Ernst Lubitsch's sparkling and elegant comedy, Trouble in Paradise, centers on three characters: a thief, a thief and a rich widow. The skeleton of the characters suggests predation and immorality, but the narrative subverts the most obvious outcome into a comedy of manners, morality and romance, with a complete snub of several established moral and social conventions. Indeed, two of the fundamental principles of most Hollywood films, the triumph of love and the importance of honesty, are reversed; their own opposites are put on display. It's an astonishing and very un-Hollywood film from the 1930s, and is largely a product of its studio, Paramount. Ernst Lubitsch, its director, was allowed to espouse truly upper-class and even criminal morality, within a sophisticated and refined package. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay As probably best exemplified by Lubitsch, whose sly, elegant comedies contrasted so vividly with Capra's open, homespun films, Paramount's films were decidedly non-egalitarian. They did not dignify the public; they took them away into a world of splendor and sex where people spoke with innuendo, acted with abandon, and doubted the rewards of virtue (Gabler 204). In contrast to other films of its era, such as 1933's Gold Diggers, there is no poor girl with a heart of gold who wins the millionaire's heart. There is no triumph of honesty and disregard of social distinctions, as when Brad tells everyone that he intends to marry Polly despite the huge difference between their social positions (and succeeds). Rather, Lubitsch's glossy, clever comedy embraces class snobbery to the extent that Gaston and Lily pretend to be a baron and a countess. These two professional thieves make their living by preying on the upper class and revel in their parasitic existence and deceptive lives as members of the class they prey on. They even make ironic jokes about them, referring to their method of theft and profit. When Lily talks about her imaginary friends, the dukes, earls, kings and marquesses, she sighs heavily and says, "Everyone's always talking about shop. They're trying to sell jewelry." These thieves have no remorse about what they do and who they are. As Gabler says, Paramount was able to balance its films between "sophistication with a certain edgy realism – the gentleman with the crook, the civilized with the tough, the gentlemanly with the tough" (205). From the beginning of Trouble in Paradise, the story and people in the film are suspect. The opening sequence, as Peter Bogdonavich points out in the DVD commentary, sets the scene neatly and discreetly in Venice, showing a street cleaner singing in Italian and loading his gondola with waste. But Lubitsch also warns us that everything the two main characters are about to say - their whole long romantic discussion about their imaginary upper-class lives - is false. Indeed, “our gondolier is a street cleaner, our baron a jewel thief, and our countess a cutpurse” (Poague 77). Likewise, nothing about the hero and heroine is distinctively “Hollywood,” even before the audience knows they are criminals. “Baron” Gaston is handsome and suave, but not as masculine as movie stars like Cary Grant; rather, he has an upper-class stubbornness and effeminacy (especially evident in his discussion with Madame Colet about her shades of lipstick and powder). Likewise, Miriam Hopkins as Lily, while certainly a beauty, is dressed and portrayed throughout much of the film aspretty, small, lively and competent (in pickpocketing) as opposed to Kay Francis' portrayal as Madame Colet as the most sublime and elegant beauty. The typical Hollywood version, as in 1933's Gold Diggers, would portray the film's heroine or heroines as the most beautiful woman or women in the world.film (as are Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondel). Thus, when viewers meet Madame Colet later in the film, sympathy automatically shifts to her, instead of remaining with Lily, the "true love" of Gaston and his partner in crime. These strange inversions of “who is the heroine?” and “is the hero really a hero?” they continue in the film not only in appearances but in the actions of the characters. Gaston is able not only to plot a serious theft against Madame Colet, but also to manipulate and engineer a scandalous act of fornication and betrayal against his own Lily, even with Madame Colet. When neither happens the character doesn't seem redeemed, because he isn't sorry at all. The "long con" that Gaston plays on Madame Colet is not even tempered by a Robin Hood ideal - it is clear that Gaston and Lily will only use the proceeds of a theft by Madame Colet for their frivolous, jobless lifestyle , not to donate to the poor or use the money for some other worthy cause. As Eyman writes, “Lubitsch never tries to make characters conventionally warm or likable” (Eyman 193). Gaston and Lily are real opportunists, and indeed the criminal nature of each of them seems to be sexually exciting to the other. Lily goes so far as to say "I love you like a hustler," and the moment their true identities are revealed to each other, the sexual tension breaks. Gaston locks the door, physically shakes Lily (apparently to retrieve her wallet) and steals her garter, and she throws herself into his arms. In fact, the next scene we have of them is domestic, with no mention of a marriage certificate. The implication of sex without marriage is