Directors: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod
Actors: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott
Rating: 4/5
It is hard to imagine a time in the western world where the
only difference between a slave and a woman was that women were permitted a
little more dignity by allowing them to dress up (to serve men) and mingle with
them at least in parties.
Perhaps it is not so difficult to imagine women as second
class citizens, because the discrimination against women even in the western
world – albeit in a different form – continues to date.
And though the prism of feminism is not the obvious way to
look at this tale of a man from a lowly background rising up the ladder of a
corrupt society with his own corruption, the feminist angle is indeed how the
makers want you to look at the film.
 |
| In a patriarcal society, even a brilliant woman like Madeleine has no option but to work under the opression of visible and invisible veils. |
Georges (Robert Pattinson), a down on his luck and barely
literate but dashing soldier in the 1890s, uses his affairs with society women
to rise up in the Parisian society. When on top however, his male chauvinism
kicks in and he tries to control the women in his life, to no avail initially
but to disastrous consequences finally.
At the face of it ‘Bel Ami’ is the story of the corruption
of Parisian society. But when you try looking deeper at the causes for the
corruption, one that comes up will surprise you. For the film asks you: can a society
that does not give women their due, ever be free from rot and corruption.
This rot is embodied in the character of Madeleine played by
Uma Thurman. Despite being a brilliant writer and strategist and being better
at the affairs of men then most men themselves, she needs the support of men for
even just a bit of her talents to be visible.
Thus the nincompoop Georges becomes a perfect vessel to
carry her brilliance, something which the entire society knows, but does not
acknowledge in the open.
Problems emerge when this man, who alternately uses and is
used by women, develops jealousy and a desire to be acknowledged for talents he
does not possess. In the process he resorts to every dirty tactics in an
already dirty society.
Madeleine thus becomes a metaphor for all the brilliant
women throughout history including those now, women who have been pushed and
kicked to the ground, their faces forced stuck to the dirty mud by the powerful
boots of a patriarchal and misogynist society.
Brilliantly adapted from a novel by Guy de Maupassant, the
film does a decent job of condensing 400 odd pages into 100 odd minutes. In
doing so, gaps become evident and might seem discordant to many. But if you
have a healthy imagination, it will actually accentuate the pleasure.
Lending evidence to the director and writer giving it a
feminist tinge are many things. E.g. if George’s poverty were shown a bit more closely,
we’d have found much more empathy for him. But the makers don’t want that.
Instead they want you to feel for the women trapped in a man’s world and in their
stupid games.
The film packs many moments and scenes rife with poignancy and
brilliant dialogues. In one, Madeleine tells Georges in a fit of rage, ‘You
stupid stupid man. You complete and perfect man.”
Stupidity indeed, seems to be the only perfection men are
capable of.
(This review was written for the wire service, IANS)
