"Cinematic Inspirations" by Sophia
Suzanne Stone -To Die For | Nicole Kidman |
I actually enjoyed To Die For far more than I expected to. It's a fun romp which is shockingly lighthearted for a movie about a murderous Femme Fatale. Suzanne Stone is a manipulative, beautiful woman with dreams of being a famous TV personality. And she'll stop at nothing to get it.
There is a fabulous scene early in the movie describing how Suzanne and her husband Larry first met. Larry is in a band, and he's at a concert. His eyes move around all these beautiful girls who are screaming like little groupies. The Point-of-view shot shows him glace at one, then another, then another-- and then he sees Suzanne, who looks up at him like he's disgusting. She's not impressed. He smiles at her, and she looks at him like he's dirt. Guess which girl Larry wants...
And it's SO true. Guys have a natural aversion to women who worship them. It's as if guys know, in their heart, they're dirt-- and they can't respect anyone who is fooled into thinking dirt is gold.
Suzanne, normally a local news weather girl, starts filming a documentary on high school students. James, a loser from a trailer park, is so overwhelmed by Suzanne's beauty, he signs up to help with her documentary. Interviewed months later, James describes how Suzanne Stone changed his life. "I never really gave a rat's ass about the weather until I got to know Mrs. Stone. Now I take it very seriously. If it rains or there's lightning or thunder or if it snows, I have to jack off."
Suzanne is extremely confident, and she knows how to get what she wants. At one point, her boss tells her,"I pity the person who says no to you". She replies,"No one ever does". Unfortunately, Suzanne's husband Larry does. He asks his beautiful wife to give up her dreams of stardom and resign herself to running a restaurant. Suzanne, faced with giving up everything she's ever wanted, decides she has to kill Larry. Her murder weapon is going to be James.
Suzanne easily seduces James. She takes him up to her room and gives him the time of his life. Lydia, another high school student from the documentary project, silently watches the two in the throws of passion, clearly envious that James gets Suzanne.
And then, Suzanne tells James that her husband is abusing her. She cries. She talks about moving away. And then James comes up with the idea, "on his own", to kill Larry so that he can have Suzanne all to himself. Suzanne promptly rewards his "ingenuity" with a little pleasure.
In another great scene, Suzanne is helping 'motivate' James. She goes down on him, but every time he gets close, she stops, and quizzes him about the murder plan. If James wavers-- she instantly stops. She withdraws, walks across the room, and openly speculates that James just isn't "man enough", but perhaps James's friend Russell might be "more of a man". Soon James is begging for a chance to kill her husband-- and he is rewarded.
The film ends with James in prison serving a life sentence for murdering Larry. He talks about how much he misses Suzanne, and how he dreams about her every night. He likens his time with Suzanne to being a zombie in a zombie film. "It was like I was in one of those-- Okay, you know those great movies where everyone is comin' out of their graves? With half their faces missing and their eyes hanging out and their lips falling off? You know those? and they're all walking around real slow and kind of grunting. And they're all looking for the same thing. For regular live people, to eat their flesh and drink their blood and all. And they can't help themselves 'cause they're dead and that's just what happens. That's what I felt like."
Here too is wisdom. Most people in this world are dead. They just float through life-- going to their stupid job, but unable to remember why they ever applied for the job in the first place. Spending time with their stupid spouse but unable to remember why they ever decided to get married. Sitting on a couch, watching a stupid TV show to distract them from the emptiness of their lives. Playing video games or doing needlepoint. The walking dead. The dead among us. And what all these dead people dream about is to have one moment with a real person-- a person who's truly and passionately alive.
Because a few people ARE truly alive-- and we have the power of gods. We're beautiful, intelligent, and we can get whatever we want. We travel, we read. We can play with the world as if it were clay, play with human lives as if they were dolls. We have passions and goals and dreams, and we achieve them. And as for the rest of the people-- the only dream they can fathom is to be near someone like me. To be played with, to be used. They're interchangeable parts, they're disposable goods. They're free, and they're will always be lots more where the rest came from, obediently lining up for a chance to be near me.
Lila Jute -Human Nature | Patricia Arquette |
This is another film by my hero Charlie Kaufmann-- the genius behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The film is about a scientist who is trying to teach mice table manners and his encounter with "Puff", a feral man who had lived his entire life raised to believe he was an ape. Charlie Kaufmann, the screenwriter, has GOT to be seriously into sexualized humiliation. I can spot guys like this a mile away, and all his films have elements of this in them.
Along the way, we meet Lila- who starts out as a mild-mannered nature writer who is dating the scientist. While Lila and her scientist significant other are hiking, they come upon a feral man. They capture him, and over Lila's objections, the scientist brings the feral man back to his lab.
In the lab, the feral man is dubbed "Puff" by the research staff. They subject Puff to 'training' in order to transform him from an uncivilized ape-man into a civilized gentleman. It's My Fair Lady meets A Clockwork Orange. Puff is shocked when he uses the wrong fork, trained to say please and thank you, and generally tortured into being a "normal" human being.