clear. Thus, in addition to the repudiation of traditional ideas of legal ownership and theft, they are also denied the sexual ideas of marriage, monogamy, and fidelity. None of the main characters are married (including the comedic characters played by Edward Everett Horton and Charlie Ruggles), and, by the end of the film, it appears that none of them will get married. Madame Colet even says: "Marriage is a beautiful mistake that two people make together." It is tacitly acknowledged that Gaston loves both Madame Colet and Lily, or at least desires them both, but he is still loved by both women, and is eventually taken back by his girlfriend Lily. There is a direct parallel to the more conventional state of affairs, where the beautiful woman (Madame Colet) has two suitors (the Major and Monsieur Fileba), whom she chastely keeps at bay and does not love. Gaston has two women he loves and intends to be intimate with both. This is the compelling and interesting triangle, rather than the ridiculous and comical triangle of two failed suitors. Lubitsch is definitely abandoning the normal idea of ​​romantic intrigue for a more modern and cynical one." Trouble in Paradise is perhaps Lubitsch's clearest statement on the tenuous nature of romantic relationships, and the need for variation and some gentle mutual deception to avoid away from lethargy and boredom" (Eyman 193). He seems to embody a kind of upper-class idea of ​​sexuality, where it is accepted that a man (there was undoubtedly a double standard) not only has a wife (or girlfriend, in Gaston's case) but also a mistress, as as kings and aristocrats did. Gaston is not condemned for his double love, except by the injured party (Lily), which adds to his aura of glamour. There is also a level of blatant physical and sexual dominance that Gaston displaysabout the women in his life which is disturbing. and not at all playful. Both Lily and Madame Colet secretly dunk in their coffee when Gaston isn't looking. Evidently he wouldn't like such vulgarity. During their first meeting, Gaston boldly suggests to Madame Colet that he hypothetically spank her (like her father, or like his secretary). When Gaston and Lily have their date in Venice, he, in a disgusting moment suggestive of rape, locks the door and grabs Lily rather roughly. It regulates what Madame Colet eats, what she wears, and what she exercises. There is less of a romantic admirer and more of a control freak in Gaston, which further complicates his status as a hero. In fact, the main attractions of all these characters, especially Gaston, are their looks and charm. It seems that beautiful people get away with it more than unattractive people. The Major and Monsieur Fileba, for example, receive no sympathy when they are robbed or thrown away by Madame Colet, and their bumbling antics are contrasted with Gaston's grace and brilliant runs up the stairs. Gaston's masterful management of the meeting room and bedroom is important. matters here, not his moral code or his checkered past. It's a matter of strength being good: strength is social grace, good looks and charm. The beautiful and elegant people – Gaston and Madame Colet – form the “erotic center” (Eyman 192) of the film. It is their love story, the most illicit in a film full of illicit or failed romantic relationships, that is important. And it's not at all the kind of ending you would expect, where the compensation of the injured party in the triangle (Lily) is the money and jewels of her boyfriend's lover. Lily is sexually attracted to Gaston's warped morals, and her good graces can be bought back from Gaston by stealing from her romantic competition. The juxtaposition between romance and finance is so obvious that Gaston states (and viewers aren't entirely sure at the time whether it's true or not) that "As far as I'm concerned, all her (Madame's) sex appeal is in that confidence ". !" There is no idealization of love here: it is based mainly on the mutual financial and sexual benefit of both parties. There is a mate-like element, in that Lily is attracted to another thief, but Lily is always shown as the most infatuated of the couple composed of her and Gaston. The main drivers of love in this film are sex and money, with an amoral and socially dangerous attitude towards both "Love and theft not they just coexist, but they bask in each other's company." That any of these characters appeal to audiences is a testament to Lubitsch's direction and the actors' skill. The morality is so unconventional that it borders on the The aesthetics of the film, however, save it and not only in the captivating appearance of the protagonists. The film is shot in splendid interiors, with the finest clothes, furs and hairstyles, which give everything a splendor of beauty. wonderful unreality. Gaston and Madame are depicted as the upper echelon of society (Gaston's manners must come from ruined nobility - he is perhaps the most sophisticated and suave thief in cinema until Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief). Therefore, their morals, or lack thereof, might have been dismissed by viewers as the mores of the upper class, rather than the middle or working class. The film twists conventional morality so much, in fact, that Madame's most redeeming act is the fact that she doesn't prosecute Gaston for robbing her and paying off her lover's fiancée. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get an essay,., 2002