I had trouble following the finer details of this film’s plot, and not simply because I tend tune out during musical moments. I counted three (maybe four or more) separate instances where exposition is given through letters with cursive that resembled calligraphy and made it difficult to read. Subsequently, I am left without the finer bits of context. It is a cinematic crouch to continually dump exposition on the viewer through letters.
In regards to the film’s gender politics, female agency is in peril. Certainly the whole idea of an arranged marriage threatens female agency, while it is usually depicted as benefiting the man. While Julio claims that he will allow things to run their course in Rio, and let Belinha choose who she chooses, Belinha’s allegiance ultimately lies with her family. She has a line in which she says, “musn’t we always please our fathers” and therefore she will ultimately pick Julio as her husband. There is a scene where Belinha denies meeting with Julio, but she is then rebuked by her mother for doing so.
During the films climax, where the musical and aviation performance begins at the hotel’s opening, there was a moment where just before they begin to play their unwrapped instruments, the conductor asks, “are you ready boys?” and then it struck me, every musical performer was hilariously a man. All the women are up in the sky, chained to the planes. A comic moment follows where Ginger Rogers is left chained to the plan while Julio runs off. Julio is the only man up flying with the women, but he himself has become emasculated. Sure he is made out to be gentlemanly, he states, “Her (Belinha) happiness is my happiness” but this is just after he catches Belinha kissing Roger. So he may be able to marry Belinha, but he will never really have her love. Instead, he gives up Belinha to Roger, like a commodity being traded.
On a side note, this musical romance comedy reminded me of Renoir’s romance comedy, The Rules of the Game. Both feature an event which brings two men together who share the same lover, and rather than fight for her, they agree to, “let things run their course.” Both films also feature a voyeuristic binocular moment.
Mack, I agree about your observation of the handwritten details in certain scenes. I think it may have been considered simple to read at the time when cursive was much more widely used in the states, however as it has more or less gone out of style, its harder for people to comprehend.
However, I may challenge your suggestion that on a global scale arranged marriage threatens female agency. I definitely agree with you that in many cultures (especially in decades past) there are/were benefits to the man’s family, such as a dowry, and more significant consequences to the woman for desiring to break off a marriage than a man, however I think arranged marriages have changed in many ways (for example I believe in India, dowries are now illegal, although still practiced). Additionally, in historical terms, women used to have less rights than men across the globe, so female agency wasn’t simply being lost through their ability to decide upon their marital arrangements, but many more societal structures were in place to limit their independent decision making.
As a final note, I didn’t put two and two together that Julio was literally the only man in the sky at the end of the film. This is a good catch and, yes it does seem as though women are both being put on a pedestal and sexualized from above, and men are able to watch the entertainment from below, but it did work as a way of taking away agency from Julio when he discovers that Belinha has defied their arrangement and kissed Roger.
Thanks for your thoughts!