Vipere au Poing - Movie Review Example

Vipere au Poing Introduction This essay is on the comparison of Herve Bazin's first novel of a trilogy, 'Vipere au poing' published in 1948 and a 2005 remake of the movie that was first made in the early 70s, the 2005 remake is directed by Phillip de Broca and is almost exactly similar to the older version. The novel begins with Jean and his brother Freddie, living with their paraplegic grandmother, they live in a chateau in the country, the novel depicting the chateau as beautiful while during the death of the grandmother it was close to the winter season, this we could interpret in the novel and in the movie that the author is trying to depict the cold wintery situation that is going to be faced by both the brothers, Jean and Freddie. Because of the death of their grandmother they are expectant of their parents' return to France, both their parents have been in Indochina as their father, works as a teacher. Earlier on in the novel Jean recollects a memory in which he finds a viper in his grandmother's garden and kills it by strangling it, in the movie however, this scene is further transported to the middle of the movie just after the boys realize how horrible their mother, Paule is. The earlier scene which was very significant in the novel, in the movie was different. The first scene involved Paule on a daybed, her skin wrinkled and her hair white with two of her sons surrounding her and a doctor had just finished examining her, we can only assume that she is close to death at this time. Within the movie, the push of the significant scene of the viper in the fist to the middle of the movie was so that the audience could easily understand the extent of how difficult and cruel their mother was. Paule in an attempt to become extremely stingy even with Jean and stabbed his hand with a fork during dinner. The whole point of the book was that in the end Jean recollects the event of the viper because he looks back to the psychological and physiological abuse Paule did on them and no matter how hard he tried to leave Paule from his mind she continued to haunt him and with this the novel ends with Jean realizing that despite him being away from boarding school he was still left with the viper in his fist, meaning that he was suitably still poisoned from being with his mother. However, in the movie it ended a little more positively rather than the book, with an ending where Jacques, the boys' very weak and henpecked father seemed to be giving a little bit of hope for Jean and the family photograph they took of the whole family, although it seemed a little forlorn and lost of hope, but the fact that the summation of the movie brought that they were a dysfunctional family and that Jean was accepting this fate somewhat. Characters The characters of Viper in the Fist and the difference of interaction could be detailed over their relationship with each other. The most important being portrayed is Paule Rezeau, the boys' mother. Although, the main character is Jean but Paule was the mover of the story and a pivot of the whole storyline, on her rests the whole story and how it was to be portrayed and depicted. Paule, seemed to be a very difficult woman who believed in the older ways of handling children, another aspect of the novel that could describe Paule was that she was as if the older order of French people and what they should be, a figment of royalist behaviour. Their family was a bourgeois family, although they did not live in absolute utter poverty but they were in fact struggling to keep up appearances of their life towards an invisible society. This could be seen Paule's incessant ways to save money. She detested electricity and let the boys sleep without heat and remain cold in their rooms at night, there were no electric lights in their home and their dinners were held in candlelight. Paule also kept everything down to the teabags in cupboards in the dining room that she locked and the key safely tucked with her. Paule had a difficult relationship with Jean and Freddie and to some extent Marcel, their youngest brother whom was with Paule and Jacques in Asia. However, in the movie she showed somewhat an inclination towards Marcel as she gave him a pastry after he did some work in the garden while Jean and Freddie was left to do the work and was supervised by Paule. Freddie, the older brother was shown in a lesser light of hostility by Paule rather than Jean whom she vented all her anger towards. This is a bit more different than the novel where Bazin depicts Paule is not minimally evil but excessively of her treatment towards her two older sons. Bazin depicted her in the novel as being a heartless woman who could not care less for Jean and Freddie. In a scene in the movie, the moment Paule returns and the children were excited for her return, they both exclaimed Mama! but the first thing that protruded from the train door was Paule's foot, chiding them to move away and not harass her. Clearly, the feelings that Jean and Freddie reserved for their mother and her return was that of excitement and fondness, they were both looking forward to a woman whom they call mother and framed to what a mother should be, they become excessively devastated and angry when they found out who Paule really was and soon both of them began calling her 'Freakso'. In the novel Bazin makes Paule seem as if she hated her life completely as well as her marriage and children. She isn't satisfied with whatever she has and resents everything. However, the movie depicts Paule as simply being disillusioned and not completely a hateful woman. The trend of Bazin depicting Paule as an evil woman is similar to the traditional French fairy tales that were collected