both Maude and Harold seem fully aware of what they are experiencing and its implications. And rather than cling to each other in ignorance, they are able to liberate each other through heightened awareness. Harold's dark mother complex is destroyed, and for a time Maude plays the unlikely role of true bride. A great comedy, but one loaded with pathos and intelligence.
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