This film, along with All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard, is among the three greatest critical films about the Hollywood film industry.
This film is compared with the legendary horror Misery and no less legendary drama Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf?
This film became the basis of the popular TV series “Feed”, which told about the shooting of the film and the relationship between the two stars of the film.
Without a doubt, this is a film that is worth watching for everyone who is seriously interested in cinema.
What Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) is a psychological thriller in which drama and horror fight for genre primacy just as the main characters of the tape fight each other.
The focus is on two sisters. One of them (Batt Davis) was once a super-successful kid performing on the stage with her father. She sang and danced under the enthusiastic eyes of thousands of fans. Another (Joan Crawford) spent her childhood in the shadow of her sister, but becoming a girl, won fame as a film actress. While the younger sister became an adult lost her former fame and failed to succeed in the film industry.
They hated each other. But they spent their whole lives together. The former actress was confined to a wheelchair for many years as a result of the accident. And the once pretty girl lost her mind, caring for her hated sister and remembering her former successful childhood.
To modern viewers, What Happened to Baby Jane? is likely to be too naive and too strange. This is a very rare sight when the center of attention is an old crazy former star paired with a helpless sister, completely unable to resist the madness of a relative.
But this film is not accidental enjoys many decades of audience love. This is a really interesting and original picture. Horror often uses the motive of jealousy and rivalry between children. But these feelings often do not disappear with the years. Childhood jealousy and child rivalry often translate into adult hatred and sophisticated revenge.
It is widely known, including thanks to the TV series “Feud”, that the actresses who played the main roles in the film hated and competed with each other in real life. Both of them at the time of filming were already forgotten old stars, of little interest to the general public. But even if you do not go into the biography of these actresses, it is obvious that the story of “What happened to Baby Jane?” is universal and timeless.
Few people obviously go crazy because the best years of their lives are far behind them. But even for those who have nothing to do with Hollywood, this situation is given with great difficulty. We all want something beautiful ahead of us. Who among us has not felt the burning envy of seeing something given to someone close to us easily and simply when it becomes an unattainable goal? Who among us has not focused on comparing our own successes with the successes of well-known and close people?
What happened to Baby Jane? is less well known than All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard. Not because it's worse, but because he's much more critical of the acting profession. It shows that even though they are incredibly popular and successful, actors cannot resist the sense of rivalry and do anything to destroy those who stand in their way. It's an incredibly sad movie. Although it looks as caricatured as possible, the harsh truth of life pulsates in every frame.
What Happened to Baby Jane? is a film about the terrible essence of man, capable of destroying not only rivals, but also themselves.
39: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 39, directed in 1962
Robert Aldrich. This film is considered a little-known film, but in vain, this film is one of the best in its genre. It can be attributed to such genres as: psychological thriller, family drama and tragedy.
In terms of plot, it is quite primitive, the plot moves are all predictable. The story of the relationship between two sisters, one of whom became a popular singer and actress in childhood, while the other was kept in her shadow. Then the storyline turns the other way and the sisters switch places. Against this background, the sister who lost everything feels envy and hatred.
The best in the film is a brilliant acting game that keeps in suspense throughout the film, makes you empathize with the main characters and creates a feeling of complete immersion in the story.
The strongest scene for me is the one where Blanche (Joan Crawford) tries to go down the stairs to the phone. The acting of the actress is so realistic that you unwittingly put yourself in the place of the character and try to find ways to save her.
Special attention should be paid to the musical accompaniment of the picture. Dramatic melodies of stringed instruments created by composer Frank De Vol create the atmosphere of the film, which you recreate after watching the film and experience the events in the picture again and again.
It is worth noting the work of makeup artists and costumers. The image of Jane (Batt Davis), created by them absolutely reflects the inner state and all the mental throwing of the main character. Therefore, in 1963 the film was awarded an Oscar for the best work of the costume designer in the film.
It is worth noting that the film is not without disadvantages: one of them is a sharp change of scenes and musical accompaniment, but this does not affect the overall perception.
Undoubtedly I recommend to all fans ' Old Hollywood' watching this film.
