Saturday, February 16, 2019
What You See Is What You Get?
The Lady Eve is a romantic fable. After spending a year "up the Amazon," Charles Pike is swept off his feet and falls head over heels in love with Jean, the sophisticated daughter of wealthy oilman Colonel Harrington. Later in the film he also falls in love with the Lady Eve, the charming niece of English aristocrat Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith. Yet, in both cases the woman of his dreams is really a grifter and con artist trying to fool and fleece the young brewing heir. Does the film tells us about male romantic desire and ideals of the feminine? Do we fall in love with a person or an illusion? Can the divisions of class, education and values be crossed for love? What is the film telling us about infatuation, lust and love? What is the connection between love and illusion?
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The Lady Eve is a fitting name for a movie filled with so much temptation. The film focuses on the cat and mouse relationship of Jean/Eve and Charles Pike, commenting on the type of love that men have and the inevitability of love. The Lady Eve makes a statement about the simple desires of men when it comes to lust. In Jean's room on the ship in the beginning, it appears Charles can barely hold himself back from kissing Jean's neck because he's so intoxicated by her perfume. With both Jean and Eve, Charles is consistently lured in by the women's charm, wit, and mystique. Jean switches between flirting and insulting him, keeping Charles waiting for what comes next. Eve is more refined, but she's relentless about seeing Charles as a refined gentleman, regardless of his constant tripping. The film is noting that a key part to being an alluring, feminine beauty is to have a bit of mystery, that way a man is never bored of you. Charles never knew what Jean would do, and even though he hated Eve's countless accounts of the previous men in her life, Eve never lost his attention. On a more feminist note, the film also highlights that women should show their intelligence, that a woman's wit will snag the guy. Jean's flirting is always paired with a witty back-handed compliment that snaps Charles back into place; the wit can be seen as a woman's means of control. Charles's love for Jean that he can't extinguish shows us that love will persist. When Charles returns to the boat and finds Jean, he immediately takes her back, and she does likewise. Charles and Jean couldn't have been more opposite in their time period, but in the end Charles didn't care about her past. This thinking backs up the idea of not letting the good ones go. Charles admits to Jena that he is technically married, but implies that Jean was his perfect match and it was worth is immoral actions. While Jean is pretending at first, she slowly conforms to the person she thinks Charles wants. Jean admits to her father that she wants to be become someone Charles can love. This is interesting because on one hand, she's furthering the illusion of the person Charles fell in love with and not who she is. But on the other hand, Jean isn't creating an illusion, she is making the illusion real, so is it an illusion anymore? The Lady Eve proves that you fall in love with an illusion; fitting with the saying love is blind, because in love, you see what you want. Charles refused to believe that Eve was the same person as Jean because he had fallen in love with another person, a new illusion. However, it's arguable that while you fall first for an illusion, when you're truly in love, you no longer love the illusion but the person. So, that leaves the question, do you have to fall in love with an illusion of a person to fall in love with a person?
ReplyDeleteIn the film, The Lady Eve, Charles Pike falls for two women, Jean and the Lady Eve, who in reality are con artists after his money and social stance. One could say that Charles is not a player, but is shy of woman. Although, when two women are at his feet fighting for his attention, he is all in. Jean’s plans are soon forgotten when she actually falls in love with Charles, but he finds out who she really is. He dumps her. Jean is not contempt with this, and plans to come back into his life as she has unsettled business. When she re-enters his life she introduces herself as “Lady Eve.” He is so baffled that he trips and falls constantly, blinded by what is in front of him. Muggsy tries to assure him that she is the same old deal, but Charles denies everything, saying their looks are only a coincidence. Charles may think he is in love, but he is simply in an illusion for his strong desire of love and lust. The film is telling us that when someone is craving this affection, people will take what is in front of them. In Charles’ case, he has been away for a year up the Amazon. When he returns there is woman who perceives herself to be head over heals for him, which is an easy way in for him. Anyone else can see that it is the same con artist coming back to him, but he is so blinded by the idea of love that he does not see it. He is stuck in the illusion of love.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that this film depicts male romantic desire and ideals of the feminine. One thing I noticed when watching this film was how fast Charles Pike fell in love with both women (really the same women). I think a message that this film is trying to display is that you cannot really fall in love with someone for who they really are without truly getting to know them. Although in this movie love at first sight comes across as somewhat "easy", the audience is constantly reminded of the problems relating to Pike and Jeans relationship. An example of this is how both Pike and Jean fell in love the same day they met. Jeans father was trying to scam Pike for a lot of money with the help of his daughter but within a day Jean goes up to her father and tells him that she cannot go through with the plan due to the feelings she caught for Charles. Another example of this was when Jean presented herself as The Lady Eve and despite some original skepticism, Pike falls for her even harder than he fell for Jean on the cruise. He ends up marrying The Lady Eve but divorces her later on due to her ongoing plan to get revenge. These examples further my point that love at first sight is not possible because no matter how you feel, it is impossible to get to know someone and fall in love with them in the time frame that it occurred in this film.
