In the world of noir, we know light doesn't always mean sanctuary. And in every Garden of Eden there is always a snake slithering within. This is one of my personal favorite noir films of all time. It really is a unique kind of noir for its time because it takes place in the daytime, where most are always at night. This setting in a way is perfect for the noir genre because the light just makes the darkness all the darker, and all the more dangerous because evil has another place to hide which is in plain sight, which can be the most deadly conceit of all .
Ellen of course is played well by Gene Tierney which is an interesting role for her as she's most of the time known for playing the good girl; it's always a great break whenever actors/actresses are in roles you don't expect them to be in. And when that happens something great always turns up. Ellen is one of my favorite noir antagonists, as we get into an interesting character study on the extent of how evil she is, which would make anyone question how well they know their significant other. But also, this is another noir which once again shows how the "American Dream" can be the ultimate nightmare.
I really like how the cinematography focuses on her face in most scenes, along with the background behind her which is always on bright days and beautiful almost like a halo glow. Her face is interesting as it's an angelic face (being Gene Tierney of course), however as we look more, we realize this is all a mask, for she is a fallen angel in the guise of innocence. We see physical signs of it, from her green eyes which seem like bright beauty, but as we see in conversations how unmoving they are as they are completely vacant; the lights in the house are on but no one is home. But there is one image that stands out for me which is in one scene where she is wearing sunglasses and has just an emotionless expression on her face. That to me is her real face as her exposed face we see is a beautiful bland mask to hide the monster she is inside and the sunglasses are her real eyes as they are eyes of darkness, devoid of light, consciousness, and love.
The settings in the film are just beautiful, from how colorful and bright they are like something out of Norman Rockwell or even any other painting that depicts Americana beauty. Which even more adds to the feeling of dread, because as you look closely despite all the light and the beautiful decor you can sense it's all artificial and counterfeit.
Everything is just too disgustingly perfect, like most of the interior of the house which looks like something you'd see from a "Sears" catalog; and I know for a fact that any place that looks clean and lived in has some imperfection. Which I don't mind because that just shows that the people that live in it are human and do the best they can to make their living space and life livable, which to me is part of what home is about. Even like how later in the film we see those beautiful interior settings in the aftermath of tragedy start to have shadows to them that we see just throughout the film looks as though they're just growing. As if an aura of evil is putting all that is good in a stranglehold.
In a way the disgusting perfection along with all the niceness of the outside kind of reflects Ellens psyche, showing that her idea of home and even life is perverse, it's just something that she gets out of the photos of magazines or even still life paintings. But both of those things have one thing in common there are no people, which is how she wants it, no one else to tarnish the perfect setting for herself. Which makes it the perfect set up for danger and ruin as it's the place you'd least expect; a place of peace and tranquility to make anyone drop their guard and for the snakes to slither and strike.
We get some bits of information as to why Ellen is the way she is. The mom states that there's nothing wrong with her is that she loves too much, and that's the big red flag as we all know that too much of anything, even love isn't heathy for anyone; in fact it's toxic. Her character, I feel, loves only two people in her life; one is herself obviously a Narcissist as throughout the film she exhibits some. But most of all her father which shows she has an Oedipus complex; in her mind her father is literally the perfect man for her. This is also an extension of her narcissism which as we know the good father always holds their daughters in high regard and that's the kind of love she wants and seeks out.
The theme in the film is about the illusion of love and the love for it. There is a parallel between both Ellen and Richard as both want the idea of falling/being in love. As we see this is a folly on both their part as we know illusions can't love back because they're not real.
For Ellen she doesn't really love Richard for Richard but only for what he represents which is the image he possesses of her own father. Ellen wants to take her Oedipus complex to the extreme as she wants to not be a daughter but a wife, as he is in her mind the perfect man that will lead to the perfect love life. In one dinner scene with the family, we see Ellen talk about her first meeting and of course bring up her father and how Richard reminds her of him. Hearing that the red alert alarm in me went off, because hearing that you knew how long and bad that complex of her's truly got and you don't doubt the lengths she'll go to maintain and possess the image she loves so badly.