For the average viewer, Hollywood is exclusively entertaining, and sometimes even enlightening in nature, each year producing several dozen, if not hundreds, of a variety of films, few of which have become masterpieces of world cinema. But Hollywood is a business that has the same laws and the same fierce competition as producers and directors and actors. So, one of the most striking Hollywood confrontations was the feud between the legends of classical Hollywood Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, who managed to unite in the cult psychological horror of Robert Aldrich “What happened to Baby Jane?”
In 1917, young Jane Hudson won hundreds of fans with her bright charismatic performances on vaudeville stages, but her star of fame died out a few years later, when in the mid-1930s her sister, the successful actress Blanche, broke out on the pedestal. Already at this point, enmity begins to flare up between the sisters, eventually leading to tragedy when Blanche is confined to a wheelchair for life. Many years later, the sisters are forced to live together in the same house. And while Jane is forced to hatefully care for her disabled sister, Blanche begins to feel threatened by her own life when Jane's hatred becomes more aggressive.
It is worth considering that the film was doomed for commercial success even before the start of production, since the producers managed to combine on one screen not just two legends, but two real “megers”, whose fierce mutual hatred was rumored for many years. However, it should be noted that the main roles were played by truly talented actresses, each of whom managed to create a unique image on the screen. Of course, the first thing to note is Bette Davis as Jane. Jane in her performance is an eternally gloomy, rude, tired old alcoholic with psychopathic antisocial symptoms that turn her into a real uncontrollable monster. Joan Crawford played the role of Blanche, a compassionate sister who, despite Jane’s behavior and rudeness, continues to give her indulgences, as if trying to atone for some guilt.
As you know, during the work, the director suffered a lot from the whims and constant scandals caused by actresses. However, in the end, he managed to shoot one of the best examples of psychological horror, in which psychological tension takes on surreal forms of human madness. In fact, before the viewer unfolds, at first glance, a standard family drama about the difficult relationship of two sisters, whose conflict grew against the background of fame and envy. The problem is that this conflict is not limited to banal quarrels or insults, and sometimes goes beyond the limits of what is allowed, when one hero begins not only morally, but also physically to abuse another hero. This hatred sways like a pendulum, wreaking havoc and harming innocents who just happen to get their hands on it. As a result, the conflict overtakes the climax of a simple human dialogue, when the long-awaited truth finally emerges, and hatred turns into love.
The plot of the film opens with a scene in 1917, where we see Jane Hudson performing on the vaudeville stage, who has gained such popularity among the public that children's dolls are even released in her honor. All this happens in front of her modest and reserved sister Blanche, who, however, is tired of living in the shadow of Jane. As a result, in the 1930s, in the golden years of old Hollywood, both sisters try to conquer the dream factory, but it is Blanche who manages to quickly break ahead, while Jane is left on the stage. All this leads to tragedy when Blanche becomes a cripple in a car accident, and Jane, whom the public accuses of trying to kill her own sister, forever loses the chance to rebuild her career. Years later, Jane and Blanche both live in the same house. Jane hates to look after her sister, tidying up the house and preparing food for Blanche, while Blanche, confined to a wheelchair, spends his days at the TV, enjoying watching movies in which he managed to star before the accident. However, Jane’s behavior becomes more aggressive and aggressive every day, and one day she kills the canary Blanche in spite, and then brings her a corpse of an animal on a tray as a meal for dinner. Fearing for his life, Blanche decides to send Jane to a mental hospital, but by tragic accident Jane learns about it, and Blanche’s life turns into a literal nightmare in which she alone is forced to fight for survival.
The result of “What happened to Baby Jane?”, indeed, can be christened as one of the best examples of psychological horror, in which also played two actresses, previously far from such a genre. Moreover, the film is worth noting not only for directing or acting, but also for the general style and special aesthetics behind the scenes of Hollywood, which has acquired gloomy forms of human madness. In general, I recommend watching.
Did you spy on me? Ha! What did you think?
(approximately 39th minute of the film)
What happened to Baby Jane?
From an early age, Blanche was in the shadow of her sister, Baby Jane. It's been years. Baby Jane’s career has sunk to the bottom, but Blanche has become a global celebrity. Our time. Baby Jane takes care of a paralyzed Blanche.
Great movie! No exaggeration. A real classic. You gotta watch it, damn it. "What happened to Baby Jane?" Aldrich is a chic adaptation of the novella of the same name by Henry Farrell.
