The Divorcee (1930) and Its Challenges - Essay Example

A husband has a brief extra marital affair and considers it nothing. He asks his wife for forgiveness but his wife, in order to make him realize the sensitivity of the issue, has an affair with her husband’s friend and then the husband realizes that it must mean something. The film starts with a party in New York with a number of social elite. Jerry Bernard, played by Norma Shearer, is an informal leader of the group who breaks the news of her engagement with Ted Martin, played by Chester Morris, at the party.

Paul, played by Conrad Negel, is in love with Jerry and he is disappointed by the news of Jerry’s engagement with Ted. Paul gets drunk at the party and on his way home he gets into an accident and causes facial disfigurement to Dorothy, played by Helen Johnson, who was a passenger in the car. Paul gets remorseful and decides to marry Dorothy himself. On the day Paul decides to marry Dorothy in a hospital bedside ceremony, Jerry and Ted also get married and have a lavish wedding ceremony. Years pass and Ted and Jerry lead a happy married life.

On the third anniversary of their marriage, Ted is compelled to go out of town for a meeting in Chicago. The friends of Ted and Jerry take them out for a party and they bring another woman named Janice Meredith, played by Mary Doran, with them. The fact that Janice accompanies them upsets Ted but they go anyway. Janice corners Ted in the kitchen and here it is disclosed that Ted and Janice had a brief affair a short time earlier. Jerry finds Ted and Janice in the kitchen with Janice’s arms around Ted.

A short time later Ted admits to his wife that he had a brief affair with Janice. He justifies his position by saying that he had been drunk and the affair was nothing but an unfortunate incident. After Ted leaves for Chicago, Jerry feels upset because of the disclosure of Ted’s brief affair. To cheer her up, Don played by Robert Montgomery, Ted’s best friend takes Jerry out. Don flirts with Jerry and Jerry responds. Ted returns from his trip a week later and he is filled with remorse. He asks for Jerry’s forgiveness and justifies his position by saying that the affair meant nothing.

They had almost reconciled their differences when Jerry admits that she had balanced their accounts when Ted was away for the trip. She, similar to Ted, justifies her position by saying that her short lived affair meant nothing and it too should be overlooked. Jerry expects Ted to be reasonable and treat her affair as he treats his own but Ted refuses to forgive her. Jerry becomes outraged at Ted’s behavior and after arguing, both of them decide to divorce. Both of them regret the break up but due to their stubbornness, do not reconcile.

Jerry has a series of affairs afterwards and years pass. Ted moves to Paris due to his job. Paul encounters Jerry in train while she was in the company of Ivan. Paul knocks Ivan out when he mistreats Jerry. Paul tells Jerry that he wants to marry her and he can even dump his wife for her. While Jerry considers Paul’s proposal, she is visited by Dorothy who asks her not to destroy her marriage. Jerry then renounces Paul’s proposal and moves to Paris. She hopes to find Ted and visits various nightclubs for that purpose.

Finally she finds Ted and he is surprised to see her in Paris. Ted initially thinks that Jerry is there for her honeymoon with Paul but she says that Ted is her only read husband. At this point they finally reconcile their