by the Grimm brothers. The older fairytales showed that it was the real actual mother who was the tyrant while the modern ones changed it to being stepmothers who are the tyrants towards the children. In this manner, Bazin has reserved the right of showing how even actual family members even mothers were capable of deep seated hatred for their own children, opposite of what is perceived as being natural that mothers are loving and caring persons. It is odd and quite surprising how it was that Jacques is in the complete power of his wife and control in the movie as the father is seen to have had the support and love of his children especially the fact that he allowed electricity as well as openly let his family and maid to have the stored and locked food that Paule stringently disallowed and rationed. In the movie, in the end Paule dies, although it seemed as if she was contemplating on her behaviour towards the children as well as her life whether it was fulfilled or not. One of the other main characters was Jacques. Jacques was extremely interested in entomology and collected various insects wherever he went, interesting specimens were to be collected regardless of what he was doing. In a scene in the movie Jacques uses one of the bottles on the dinner table to catch a fly that he thought was a rare specimen. Paule, generally disregards and ignores her husbands' thoughts and behaviour and treating him almost as if he was an infant. Jacques is almost childlike in manner throughout the novel and the movie, generally interested in something or the other and keeps his days and nights filled with activities of fun. Paule keeps Jacques in check although it is not known how she manages to wield her power over him and why the fact that Jacques was weak over the wills of his wife. What was ignored in the movie was the actual relationship that Paule had with her husband, since the movie was more reminiscent of a children's movie rather than an adult's movie, several darker aspects that Bazin mentioned in the book does not seem to appear. That is why there is a mere inexplicable relationship that goes on between Jacques and his domineering wife, the movie explains as if Jean is looking at this relationship through the eyes of a younger boy, although hints of adult life including sexual intercourse and lust is more commonplace for French children but it seemed that the movie cut off the explicit parts as the movie was to cater internationally as well. Paule seemed to indulge in Jacques' childish pursuits while she looked at him from some distance as a matriarch, one of the scenes were when they were at the beach and Jacques was busy looking for something just before they went to visit the penitentiary that Paule 'suggested' they look at. In the book Jacques seemed a bit more distant and less caring towards his sons and had lesser involvement with their affairs, this is different in the movie where when Paule was hospitalized for the 'killing' attempt that gave Paule a bad case of diarrhea, Jacques indulged his children excessively when his wife was not around to control them, there were also scenes of them when in Marseilles that Jacques went and had fun that there lay some sort of intimacy between the three of them (Jean, Freddie and Jacques), it implied a sort of brotherhood between men and their common enemy was Paule. Another character that is imperative to the storyline in the movie is obviously the protagonist, Jean Rezeau. When one reads the book by Bazin one cannot help but think that Jean isn't as small as that was depicted in Broca's movie. And the character's relationship with his brothers although to some level and degree intimate but it did not have the tenacity and the force of interconnectedness that the novel had. Another aspect that touches the difference between Jean in the novel and Jean in the movie is the maturity that Jean has reached in the novel. Viper in the fist is a coming of age story when a person transitions the time of innocence towards the darker and more harsher realities of life, in the case of Jean, he is lucky as he has already reached his puberty as well as his gangly brother Freddie. It was obvious that sooner or later via Paule or the world itself, Jean and Freddie was bound to see the world for what it is and that within the innocence of childhood lies a more devilish existence. Towards the end of the novel Jean meets a peasant girl whom he has sexual intercourse, in the novel both apparently did not love each other and could not care more of one another, the whole point of their sexual encounter was simply something that was 'must be done' a sort of initiation towards maturity and adulthood. The girl in turn also does not care for Jean as she was simply also in a manner of speaking trying to find herself and reach towards her puberty and adulthood. Towards the end of the novel it was also obvious that Jean has become as disillusioned as his mother, whatever he sees in women he will at some point remind himself of his mother and his hatred of her, it was also because of this that he cannot find himself fall in love with the girl whom he first had sexual intercourse with. It was merely an experiment and a sort of curiosity that Jean needed to fulfill. In the movie the scene of sexual intercourse was more guarded and it only showed Jean and the girl about to kiss while they were in the barn among haystacks, a definitely more romantic picture than the novel painted. It also showed Jean smiling before he was about to kiss the girl, this was apparently different than in the book, in the novel Jean attempts to kiss the girl but it was more of an indifferent manner, a manner as if to say that he could not care for the girl and the girl responded