Robert did a titanic job. He returned to the big screens – Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. That is, two brilliant actresses who annealed in the 30-40s. By the way, he returned them on such a scale that Davis was even nominated for an Oscar for the role of Baby Jane (her last nomination). The most interesting thing - the actresses (immediately!) hated each other.
To say that the shooting was difficult, nothing to say. It came to physical violence, in one scene, Davis with all the force mutated Crawford's legs. You know? Aldrich needs a monument. He ran and comforted them every day. On one side is the atomic bomb. On the other hand, the atomic bomb. Aldrich was a big man. Yes, yes, I lost weight there with them, ah heh heh.
It’s an amazing game (who would doubt it). What are we talking about, two such high-class actresses in the same film, pig delight. “What happened to Baby Jane?” in two hours with pennies – couldn’t come off, guys. It’s an incredibly beautiful movie that flew by in a minute. The ocean of emotion. The ending is a shock!
The rating on IMDB is 8.1. Impressive (for the 1962 film). I don’t trust the ratings, but it all came together. Believe anyone who says, “What happened to Baby Jane?” It's not a horror movie (although it's occasionally shoved into various horror tops). Before us is a drama where there are notes of a psychological thriller.
In other words, it’s just a great movie. I love Joan. I love Bette. I’m sure you won’t drink old school. She's the coolest. They were able to shoot before! Beautiful and heartfelt.
Cosmically sad story. . .
P.S.
Ryan Murphy created a series called Feud. Want to know what kind of bacchanalia happened on the set of “What happened to Baby Jane?”? Turn it on. The show is cool. Lang plays Crawford. Sarandon plays Davis. Raspberry plays Aldrich.
Henry Farrell’s novel What Happened to Baby Jane was first filmed in 1962. Director Robert Aldrich managed to shoot an impressive psychological thriller with elements of black comedy, which incorporated the best features of "Psycho" and "Sunset Boulevard".
In the 1910s, Jane Hudson was an incredibly famous and talented child star, mesmerizing with her angelic voice and cherubic appearance. The audience in the crowded halls could hardly hold back tears of tenderness and delight, looking at the girl doll, so sincerely and touchingly singing from the stage her main hit “I’ll write a letter to Dad”. However, Jane was not mature enough and believable for serious roles. Spectator love faded like the light of spotlights, and later completely disappeared, and poor baby Jane suddenly was forgotten and rejected, while her sister Blanche, for many years standing in the shadow of the unique Baby Jane, in the 1930s suddenly became a popular and promising actress, a new favorite of the public. Blanche predicts a successful film career and a starry future. But, being at the peak of popularity, she gets into a mysterious car accident and is confined to a wheelchair.
For many years, the two sisters live as recluses in an old estate, where Blanche is forced to rely on her sister, who mindlessly wastes her family fortune and drowns her longing for audience love, heartache, jealousy and resentment in a sea of alcohol. Aged Jane, Shirley Temple of her era, still childishly believes in the possibility of a glorious return to the stage and desperately clings to the image of the eternal child.
Here are two completely opposite but equally tragic characters: Jane is a self-centered, weeping, irresponsible, vengeful witch living with false hopes that drive her crazy. Blanche, on the other hand, immediately wins our trust and compassion, but she also has a dark side that gradually comes to the surface.
The frightening and hopelessly gloomy atmosphere of the film, perfectly matched music and black and white film causes a progressive sense of claustrophobic paranoia, which in the final for some reason gives way to sadness and aching anguish.
When I started watching the series Feud, which tells about the relationship of two important actresses of the mid-20th century, I did not know that it was about a real story and a real movie. And after watching only two episodes, I decided to first look at the source: What happened to Baby Jane?
For old, and especially black and white, I have something pleasant and at the same time
A strange feeling: nostalgia for the times when my parents were also in the project. In 90% of cases, watching black and white movies, you can be sure that it is a masterpiece. Well, at least, it is worth paying attention.
There. The film is unmatched. From beginning to end. The acting of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis will give a head start to many. In the two hours I watched, I never took off the screen. The plot is also thought out to the smallest detail and is insanely interesting. For the characters you worry, worry, or vice versa, they infuriate you, but will not leave you indifferent for sure.
