EveryBestPicture.com revisits this Oscar Best Picture winner "All About Eve". Unassuming, never puts a foot wrong- both the title role and the film. Both begin as fairly nondescript, but it is hinted at early on that there is more to Eve than meets the eye, and so we watch events unfold with anticipation. With an impossibly strong female cast (Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe are among the supporting cast, Ann Baxter the titular Eve) it is for once the turn of the men to decorate the set with limited roles. Shots are usually from behind and over the man's shoulder and constructed to ensure the women take centre stage. And with good reason. This is a tale of women existing within the constraints put upon them living in a man's world. Margot (Davis) has given everything to her career and begins to see the end nearing with every passing day- her roles were always written for twenty-somethings and it has been a while since she was pushing forty. Now, in her words, she is working hard just to 'stay a woman'. In the men's eyes Karen (Celeste Holm) exists as a wife, and a friend to other women, but nothing more. Miss Casswell (Monroe) a ditzy film actress more than willing to play the angles she needs to in order to give those with the whip hand reason to let her get ahead. Margot leads the way as the ageing talent they love a verbal tussle with, but are tired of having to bow to. When you finally see Eve reveal her true colours it comes as no surprise, her intensity is dialled up a notch, and the reaction from Margot is proportional, finally vindicated in her suspicion of the butter-wouldn't-melt Eve. I am moved to note that the negativity in the relationships between the women, the backbiting, plotting and holding on to by their teeth to what little dignity they are afforded by the powerful men around them reflects the schoolyard and the power games played between 14 year old schoolgirls. It is all the power they are allowed to wield, and their 'histrionics' (as they are perceived) are easily dismissed by those not involved. But just like in the playground, the distress caused by these power games is always surprisingly powerful when it is finally revealed after having been suppressed for so long in order to keep a hold of their dignity. This film, so laden with verbal guile, ends equally gracefully. We want the plotter to get her just desserts, but we also love it when a Machiavellian scheme bears fruit. Both would have been the most satisfying of endings. Whichever you might hope for, you get more. There is no suggestion that this is the end, no suggestion that anyone involved has bettered themselves or learned their lesson- it suggests that leading ladies are in a constant cat fight and the only dignified end is an exit, not a victory. This is a film which holds its own nearly 70 years after its release. Every element, even down to the interaction between the sexes, have aged, but they have done so brilliantly. Nobody comes out of it unscathed, but it certainly suggests that there is more than one way to come out on top once claws are bared in human interactions. This is a thoroughly entertaining watch, one whose appeal lies beyond the usual ground of the nostalgia nerd, and I commend it for its enduring quality. With thanks to Hannah Laurel who requested this review
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AuthorPablo Griffiths is a man with a passion for many things. He has recently taken an interest in writing about film, and himself in the third person. |