Film #4 — 1/1 Most Popular Film from the 1940s I Hadn’t Seen; 3/9 Decades
By C. Ramsay
Although the pacing is a little slow during the first half, the characters are so endearing that it’s worthwhile spending time with them. Irena, originally from Serbia and still mostly askew in New York, is especially sympathetic as a protagonist experiencing isolation from her country, culture, friends, and family, as well as through the gendered expectations placed on her. She spends most of her time desperately trying to fit into a box that was never sized for her, fearing the consequences of not being able to do so, and performing for the satisfaction of the people around her to her own detriment.
Irena’s arc is resonant for the same reasons as Medea’s in the play of the same name—a woman capable and established in her own right is seen as different in an unfamiliar society and is betrayed by a husband she thought she could trust, leading to a compulsion to commit acts of violence as her only means of escape. The caged panther that Irena regularly visits reveals her fundamental misunderstanding of the creature she projects herself onto, even if she means well, which is paralleled by how the people in her life treat her and her reactions in turn. Neither she nor the panther are innately evil, but when pressured and lacking alternatives both will escalate in accordance with what is assumed of them by the masses, fitting in only in how they were expected not to. “I love silence, I love loneliness,” is uttered by Irena in despair at the eventual realization that she cannot pretend herself into someone she isn’t for people who claim to care about her but never really change their own behaviours in meaningful ways. Isolation at least provides the opportunity for a less challenged understanding of oneself.
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