(please bear with any mistake/weird phrasing you might find in my post —English is not my first language, and it's close to 2 a.m.... sheesh)
The screenplay explicitly leaves us without answer about Barrett's goal, but maybe the novel can enlight us, if someone read it, you're welcome.
*raising hand* I did! I read it for a school assignment. (have to write an essay on a book and its silver screen transposition.)
Barrett's goal isn't made clearer in the novella, really. What is possibly made clearer is his potential queerness —he is immediately presented as a man with very affected, "prissy" (the adjective comes often in association with Barrett) manners. But he still has that ambiguity that characterizes Barrett as portrayed by Bogarde in the movie.
The thing with the novella is that it tells the story from a totally different point of view —that of a third party. The narrator is a friend of Tony's (they met in the army), and his narration is part first-hand (as he describes what he sees of Tony's downfall), part second-hand (as he retells episodes reported by Tony and Susan). Another important point in the book is the esquisse of a love triangle between Barrett, Tony and the narrator, who sometimes seems to harbour feelings for his friend.
I find the angle shift (from Maugham's third-party narrator to Losey's "intrusive" camera) absolutely fascinating. Maugham's novella is quite a good read, but it does have its odd moments of clumsiness and loss of tension, while Losey's movie keeps the tension from beginning to end. To me, the movie is much more powerful than the novella... Its impact on the viewer is much more potent than that of the novella on the reader.
Then again, Maugham reportedly hated the movie. ;)
*EDITED TO ADD:*
I just remembered after posting this that Losey addresses the topic of Barrett's goal in an interview with Michel Ciment:
— Do you think that Barrett's intention from the beginning is to dominate Tony?
— Oh yes! He had this idea of invading Tony, bringing in his own mistress, his friends, etc. Of submitting him. I am sure he is trying to do the same thing wherever he goes. I had servants who were like this. They tried, but it did not work.
(in Michel Ciment, Le Livre de Losey, ed. Stock Cinéma)
reply
share