In Richard's case he is taken in by Ellen from the image of her project's beauty from the outside and even inside. It's understandable as we see Richard is a lonely aging bachelor, whom as we see despite a good lifestyle and career has become desperate over the years and possibly had the worst luck in love.
This desperation makes him make some foolish moves or you can say the moves have been made for him by Ellen. As we see Richard moves a little too fast as he not just immediately gets into a relationship with Ellen despite it being only a matter of days and weeks; but even goes so far as to marriage so that he can fulfill his other dreams of home and family he's carried. Despite Richard feelings, he's being irresponsible, much like any lazy reader that skips over chapters just to get to the end, instead of taking the time to read to figure out how the story lead up there. This is the same with love as it's not something you can nor should rush, just like with everything in nature you must give it time to happen, as a song from Orlans goes, "you better take some time to let love flow." I really like the scenes between both Richard and Ellen's cousin Ruth (Jeanne Crain who looks like she could be related to Gene). You really get a good feel for the character Ruth as we see she's a gardening sorceress as she cares about the inner beauty of people as much as she cares about the beauty of the flowers she works on.
Throughout the film there is sort of this contrasting dynamic between both Ellen and her as we see Ruth look and feel more beautiful, while Ellen despite her unchanging face she just gets uglier on the inside because you can just feel the bad karma vibes radiating from her. The chemistry between both Ruth and Richard just feels right because both genuinely interact, it's not one sided; from that you already know that Ruth is the person Richard should've been in love with and married; this is tragic because this was a possible future stolen from them.
We see that reality does catch up with both, from Ellen who is having a lot of trouble reinforcing that perfect image. And as we see is about to go to some extremes just to keep the image, which is impossible as it's an illusion. But also, because illusion is no match for change, for change is constant.
For Richard he is ignoring the red flags that are clearly displayed throughout the film, but as tragedy befalls him, he can no longer ignore those flags as he starts to notice certain things about Ellen that aren't exactly in the realm of normal. As well as certain things that happen that don't add up and is just for the first time realizing that the woman, he married is a total stranger, which is the last feeling any of us want in a relationship and is always a sign of imminent danger.
As an old saying goes, "It's too good to be true." That is true for the face of evil can be beautiful.
Rating: 4 stars.
Ellen of course is played well by Gene Tierney which is an interesting role for her as she's most of the time known for playing the good girl; it's always a great break whenever actors/actresses are in roles you don't expect them to be in. And when that happens something great always turns up. Ellen is one of my favorite noir antagonists, as we get into an interesting character study on the extent of how evil she is, which would make anyone question how well they know their significant other. But also, this is another noir which once again shows how the "American Dream" can be the ultimate nightmare.
I really like how the cinematography focuses on her face in most scenes, along with the background behind her which is always on bright days and beautiful almost like a halo glow. Her face is interesting as it's an angelic face (being Gene Tierney of course), however as we look more, we realize this is all a mask, for she is a fallen angel in the guise of innocence. We see physical signs of it, from her green eyes which seem like bright beauty, but as we see in conversations how unmoving they are as they are completely vacant; the lights in the house are on but no one is home. But there is one image that stands out for me which is in one scene where she is wearing sunglasses and has just an emotionless expression on her face. That to me is her real face as her exposed face we see is a beautiful bland mask to hide the monster she is inside and the sunglasses are her real eyes as they are eyes of darkness, devoid of light, consciousness, and love.
The settings in the film are just beautiful, from how colorful and bright they are like something out of Norman Rockwell or even any other painting that depicts Americana beauty. Which even more adds to the feeling of dread, because as you look closely despite all the light and the beautiful decor you can sense it's all artificial and counterfeit.
Everything is just too disgustingly perfect, like most of the interior of the house which looks like something you'd see from a "Sears" catalog; and I know for a fact that any place that looks clean and lived in has some imperfection. Which I don't mind because that just shows that the people that live in it are human and do the best they can to make their living space and life livable, which to me is part of what home is about. Even like how later in the film we see those beautiful interior settings in the aftermath of tragedy start to have shadows to them that we see just throughout the film looks as though they're just growing. As if an aura of evil is putting all that is good in a stranglehold.