Lila has a moral dilemma about the process. To her point of view, Puff was a beautiful creature of nature who is now being exploited by science. At first she buries these objections, but when the scientist spurns her love, she leaves him and disappears. Meanwhile, Puff completes his transformation from Apeman to Gentleman. He recites poetry, discusses philosophy, and is a pinnacle of civilization.
Then, one day, a midget appears at the lab. At gunpoint, the scientist is ordered into a cage. And in walks a now-gorgeous and ultra-confident Lila. She has become an eco-terrorist of sorts, morphed into an aggressive and confident militant environmentalist. The scientist is overcome by her allure: "You're beautiful," he mutters under his breath. "Do you want to touch me?" Lila asks mockingly. Immediately he responds,"Yes!". Lila scoffs and dismisses his desires-- "Poor baby".
Lila kidnaps Puff-- ties him up and drives him to the wilderness where he was originally found. Once in the forest, Lila explains her motives to Puff. "Stop", she barks. "Take off your clothes". "We're going back to nature. I'm going to retrain you".
Puff protests "But I like being human". Lila promptly administers an electric shock. Puff recoils, and then meekly says,"I want to be the way I was before...." Lila approves. In time, Puff is again stripped of his humanity, reduced to the grunts and gestures of an ape.
The scientist, meanwhile, has become completely obsessed with Lila. During sex with his girlfriend, he fantasizes about Lila. Finally, he begins searching the forest for Lila and Puff. When he finds them, he pulls a gun on them. At first he protests, claiming he's only there for Puff. But then, when he sees Lila in her full, untamed glory, his resolve crumbles. He drops his gun and falls to his knees before her. "Can I touch you, Lila? Just smell you? I love how you smell... so dirty and powerful." Soon, the scientist who was formerly obsessed with table manners is seen begging Lila to transform him into an dirty ape.
This movie's theme of "Civilization vs Nature" is a really interesting one. Most religions see humans as some sort of mixture of Godliness and Animalism, and there's a truth in this. One activity I especially adore is stripping people of their humanity in subtle ways. Men, and perhaps all humans, are merely smart brains walking around in the tinkered bodies of apes. Our higher brain is always at war with our reptile brain. I love getting in on that battle, and taking a man, and reducing him to a quivering animal. Distorting his concept of himself and of reality-- making him think I am a good person and he's a bad one, just because he's jealous when I go out on dates with other guys even though he's technically my boyfriend. Hearing him sob apologies at the mere suggestion that I will leave him, thereby robbing his universe of all its joys.
So this movie definitely appeals to me. I've never turned a man into an ape, but I have conditioned a man to the point that even he probably believed at the core of his being that he was a dog. Fun stuff.
Nathalie -Choses secretes (Secret Things) | Sabrina Seyvecou |
Something about being a powerful and assertive woman-- you pick up groupies. Other women-- sometimes younger, sometimes older, who see that you are something different and become desperate to be like you, to be near you, to become you.
Whenever I meet a woman and see she's applying for a place in my fan club, I love toying with her. Sometimes I befriend her. Sometimes I spurn her. In a very few occasions, I've taught her. The attraction is deep, but usually only subconsciously sexual. It's a far deeper level of attraction than merely corporeal, fleshy, or erotic attraction. The totality of their being meets me, recognizes me as superior, and longs to be near me in any way possible. It's a fun dynamic, and one that is played out well in this film.
Sandrine is an adorably timid bartender at an ultra high-class Parisian strip club. Her only joy is watching Nathalie-- the star dancer whose erotic dances blur the line between art, dance, and seduction. In the film's opening voiceover, Sandrine muses about her obsession with Nathalie,"She's my secret role model. She's beautiful. She can win anybody over. Actually, although I don't like to admit it, I wish I had that ability too. To make them all drool and have them at my feet."
Just minutes into the film, Sandrine finds fate throwing her together with her hero Nathalie. Alone together in Nathalie's apartment, Sandrine confesses her envy and admits how she secretly wishes she had the guts to do what Nathalie does on stage. Nathalie listens attentively, and then announces they are going to play "a game. a dare game". She starts, the same way I often do-- ordering timid Sandrine to just IMAGINE crossing that border in her own mind-- to just see herself doing the things she so badly wants to. But it doesn't stop with imagination. Nathalie then instructs Sandrine, step by step, to go the bed, undress, and touch herself, while Nathalie watches on. Sandrine obeys, and she finds that obedience brings incredible pleasure.
Experienced and powerful Natalie decides to tutor poor Sandrine in how to be a femme fatale. And she continues playing the daring game. She takes Sandrine to a crowded subway station and then orders Sandrine to rub herself-- surreptitiously at first, then openly. She teaches Sandrine about the world, instructing her that,"A femme fatale tends to be narcissistic or a lesbian and frigid with men. They only come when they feel like it, which is not often. That's their power."-- such excellent insights.
Of course, any movie about a femme fatale has to see her destroyed sooner or later-- that's the rule of films, it seems. So I only identify with Nathalie up to a point. But it's a fun journey leading up to that point-- and the movie is rather hot throughout.