A Woman of Paris. 1923. Directed by Charles Chaplin.

(10/14/99)

Riveting from start to finish. I have a sense of this film as being excellently cast, down to small parts like Marie's father at the beginning and the masseuse. I like Adolphe Menjou the best--he is the one who leaves an impression on me each time I see this film.

It's a really solid production and it's sad to mentally compare it with The Great Dictator. You could be an independent producer in 1923 and still make pictures that looked good.

I love the moment when Jean is painting Marie's portrait and she wants to see it before it is finished. She accidentally knocks the covering off and it's a picture of her as she looked as a village girl, before she became "A Woman of Paris." I also like when she throws the pearls out the window and has to go and retrieve them, as Pierre won't. Also, the detail when Jean is at her place and a man's collar falls out of the dresser drawer.

Pierre is the most intense figure. He seems so attractive in that he is worldly, unflappable, accepting of all that comes. But there is an emptiness to him in his lack of human involvement and the way he "amuses" himself with other people's feelings.

The ending is kind of frightening to me. The male is torn between the two women, finally kills himself, and the two women go off together as best friends. The women dominate the man.