as if he could not care for Jean. Broca depicted Jean in the movie as a boy in search of himself, Jean was merely a normal average teenage boy on the verge of adulthood struggling to meet life, this is far from the depictions of Bazin who already deployed Jean as being overly pessimistic even to the point of mature innovation, capable of deep seated hatred, madness and anger from the fact that he has tried to murder his mother twice. Bazin describes the poisoning of Paule through the novel as being an overly-cautious and premeditated murder while the movie showed otherwise. The scene brings in Freddie showing his buttocks to the maid while she laughs at him, the whole storyline reeks of the fact as if the boys' attempts were merely mischievous and was not as completely harmful as the imagination that the boys cooked up in Bazin's novel as they hatched their plans in the attic. The movie also implied as if Paule's attitudes towards her sons was merely a sort of 'tough love' but this was not true for the novel, Paule's actions were mere hatred and this could stem from the fact that she never really loved her husband and that was why she hated them. Bazin's novel is almost even reminiscent of the book, 'Like Water for Chocolate' but Paule was different from the aspect that she also wanted to keep up appearances. This could be seen when she attempts the rectors of the parish to give her children religious education. Bazin's novel showed the rectors as being devilishly mean and suffered the brothers, the movie on the contrary as the form of Paule's 'tough love' climaxes when Jean runs off to Paris to find his grandfather. The scene shows Paule crying over Jean's disappearance after she pries open Jean's room with a crowbar. There is even evidence of Paule being somewhat remotely concerned after she hits Jean as if angry and guilty at the same time for hurting her children but maintaining that it was the proper course of teaching her children the right way. Bazin's social criticism that most critics have equaled is that of the rural bourgeoisie depicted in this movie and in particular the rather well-off Rezeau family. During this time the rural bourgeoisie was only concerned with keeping up appearances and the righteousness of Christianity ignoring the more basic and very important Christian virtues of love, faith, compassion, forgiveness and kindness. This could be seen through the rectors of the parishes and their rather flippant and cruel manner in punishing the boys. Another was the rectors' sexual relationship with young women and in particular the Rezeau's young maid. In the movie this sexual relationship was translated towards something akin to emotional love in this aspect we can see that the movie translation was more kinder on the baser of human instincts such as lust. Setting Bazin's novel describes the changes of the setting, weather and environment in a more sinister temperature than that depicted in the movie. This could be seen in the changes of weather that the chateau was experiencing when Paule returns home. Bazin describes the day as being dark and cold a signifier to set the mood for the setting and as if to describe the return of Paule as something as equally as sinister like the weather. A premonition for Jean and Freddie of the suffering Paule will wrought on to the. The movie translation is almost similar in this respect but due to cinematographic considerations the scene in which Paule returns was bereft of music, forcing the audience to concentrate completely on the stark behaviour of Paule towards her sons. The chateau earlier on described by Bazin as being beautiful and natural turns and then abruptly by the power of the seasons to turn into something ugly. The movie translation does not permit that bad weather be interconnected with the movie because the movie has auditory ability that could affect the audience into understanding the mood of the setting. The movie is peppered with the narration of Jean as an adult describing his bittersweet experiences as a child living with his psychologically difficult mother. The audience then could easily perceive Jean's reaction and feeling throughout the movie according to the manner of his narration, the more difficult parts of his life although bereft of deeper narration of his emotions it at least was signified by the use of music, darker and more sinister whenever Paule attempts to be awful towards her children and happier and tinkling background music to accompany the happier moments of Jean's life. The movie, Viper in the Fist is intended to picture a scene of early 1920s, this was a time in which many changes in lifestyles were being made, people were putting their lives in an even more different direction, other more social interests besides that were common for the bourgeoisie people were slowly beginning to die out. There were more middle classed people emerging and social hierarchy, although it still exists today and it existed then there were more and more people who were averagely wealthy and there were more intellectuals. The 1920s was also the time of the Great Depression, although it isn't explained and it is doubtful that Paule was stringently saving because of the Great Depression as they lived quite well-off but the whole world is heaving and people wanted better lives for themselves, gone were the prior realities in which people accepted their fate whatever it may be. This could be seen with Jean's own transformation, he was able to become farther from the course of life that his mother had set for him. The Rezeau family was particularly from nobility and they were ardent Royalists, believing that France would not survive without the support of a royal family, but the disintegration