ReplyDeleteThe unconventional power dynamic between Charles Pike and Jean in The Lady Eve illustrates how true love must involve honesty whereas attraction involves deceit and illusion. Throughout the entire film, the idea of temptation and attraction was shown during the conversations and actions between Charles and Jean. One scene, in particular, the scene where Charles and Jean are together on the cruise, explains what men and women look for when in love. The three-minute close-up between the two characters during their conversation highlights their growing connection. As they continued to talk, they slowly fell in love. The reason why Jean fell in love was because of Charles honesty. He told her his story living in the Amazons as well as his passion for snakes. Although Jean herself doesn’t enjoy snakes, it was nice to see an innocent, honest, but also naïve guy. On the other hand, Charles was originally attracted to Jean because of her spontaneous and unpredictable manner. He wasn’t actually in love because he didn’t care for Jean's personal qualities and virtues, rather he was attracted to the mysteriousness and seductiveness of Jean. For example, in the same scene, Charles couldn’t hold back from kissing Jean and kept complimenting her perfume. This scene essentially explains male desires when it comes to seductive attraction. However, as seen later on the ship, Charles notices Jean's dishonesty and becomes un-attracted to her. His love was only short-lived whereas Jean still has some feelings for him despite him calling her a grifter. When Jean returns to see Charles as "Lady Eve", Charles again becomes very attracted to her because of her mysteriousness. He constantly asked people to identify her past and try to uncover her secrets, only to never find out about anything real. Although Charles did marry Lady Eve, it was short-lived because of her dishonesty. During their train ride, Lady Eve mentioned all of her previous suitors and affairs, which caused Charles to slowly lose interest in keeping a relationship with her. He, however, was still attracted to her due to her unpredictability and mysteriousness, but he wasn’t in love. Despite Jean's lies in the beginning, she was only one person who Charles loved. Just like how the saying goes, "If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, their yours. If they don't, then it wasn’t meant to be in the first place". Charles fell in love with Jean because she eventually tells him the truth. He let Jean go, only to find himself falling back towards her. Love works well when both sides are equally honest with each other. People can be attracted to each other based on appearance and mysteriousness, but the thing that distinguishes love from attraction is honesty.
ReplyDeleteDespite the obvious conflict surrounding the con-artist plot, The Lady Eve teaches viewers that love is boundless; crossing family, wealth, and even name, romance always finds its way. While the plot is overly dramatized and unrealistic, the idea that Charles and Jean find each other in the end highlights the strength of love. Initially, Jean and her father are planning on swindling Charles for his money through games of cards, as they are professional “cardsharps”. Yet, Jean, as well as Charles, develops feelings and decides she no longer wants to take advantage of Charles. In a particular scene, Jean and Mr. Harrington flash their impressive card skills, attempting to protect and swindle Charles, respectively. Ultimately, Jean switches Mr. Harrington's cards to favor Charles winning, an act of love going against both her father’s and her professional wishes. When Mr. Harrington attempts to “steal” thirty-two thousand dollars from Charles regardless, she intervenes. Eventually, Charles discovers Jean’s work and feels as if he was being taken advantage of. Obviously hurt, Jean decides she wants to get revenge and steal from Charles after all. While this seems like it wouldn’t be an act of love, we are often most hurt by the ones we love the most, therefore Jean’s actions were resulting from her continued feelings for Charles. Because of this, Jean poses as “Lady Eve” to get revenge on Charles for not understanding her perspective. She successfully makes Charles fall for Eve. Jean aims to hurt Charles when he is most in love, on the train to their honeymoon. Jean’s actions are further proof that her love is boundless; she was willing to pose as Eve to get close to Charles, even if it was to hurt him. In the end, she intentionally books another trip on a cruise liner that she knew Charles would be on, and proclaims that she still loves him. Both individuals, but specifically Jean, endured many obstacles to eventually find their true love in the end. Essentially, while the plot is problematic in its description of what “true love” entails, Charles and Jean’s relationship demonstrates to viewers that regardless of the situation, love with find its way to the forefront.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve proves to us that love is not only blind, but lacks all other senses too. The film pulls off a complete reversal of traditional gender roles, with the cunning woman at the helm and the man by her feet. This film seems to tell the audience the opposite of the popular opinion of women at the time; that looks bring lust but intelligence begets love. Lust is in the eyes for Charles Pike, as he is drawn to Jean because of her beauty. However, it is her wit and brain that makes him fall in love with her. In this, the film shows that love is of the brain. Love is not something that can be perceived or interpreted through any of the senses, but rather something that can be understood and appreciated through deep thought and compassion. In order to love, you must be emotionally and mentally invested in them to the point where their emotions can be tied back to yours. Not only that, the love must stimulate the brain as to maintain interest and demonstrate truth. To say that any persona is an “illusion,” seems disingenuous to the idea that humans are multi-faceted creatures capable of many different personalities. A person in this instance is just the persona that they use most often or comes most naturally to them, but that is not to say that they do not have other “faces” which are just as much a part of them. All love has a bit of illusion in it, but The Lady Eve shows honesty is the best policy. When she lies to Charles Pike and tries to hide her background from him, things do not go well.
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