Rating:
****/*****, or 7/10
Typical
but classic 'weepie' (or 'women's film') from the late Thirties, a
star vehicle for Bette Davis who was nominated for an Academy Award
for her performance but didn't win (no matter, since she was
Oscar-nominated a whopping eleven times in total and took home two
such trophies during her career). Davis portrays a young wealthy
woman who enjoys life in a frivolous manner, drinking, smoking and
sporting too much, until she is diagnosed with a terminal illness
that will kill her within a year. Instead of crying over it (which is
left to the audience), she chooses to concentrate on the important
things in life, finds love with the doctor examining her and keeps
her dignity until the very (bitter) end, thus going out in a 'dark
victory' in her acceptance of the inevitable as she embraces her
death instead of needlessly living in fear for the unavoidable for
the remainder of her days. The final scenes in which she says goodbye
to her new husband as he leaves for a business trip while she,
unknown to him, is in the final stages of her physical collapse –
in order for him to remember her as she wants him to – is a serious
tearjerking moment like only the Thirties could provide; hence the
genre nickname 'weepies'. Despite the emphatically tragic occurrences
and strong performances making it feel compelling, the general level
of melodrama is overly high for many (male) audience members, which
is a reason films like these were mainly marketed to the female
spectators. Co-starring Humprey Bogart in a pre-Casablanca
role, not as a bad guy in this case.
Starring:
Bette Davis, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart
Directed
by Edmund Goulding
USA:
Warner Bros., 1939