The awards received by the film crew are absolutely deserved. A beautiful film.
Young singer Jane is loved by the audience. Fans are buying dolls created in the image of Baby Jane. Blanche looks at her sister's success from behind the scenes. She swallows tears and tries to remember the resentment that her sister inflicts on her arrogance. But as adults, Blanche and Jane switch places: the first becomes a movie star, the second - her talentless appendage. And then there is a new reversal: chained as a result of a car accident to a wheelchair, an aged Blanche becomes a hostage of the sadistic survivor Baby Jane. It is from this moment that the viewer is actively connected to the story about what really happened between the sisters.
Robert Aldrich has brilliantly told a claustrophobic story that takes place behind the closed doors of a two-story mansion. Nearby live neighbors, but no one guesses how things really are at two eccentric old women.
The film itself is based on the play of two charismatic actresses - Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. It would be interesting to know how Aldrich was able to convince the two divas to literally meet in open combat, as Davis and Crawford had been rivals since the 1930s and hated each other. By the way, there was even a legend that in the scene where Jane kicks Blanche, Davis hit Crawford so hard that Joan needed stitches. But I have to admit that this is just a legend.
The horror of history is not that two actresses were jealous of each other for fame. And the fact that such a story can right now take place behind the wall of your apartment, where lonely old people live!
In 1964, the British Film Academy brought Davis and Crawford in the nomination “Best Foreign Actress”. But the contender for the Oscars and Golden Globes was only Bette. Obviously, bad girls are still more popular.
8 out of 10
It’s actually a cult movie, and I personally love it. Now the world's attention has returned to this picture. Because of the wonderful and simply stunning series “Feud”, in which Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon amazingly well played brilliant American actresses of the last century Bette Davis and Juan Crawford. The series turned out very good, and it revealed many interesting secrets of Davis and Crawford, as well as the creation of their joint film “What happened to Baby Jane?” Those who have not seen this film before, after the series "Home" was curious to appreciate it.
This is the story of two sisters: Blanche and Baby Jane. One of them was popular and the audience loved it. The other was jealous of her and lived in her shadow. After many years, the sisters are still together, but sisterly grievances do not subside. We see a sinister and frightening story, a story of madness and revenge, rage and despair.
This is a rare film that can be watched over time. Everything is simple genius, and he is. This picture is not like anything, and watching it gets into an incredible series of emotions. The film became the foundation of its genre and served as an example of creation for many films.
The film adaptation of the unknown book turned out simply gorgeous. The direction of Robert Aldrich is excellent. The story was shown interestingly, psychologically, and it was impossible to take off the screen. That's why I love this movie so much.
Bette Davis played her most vivid and unexpected role here. The image of the heroine she invented herself, and it turned out something chic. Her character is like no one, and she is on my list of favorite negative characters. Davis played very well here, and it’s a shame that she didn’t get the Oscar she wanted.
As for Joan Crawford, it's a shame. She also played brilliantly, and it’s a pity she didn’t get a nomination for the top American award. Personally, I think Crawford wasn’t there, I wanted more and more scenes with her.
The ending of this film will not be easy. This movie is like something unforgettable. I even compare it to a masterpiece like Hitchcock's Psycho. For all fans of something unusual and strong to watch.
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Thank you for your attention and pleasant viewing!
