Ernst Lubitsch has a way of making his films feel light and airy, so breezily sophisticated, and so simply joyful. They always seem to put me in a good mood, and this one is no exception. Miriam Hopkins is a woman torn between two lovers (Frederic March and Gary Cooper), and rather than limit herself, cycles through having both, one or the other, and neither (the latter while she's with a third, Edward Everett Horton). It's a great cast and the banter crackles with naughty innuendo, but at the same time, there is somehow an innocent playfulness about it.
OK, well even as I write that, I think of all of the subtle (or not so subtle) sexual moments in the film:
It's a film that is (dangerously) liberating and empowering to women and their sexuality, and yet it's wrapped up in something that's charming and fun. The movie poster is fantastic too.
Some other lines I liked: Hopkins, describing love, I just love how she delivered this: "Have you ever felt your brain catch fire, and a curious, dreadful thing go right through your body, down, down to your very toes, and leave you with your ears ringing?"
Hopkins, pointing out the double standard: "A thing happened to me that usually happens to men. You see, a man can meet two, three, or even four women, and fall in love with all of them. And then, by a process of "interesting elimination," he's able to decide which one he prefers. But a woman must decide purely on instinct, guesswork, if she wants to be considered nice. Oh, it's quite all right for her to try on a hundred hats before she picks one out..."
OK, well even as I write that, I think of all of the subtle (or not so subtle) sexual moments in the film:
- Hopkins laying back on a dusty bed and as the men stand over and breathing "I'm so nervous! Couldn't we all be a little bit more ... nonchalant?"
- Because of an agreement to live together with "no sex", Hopkins kissing the top of each of the men's heads, in turns.
- After Cooper says they're being unnatural to deny their desire ("We're unreal, the three of us, trying to play jokes on nature"), Hopkins reclining back sensually and signaling that the "no sex" agreement will be lifted ("It's true we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman.")
- Hopkins sitting in front of Cooper and reaching out to fondle the bottom part of his shirt, saying she'll have to sew a button on there.
- Hopkins to March when he returns: "I never forgot you. In fact, you never left me. You haunted me like a nasty ghost. On rainy nights I could hear you moaning down the chimney."
- Later, Hopkins saying that the bell to March's old typewriter still rings, while pressed up close to him and inches from his face.
- And lastly, a clear implication of a ménage à trois, as if that wasn't already the subtext running throughout the film.
It's a film that is (dangerously) liberating and empowering to women and their sexuality, and yet it's wrapped up in something that's charming and fun. The movie poster is fantastic too.
Some other lines I liked: Hopkins, describing love, I just love how she delivered this: "Have you ever felt your brain catch fire, and a curious, dreadful thing go right through your body, down, down to your very toes, and leave you with your ears ringing?"
Hopkins, pointing out the double standard: "A thing happened to me that usually happens to men. You see, a man can meet two, three, or even four women, and fall in love with all of them. And then, by a process of "interesting elimination," he's able to decide which one he prefers. But a woman must decide purely on instinct, guesswork, if she wants to be considered nice. Oh, it's quite all right for her to try on a hundred hats before she picks one out..."