In a way the disgusting perfection along with all the niceness of the outside kind of reflects Ellens psyche, showing that her idea of home and even life is perverse, it's just something that she gets out of the photos of magazines or even still life paintings. But both of those things have one thing in common there are no people, which is how she wants it, no one else to tarnish the perfect setting for herself. Which makes it the perfect set up for danger and ruin as it's the place you'd least expect; a place of peace and tranquility to make anyone drop their guard and for the snakes to slither and strike.
We get some bits of information as to why Ellen is the way she is. The mom states that there's nothing wrong with her is that she loves too much, and that's the big red flag as we all know that too much of anything, even love isn't heathy for anyone; in fact it's toxic. Her character, I feel, loves only two people in her life; one is herself obviously a Narcissist as throughout the film she exhibits some. But most of all her father which shows she has an Oedipus complex; in her mind her father is literally the perfect man for her. This is also an extension of her narcissism which as we know the good father always holds their daughters in high regard and that's the kind of love she wants and seeks out.
The theme in the film is about the illusion of love and the love for it. There is a parallel between both Ellen and Richard as both want the idea of falling/being in love. As we see this is a folly on both their part as we know illusions can't love back because they're not real.
For Ellen she doesn't really love Richard for Richard but only for what he represents which is the image he possesses of her own father. Ellen wants to take her Oedipus complex to the extreme as she wants to not be a daughter but a wife, as he is in her mind the perfect man that will lead to the perfect love life. In one dinner scene with the family, we see Ellen talk about her first meeting and of course bring up her father and how Richard reminds her of him. Hearing that the red alert alarm in me went off, because hearing that you knew how long and bad that complex of her's truly got and you don't doubt the lengths she'll go to maintain and possess the image she loves so badly.
In Richard's case he is taken in by Ellen from the image of her project's beauty from the outside and even inside. It's understandable as we see Richard is a lonely aging bachelor, whom as we see despite a good lifestyle and career has become desperate over the years and possibly had the worst luck in love.
This desperation makes him make some foolish moves or you can say the moves have been made for him by Ellen. As we see Richard moves a little too fast as he not just immediately gets into a relationship with Ellen despite it being only a matter of days and weeks; but even goes so far as to marriage so that he can fulfill his other dreams of home and family he's carried. Despite Richard feelings, he's being irresponsible, much like any lazy reader that skips over chapters just to get to the end, instead of taking the time to read to figure out how the story lead up there. This is the same with love as it's not something you can nor should rush, just like with everything in nature you must give it time to happen, as a song from Orlans goes, "you better take some time to let love flow." I really like the scenes between both Richard and Ellen's cousin Ruth (Jeanne Crain who looks like she could be related to Gene). You really get a good feel for the character Ruth as we see she's a gardening sorceress as she cares about the inner beauty of people as much as she cares about the beauty of the flowers she works on.
Throughout the film there is sort of this contrasting dynamic between both Ellen and her as we see Ruth look and feel more beautiful, while Ellen despite her unchanging face she just gets uglier on the inside because you can just feel the bad karma vibes radiating from her. The chemistry between both Ruth and Richard just feels right because both genuinely interact, it's not one sided; from that you already know that Ruth is the person Richard should've been in love with and married; this is tragic because this was a possible future stolen from them.
We see that reality does catch up with both, from Ellen who is having a lot of trouble reinforcing that perfect image. And as we see is about to go to some extremes just to keep the image, which is impossible as it's an illusion. But also, because illusion is no match for change, for change is constant.
For Richard he is ignoring the red flags that are clearly displayed throughout the film, but as tragedy befalls him, he can no longer ignore those flags as he starts to notice certain things about Ellen that aren't exactly in the realm of normal. As well as certain things that happen that don't add up and is just for the first time realizing that the woman, he married is a total stranger, which is the last feeling any of us want in a relationship and is always a sign of imminent danger.
As an old saying goes, "It's too good to be true." That is true for the face of evil can be beautiful.
Rating: 4 stars.