Is it easy to be famous? Baby Jane took a lethal dose of fame as a child, when she became a highly paid vaudeville star with snow-white curls, a bow and a bad temper attached to it. Her sister, Blanche, gained recognition and universal love much later, as an adult, when her sister’s fame quickly faded along with her talent. And although the plot of the story is moved to 1917, it is quite obvious that baby Jane Hudson is an inverted tracing tracing with Shirley Jane Temple, a miracle child and at the same time a Hollywood actress of the Great Depression period. She was so popular that the studio built a bungalow specifically for her right in Hollywood, scripts were written for her, she performed the first roles and even had a personal double-girl, and her face and far from natural curls were embodied in several lines of Shirley Temple dolls. Exactly everything too, though without a stunt double and bungalow, was and Baby Jane, but sweet and gentle to see her could only be on stage, and in normal communication the girl became an absolute tyrant. She yells at her father and takes a waiting position. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
“What happened to Baby Jane?” is a film about the price that artists pay for their popularity, about good and evil, about fierce hatred, envy and... about love, which does not bring happiness, but, on the contrary, destroys the trusting child’s soul, nurtures ambition and does not allow an adult to finally grow up. It’s just amazing that so many things fit in a fairly chamber film, because when Robert Aldrich began shooting, few people suspected that the film would become anything more than a horror film category “B”. Continuing and revealing from new sides the leitmotifs of “A Star is Born” and “Sunset Boulevard”, the film tells about the reverse side of the life of stars in oblivion, shows how creative inconsistency, guilt, envy and alcohol can deform a person, and resentment of childhood and self-admiration breed hypocrisy and meanness. Deliberately exaggerating, sometimes reaching complete absurdity, screen reality balances between a psychological thriller, a horror film and a black detective comedy, where buffoonade can be replaced by a subtle mockery of people’s harmful weaknesses.
Minutes add up to an infinity of excruciating pain and panic fear. Hope is replaced by despair and despair, the realization of doom and the inability to turn everything into a joke. Dim lamps, gloomy shadows on the wall, the oppressive atmosphere of the house, where there is no life for a long time, recalls both the mysteriously sad stories of E. Poe and the sinister Malpertuis. Jean Ray, whose inhabitants left this world and left only decay. Too long ago, poison spilled through the arteries and veins, struck the body and, like cancer metastases, penetrated deep into the souls so that even the best doctor can not help now. Moreover, they no longer have time, because what happens inside, outside the walls of the respectable la maison, more like the circles of Dante Hell, where the Hudson sisters signed sentences with their own hands.
Black and white film with photographic accuracy ruthlessly emphasizes the traces of wilting on the faces of former film stars and the moral degradation of their characters. It creates a deceptive confidence that external ugliness is a reflection of the ugliness of the soul (the question is only whose?), deftly hiding the truth until the very end. Baby Jane in clothes made of vulgar ruffles, with vulgar makeup on her face shouts no less vulgar words and thoughts, almost openly mocks her sister. Blanche suffers with almost humility the martyr (the question is why?). Excessively curious neighbor with a speaking surname Bates stubbornly does not notice that in the house of a celebrity, this very celebrity is begging for help. And Robert Aldrich lovingly shoots two feuding and incredibly charismatic actresses - the beautiful Crawford and the talented Davis. After all, only he knows that in fact “it’s not as it seems.” It will allow Joan to grow younger in the frame (she took breaks between scenes to tighten the skin) until another producer notices it.
And Bette Davis, whitewashed to the ears, with black arrows in half a century and a heart fly on the cheek, causing complete disgust with the appearance and actions of her character, suddenly turns selflessly in the frame so that under the skirt of the dress will be visible from and to incredibly slender legs. And later, in the finale, Aldrich himself will be surprised by the magical transformation of this unsympathetic heroine, when, with a memorized theatrical gesture, Baby Jane opens her hands, as if she wants to be in the arms of the whole world, and suddenly becomes younger without any tricks for a certain number of years, mentally returning to the days of her starry childhood, where she was happy. After all, only there she was happy, and everything else is a dream, a terrible nightmare, from which you want to close your hands and never remember.
Strangely, in the minds of many, the film will be postponed precisely by the hostility of the sisters, personified by evil in the person of the younger Hudson and the confrontation of two famous actresses on the set, which served as the theme for the first season of the series “Feud”, and only a rare viewer will be sad from the realization that the Hudson sisters really loved little. Otherwise, Baby Jane would not have been a spoiled child from 1917, desperate for a huge amount of love and never received it, and Blanche would have learned to love more than herself. And their love story would have turned out to be completely different, perhaps more like the life of the real Shirley Jane Temple, whose mother managed to raise a star girl not a narcissistic puppet from Doll Valley, but a Man.
Parental guilt is a quote from the beginning of the film. In principle, the beginning of the film gives a clear explanation of what happened to Baby Jane.
And here's what happened. There's a girl living, my father's favorite. Tightly curled curls, porcelain face and long cilia are a copy of a doll you can buy. The doll is sold after the performance of its living prototype, a girl named Baby Jane.
Baby Jane is wildly popular and tickets to her concerts are sold out like hot cakes. She dances and sympathetically sings a song about her beloved daddy. However, after singing and dancing, the daughter rolls up a stage for the father (how she does it is better to see), in which she makes it clear who replenishes the family budget. The latter is a lethal argument in favor of doing what she sees fit. Naturally, Dad gives up his position before the whims of his beloved daughter!
Before us is the unbreakable and enduring union of an all-forgiving father and capricious daughter. After such a skewed love, everything would have ended with Baby Jane’s inflated demands for suitors and the complexities of personal life. If there were no "buts." His name is Blanche!
As you can see, this is the second heroine and, in combination, the sister of Baby Jane. She's always in the shadows. The father sees it as a “domestic adder”. The only one who sometimes takes her side is a weak-willed mother. But Blanche is too passionate and independent, so mom’s attempts to somehow smooth out the conflict only hurt more and poison her soul. This “mental toxicosis” coupled with the consequences of “skewed love” and are the causes of the tragedy that will play out in the twilight of the lives of both sisters.
“You mean we could have been friends all this time?”
These words belong to Baby Jane herself. And they're addressed to Blanche. But they were spoken a few minutes before the end of the film. And between those two quotes is a two-hour story about a broken and, to be more precise, wrong life. Why wrong? Because both sisters could not forgive and accept each other as they really are. Most importantly, they could not cope with their own passions, resentments and complexes, which, as the beginning of chronic diseases, were slapped by their parents.
As a result, both sisters systematically and methodically destroyed each other. Both morally and physically.
But how masterfully and with increasing sadism they did it - it is better to see once than read reviews. Because the duet and acting are great and describe them, like ranting about Rembrandt’s paintings, without showing any of his work. For me, these are the best roles of Davis and Crawford. Roles that can be mastered only by great masters who have lived a life and know the sweet taste of prosperity and success, and the bitter taste of forgetfulness and loneliness.
The creators of the film are cunning, one intriguing name forced to cling to the screen, but after watching the attitude to this film I got ambivalent. On the one hand, this is truly one of the most powerful collisions in the cinema, which from the very beginning takes the string of nervousness and pulls it away with each subsequent scene, forcing the spirit of hatred imbued in the film to fidget on the chair clutching fists. Even at the end of the impatience of this dramatic heat, I was not jokingly hoping that some Jack Torrance from The Shining was about to appear and with a cry - "Here comes Johnny" will cut to hell this Baby Jane.
Such tension is caused primarily by the real hatred of the two actresses who played the main roles, and their personal tragedy of the acting crisis contributes to this, both among the actresses themselves and the characters they played. And against this background, the war of the sisters looks very natural, and therefore terribly tense.
But this film leaves behind a strong unpleasant residue on the soul, and while watching it only feeds hatred, of course, do not deny the skill of the director, but on the other hand, he took advantage of this rejection of two personalities and this thought did not give me peace throughout the film, it turns out that the director himself compares himself with the father of the sisters Jane, who in turn designated each their role in life and all for profit, without thinking at the same time how this will affect the people themselves, I think the actresses in life also began to hate each other more. There's a powerful moral side to the film, of course, but to think about it after watching it with my madness simmering? Screw it!
As a child, my sister and I were called White and Rose. Remember that German movie? The happy sisters are light and dark. But we weren't friends! First, jealousy. Secondly, the struggle for attention (or primacy). Third, I wanted blonde hair, and she wanted dark hair. There were fourth, fifth, and sixth. Yes, probably in any family there is a test brother or sister, especially if the difference in years is small. With age, everything smoothed and warmed. We are not perfect, but we live. And Mountain Spirit doesn't seem to bother. Memories of child war are fun, wounds are licked, the dead are buried.
Man always burys his dead. Question: Fear or love? I think Auden asked him. And if there is no love or fear, and there is only that which excludes them - obsession with resentment, revenge? Then he lives with corpses like Blanche and Jane. He becomes a living corpse.
The atmosphere of deadness, lifelessness, impregnated with the heavy smell of the past, from which no bars and locks can save, reigns in their deserted and uninhabited, as scenery, house. And each in a role. And everyone in makeup. And each in its own cage. And everyone is longing for freedom.
