326. Paper Moon

Song - Jessica (Allman Brothers Band)

Movie: Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973)

Ryan O'Neal is one of those actors writers euphemistically call 'volatile'. He was addicted to drugs and alcohol for the majority of his life, and emotionally abusive to all who loved him. When his daughter Tatum O'Neal received an Oscar nomination for Paper Moon, he was jealous and didn't attend the ceremony where she became the youngest Oscar winner in history. She plays Addie, a young girl who has lost her mother and now needs to live with her aunt. Ryan O'Neal's Moses, who may or may not be her father, gets himself semi-accidentally recruited to bring her to Missouri. That premise alone would be enough for a typical comedy-drama about two contrasting, strong stubborn personalities who have to grow to trust each other, but the real life circumstances surrounding the O'Neals add a melancholic touch to the playful warmth of their relationship here. It helps too that Moses is conceived as a wonderfully compelling two-bit grifter. He presents himself as a representative of the Kansas Bible Company convincing widows their recently deceased husbands had ordered a customised 'Holy Book' before their death. Unsurprisingly, Addie turns out to be a great business partner.   

It's always fascinating seeing troubled artists convey ideas and emotions in fiction they can't in reality, and it's easy to see why O'Neal experienced his Oscar 'snub' as a crushing disappointment. O'Neal plays Moses as a young guy whose undeniable resourcefulness and charm need to work overtime to mask that he is still a twinge too immature and inexperienced to be either a successful conman or a dependable guardian. It's the middle of the Great Depression and though he is forced to put on a more ruthless front than he is comfortable with, you also get the sense that he isn't hiding an entirely pure heart. For her part, Addie is a chain-smoking tomboy who has never gotten much of a chance to be girly, and now that she has access to her mom's make up she secretly spends her nights in front of bathroom mirrors. Her happiest moments come when she conceives of a plan to get rid of Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn), a carnival dancer Moses has become smitten with. Together with Trixie's black maid Imogene, she sets a plot in motion to get Trixie to cheat on Moses, leading to a sequence that would come straight out of a screwball comedy if it were played at twice the speed. Bogdanovich slows it down to emphasise the excitement Addie gets out of participating in typical teenage girl pratfalls. 

Watching Paper Moon, I was reminded of Alexander Payne's Nebraska and other movies about the goofy eccentricities of small town Americans. What makes Paper Moon stand out is that it takes its Depression setting seriously and doesn't present these eccentricities as inherent to its people, but as a direct consequence of financial troubles. Poverty makes everyone act funny, including the widows who are never presented as naively gullible marks. A majority of the dialogue in the film is essentially counting pennies, and in this context the possibility of your dying husband spending his last money on a Bible carries a weight that's not easy to ignore.    

325. Nynke

Song - In Nije Dei (De Kast)

Movie: Nynke (Pieter Verhoeff, 2001)

Refusing to be just a supportive wife, Sjoukje de Boer (Monic Hendrickx) became one of the most important Dutch children's authors, writing under the pseudonym Nienke van Hichtum. The film focuses on her early life and marriage to Pieter Jelles Troelstra (Jeroen Willems), one of the key figures of Dutch socialism. They spend their first years together blissfully quoting great literature in between passionate frolicking in the Frisian (Nynke is the most successful Frisian-language film in the Netherlands) peatlands, but things start going south when Troelstra develops an interest in the fate of the working man. The family house becomes the de facto Party base, reducing Sjoukje to a tea servant. She wants to contribute, but late 19th century politics are no woman's business, and Verhoeff keeps framing her as a stranger in her own house, looking from afar at adjacent rooms full of activity alienating her from her husband.

Constantly experiencing the ending of The Godfather is not good for one's health. Especially not when the doctors confuse cause and effect. Sjoukje is presented as a little sceptical of the extreme, bordering on irrational, fervor of her husband, and especially of the crowds surrounding him, but coming from a less privileged background, she has a keen eye for the lives of the masses and a good understanding of why and how socialist ideas might benefit them. She is eager to express her views and writing dilutes her estrangement, but a woman asserting her independence can only be a symptom of a hysteria. The electroshock therapy she receives in response is shown without any bells and whistles. Verhoeff depicts experienced, soberminded doctors calmly conducting a standard medical procedure. They even explain the science behind it all and when these "well-tested" practices have an adverse effect on Sjoukje she is diagnosed as being much further gone than everyone feared. Extreme measures are required: she has to stop writing immediately and her children must be sent to study abroad. 

For much of the film, Sjoukje has little agency over her life. All decisions on her behalf are taken by her husband, who is fully convinced he is acting rationally and with her best interests in mind. However, he is not presented without sympathy. In addition to The Godfather, Verhoeff seems also excessively influenced by impressionist paintings, especially those showing the upper class being leisurely in their Sunday clothes. The social/political gatherings in the film of course take place around the same time as many of these paintings were created, but the visual connection also serves to emphasise how removed these socialist politicians were from the people they identified with, and how that can lead to identity crises. Ultimately the film is much less interested in politics (its main point in this regard is that socialism can only be effective if it incorporates feminism) than in exploring how psychologically confusing it can be to have to act as a woman in a man's world or as a working class hero in high society.