of the Rezeau family and their ways begin to appear as cracks especially in Paule's relationship with her sons and husband. The 1920s was also a time in France when there were socialist parties being assembled, although they were defeated by the bourgeoisie such as the likes of the Rezeaus but Bazin intended to portray a picture so unstable of the bourgeoisie family and its excessive traditions and life as well as their petty understanding and ignorance. This could be seen in the spoilt behaviour of Jacques who was could be one of the last remaining pleasure seeking gentlemen in the brink of world change. Their immaturity in handling life because of their prior excessive lifestyles has caused Jacques in particular unable to handle his own family or his own financial responsibilities leaving Paule to control everything. In the book Bazin also recounts the boys' trip to Marseilles and the glittery existence of the more urban bourgeoisie and their father's excessive merrymaking. The 1920s was the age of swing and jazz, the movie depicted just that but does not manage to forge a deeper meaning towards these excesses that were portrayed in the book. The movie merely fleeted a passing note on the life of the bourgeoisie and their flippant existence, and the movie actually did not manage to delve even deeper as to the differences that Jean and Freddie encounters in their lives especially that of the stark differences of poverty and wealth as well as freedom. The clothes that the actors and actresses wore in the suburbs were more simpler than the women in Marseilles or Paris, although it is much more difficult to describe clothes in the book but the movie portrays this very well. The manner in which Paule and Jean's grandmother wore their clothes seemed very rich that one could not mistake them to be poor women. Their clothes depicted social class and standing and Paule throughout the movie was dressed immaculately with her hair carefully crimped and her eyes well kohled. The effect of the make up on Paule caused her to look more colder and more evil leaving the audience to perceive her in a more negative manner on the other hand the hero of the story, Jean played by Jules Sitruk is a small bodied boy that Broca could easily incite the pity of the audience, this is far from the depiction that Bazin gave of Jean in the novel where he is described at least of having average height and not that particularly small, Sitruk manages to make Jean seem as if he is on the threshold of puberty still although in truth the character in Bazin's book, Jean was already fifteen when he attempted sexual intercourse with the peasant girl. Conclusion Conclusively, the movie Viper in the Fist was far from the depiction portrayed by Bazin in his book in more ways than one, the missing characters imperative to Bazin's storyline such as Jean's relationship with the girl he had sexual intercourse with the emotional exchanges that the characters had with one another is lost in the translation of the book towards the movie. The movie with its visual and auditory power that is able to stimulate and engage the audience did not fully perforate into the deeper psychological stigma that Jean had faced growing up with his brothers under the tyrannical hand of their mother. The movie translation also lost the deeper more signifying elements of the book and created subtle disparages on the line of the book to the extent that the movie is reminiscent of a children's movie. Although Viper in the Fist is a children's book and many children are made to read it but the whole point of the introduction of children to the book was to make children realize that as soon as they grow up the initiation and transition of childhood to adulthood is not an easy one, the disgusting actual nature of adulthood and its more evil and sinister manner is a talking point for when children are able to identify that theirs is a changing world and that they are going to be ready to face the darker aspects of humanity. The movie translation in the other hand is different because of this lack, it is not that the whole movie itself is not pleasurable in fact far from it, it displays an even more softer side of Bazin's novel almost shrouding the audiences of the horrors of adulthood and what is to come. The other characters of the movie such as Jacques and Paule were given a more humane touch rather than the novel in which both were displayed in a more atrocious manner. Jacques and Paule was shown to have had even at least a speck of kindness and love towards their children although the manner in which they displayed these affections were rather wayward, nevertheless the characters have came through the movie more alive. The rest of the characters compared to the novel were more dimmed down, for example, the brothers, Marcel and Freddie. In the book, although Freddie and Marcel have had their share of tortures from their mother and that Jean, suffering from something akin to middle child syndrome they unite together in unison to defeat their mother. In the movie, Marcel and Freddie's roles were merely accompanying to Jean and although their purposes were the same Freddie and Marcel was seen to be more pliant towards Paule's demands. This in the book as well as in the movie could be seen when Jean attempts to frame his mother for stealing. Their struggle was not climactic as in the book when Jean and Freddie are sent to a boarding school, as their mother would be relieved to heave the responsibility of caring for her boys by somebody else. On the whole, there were many things lost between the novel and the movie but it could also be said that in a more positive note, the movie did not lose the trueness of the journey of Jean. Read More