Goethe long ago said about us what Freud later discovered: “People at all times preferred twilight to a clear day.”
At night there are always ghosts:
I'm my mom's angel, and my dad loves me. I am my mother’s devil, and my father scolds me. A baby song. And also children's hairstyles, bows, candy, ice cream, a doll in human growth. Baby Jane, costs three dollars twenty-five cents, very beautiful, natural hair.
For Jane, this evaporated, ghostly world in which she was once a d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d-o-d is the only one. It is distorted as her old-fashioned drunken reflection in the mirror, as her perception, as her mind, but she lives in it. And he is not going to leave, because not everyone is able to survive the situation of a lost paradise, to be expelled from there. Especially when you don’t know why or why.
Stendhal said that memories are the only paradise from which there is no expulsion. It sounds strange, but Jane the whole movie lives in paradise and fights for it - with a gin, a hammer, a rat, a bird, feathers, ropes, gags, opened letters, cut wires, crossed photos, fake checks ... And sings and rejoices in it, like a righteous man in light robes, dances, flirts, builds eyes.
You might not believe it, but when I saw the movie, Carrolla remembered it with Alice. Only he has a fairy tale about his childhood, and here is a grotesque about him.
The super-idea of Carroll's book is memory. This movie, too.
Carroll gives a stunningly pure and moral covenant: to preserve in his mature years a simple and loving child’s heart, to make it a source of fairy tales for others, to look at the world through a pure mirror of yourself-child.
In this film, the child's gaze is terrifying. Childhood mirror is broken. The memory of him is a cursed labyrinth, a dark room, a frightening cabinet with skeletons. What made a baby mean to a baby? I think it was a price tag as a kid. And this: “They didn’t love you enough.” They just didn't love you enough. Love, which is attached to the price list, advertising and the requirement to please everyone (father’s love), paper-unreal, like kisses placed in an envelope (“I wrote a letter to papule, put kisses in the envelope”), dehumanizes.
Blanche's future happiness was killed in the same, same, same way. But she misidentified the perpetrator, issued an inaccurate sentence.
There is a saying that he who chooses revenge must dig two graves at once. Only when revenge stretches for years, in the graves of these have to live. And it is impossible to leave - who can part with the meaning of life?
It is good that Aldrich’s story did not turn into another reminiscence of the biblical story about the blood ties of Cain and Abel – good and bad. The director is a pathologist. Opening human souls, he sees in them a similar, not a screaming contrast (blonde / brunette, black clothes / white clothes - a game with the stereotypes of the viewer, nothing more). Under his scalpel, the sisters are mirrors. In each doll, that monstrous one lives, and the offended girl, and the actress, and the traitor, and the devotee, and the avenger, and the victim. Using the principle that one of the masters of the psychological thriller Chabrol loves so much: “There is always another story, there is always something that the eye does not notice,” he gives us an unexpected ending, in which the dark enlightenment of the truth is followed by an unanswered question: “Why, Blanche?” I have a guess. No clues.
“I’m the sweetest, smartest and most artistic in the world!”
When watching the film, I could not take my eyes off the two Oscar-winning actresses at once! Both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis played wonderfully, and the chemistry between them was so strong. Bette Davis played a character who has been perplexed throughout her adult life by the fact that her sister D. Crawford became a famous actress unlike her. And years later, fate brought them together because of past adversity. But Jane still can’t forgive her sister for her success in cinema and despite the fact that she subsequently paid for a wheelchair, Jane still treats her very harshly and with complete hatred. As a rule, this situation can not end on a good note.
Thanks to two actresses, the film looks on the same breath, as they were able to give their experiences, emotions. But I would like to single out Bette Davis, she managed to reflect the life resentments accumulated over the years, managed to convey an abnormal emotional outburst in moments when something does not go according to her idea, managed to keep the viewer throughout the film in sharp tension from her actions. But let me tell you, I didn’t like the ending. I don’t argue that all films should end the same way, but here it feels that this end is not suitable for the final, because why did it all start then, because there must be a logical end, in this production I did not see it, so I had to lower my grade. In general, the picture is strong, convincing and fascinating.