Ms Kathleen's Movie Review

Screen 6 of 8

With all this craziness going on about the place we might not take Norma seriously but that's where Max comes in. Because he believes, because he has devoted his life to her shrine, we believe. His love convinces us there must be something worth loving in Norma, and that in turn helps explain how Joe can accept her. And accept her he does. Although he is not entirely willing to prostitute himself; Holden projects subtle weakness and self-loathing into the role. He goes through the forms of saying he doesn't want Norma's gifts, but he takes them--the gold cigarette cases, the platinum watch, the suits, the shirts, the shoes. He claims to be surprised on New Year's Eve when she throws a party just for the two of them, but surely he has known from the first that she wants not only a writer, but a young man to reassure her that she is still attractive.

The thing about Norma is that life with her isn't all bad. She isn't boring. Her histrionics and dramaturgy are entertaining, and she has a charming side, as when she stages a pantomime for Joe, playing a Max Sennett bathing girl and then doing a passable version of Chaplin's Tramp. Joe is willing to be her kept lover and admits to passively accepting her instruction: "She'd taught me how to play bridge by then, just as she'd taught me some fancy tango steps, and what wine to drink with what fish."

Joe wasn't all that disgusted by resigning himself as a gigolo.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars