This film contained both good and bad. Probably more bad than good. But let's start with the good: Yes, the nude scenes. Definitely fun. I mean, there's not enough there to be any kind of big deal by today's standard, but it really is something seeing a 1933 film with no-question-about-it-she's-definitely-completely-naked star. They don't flaunt the nudity but they don't shy away from it either. It was actually handled quite tastefully. And in generally I very much liked the whole theme of unabashed support for female sexuality. Very refreshing for 1933. And the scene in the car was pretty exciting.
But the film had three major flaws. First, on the whole, the pacing is just *leaden*. This movie DRAGS. It is extremely self-indulgent in its wallowing in endless artistic shots and heavy-handed symbolism. There's about 30 minutes of story here crammed into an hour-and-a-half.
Second, the whole practically-a-silent-movie thing, with just a couple sparse lines of dialog here and there, just didn't work for me. It made things just too *weird*. People just wouldn't behave that way, it ends up seeming *very* contrived. I mean, come on, a guy stumbles upon a beautiful woman naked in the woods; he ogles her, gives her back her dress and horse, gets slapped by her, goes to her aid when she falls and hurts herself, gives her a flower-- and through this whole thing says *not one single word*???? It was just too surreal. I defy anyone out there to tell me with a straight face they could meet a naked stranger in the woods and have an extended encounter with them without either of you saying a word.
But the biggest problem for me was just the ways in which the story just didn't make sense. Here is a list of questions I'm *still* groping with after seeing the complete film:
1) Why on *earth* did she marry Mr. Disinterested in the first place? She HAD to have known what he was like before she married him!
2) Why on *earth* did *he* marry *her*? He carries her over the threshold and then has ZERO interest in her whatsoever. And I don't just mean sexual interest. He utterly and completely ignores her.
3) Given his COMPLETE indifference toward her when she's his wife, why the sudden all-consuming interest in her once she leaves him? I mean, he had no time to even look up from his newspaper when he was with her, but once she's gone, he's so distraught he *kills* himself? What on *earth* is up with that????
4) After the suicide, why does Mr. Very-Interested suddenly decide 'Ok, let's go to the train station!' Huh????
5) Why, why, why, why, why does she *leave* him at the train station!?!? This more than anything else made ZERO sense to me, and that one point COMPLETELY ruins the film for me. She FINALLY found someone who made her happy (and not just sexually happy either. Just look at her face when she meets him there at the inn, and they're just dancing and enjoying being together. These two definitely have feelings for each other beyond just hormones. Their joy at being together is complete), and, *boom*, for no apparent reason, she just leaves him. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? As Bill Cosby would say, "That's brain damage!"
6) What the HELL is up with the last scene??? Suddenly for no reason this turns into some kind of Happy Worker's Paradise quasi-soviet film???
7) And then the final shots: HUH???? I don't even understand what it was *trying* to portray. Was the guy fantasizing that maybe she had his kid, or did she really have a child? Or was the little boy that he was looking at actually the same child and this is now years later? Did he somehow come into custody of the child? Or did he actually somehow end up getting back together with her and they're both raising the child? I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!!!
I didn't even know how to grade this film. No movie that leaves me with "I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!!!" at the end can possibly get a good grade from me. On the other hand, no movie that looks at sex without either snickering or moralizing, but instead portrays it as a beautiful, healthy, natural thing, no such movie can get too bad a grade from me. So I cut it right in the middle with the 5-star vote. An odd film. I'm glad I saw it, but truthfully I have little desire to ever see it again.
But the film had three major flaws. First, on the whole, the pacing is just *leaden*. This movie DRAGS. It is extremely self-indulgent in its wallowing in endless artistic shots and heavy-handed symbolism. There's about 30 minutes of story here crammed into an hour-and-a-half.
Second, the whole practically-a-silent-movie thing, with just a couple sparse lines of dialog here and there, just didn't work for me. It made things just too *weird*. People just wouldn't behave that way, it ends up seeming *very* contrived. I mean, come on, a guy stumbles upon a beautiful woman naked in the woods; he ogles her, gives her back her dress and horse, gets slapped by her, goes to her aid when she falls and hurts herself, gives her a flower-- and through this whole thing says *not one single word*???? It was just too surreal. I defy anyone out there to tell me with a straight face they could meet a naked stranger in the woods and have an extended encounter with them without either of you saying a word.
But the biggest problem for me was just the ways in which the story just didn't make sense. Here is a list of questions I'm *still* groping with after seeing the complete film:
1) Why on *earth* did she marry Mr. Disinterested in the first place? She HAD to have known what he was like before she married him!
2) Why on *earth* did *he* marry *her*? He carries her over the threshold and then has ZERO interest in her whatsoever. And I don't just mean sexual interest. He utterly and completely ignores her.
3) Given his COMPLETE indifference toward her when she's his wife, why the sudden all-consuming interest in her once she leaves him? I mean, he had no time to even look up from his newspaper when he was with her, but once she's gone, he's so distraught he *kills* himself? What on *earth* is up with that????
4) After the suicide, why does Mr. Very-Interested suddenly decide 'Ok, let's go to the train station!' Huh????
5) Why, why, why, why, why does she *leave* him at the train station!?!? This more than anything else made ZERO sense to me, and that one point COMPLETELY ruins the film for me. She FINALLY found someone who made her happy (and not just sexually happy either. Just look at her face when she meets him there at the inn, and they're just dancing and enjoying being together. These two definitely have feelings for each other beyond just hormones. Their joy at being together is complete), and, *boom*, for no apparent reason, she just leaves him. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? As Bill Cosby would say, "That's brain damage!"
6) What the HELL is up with the last scene??? Suddenly for no reason this turns into some kind of Happy Worker's Paradise quasi-soviet film???
7) And then the final shots: HUH???? I don't even understand what it was *trying* to portray. Was the guy fantasizing that maybe she had his kid, or did she really have a child? Or was the little boy that he was looking at actually the same child and this is now years later? Did he somehow come into custody of the child? Or did he actually somehow end up getting back together with her and they're both raising the child? I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!!!
I didn't even know how to grade this film. No movie that leaves me with "I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!!!" at the end can possibly get a good grade from me. On the other hand, no movie that looks at sex without either snickering or moralizing, but instead portrays it as a beautiful, healthy, natural thing, no such movie can get too bad a grade from me. So I cut it right in the middle with the 5-star vote. An odd film. I'm glad I saw it, but truthfully I have little desire to ever see it again.