Jewel Mayhew comment

Ok, so Jewel did murder her husband. Miriam saw her go into the guest house so she was able to blackmail Jewel.
It's an odd scene. Miriam acts so surprised to see Jewel and seems actually pleased to see her.
You would think that Jewel would be somewhat afraid of Miriam but she isn't, she's just angry. I'm assuming Jewel felt that she really did nothing wrong. But then why would she allow people to blame it all on Charlotte all those years?
Maybe Jewel got what she deserved.

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Ah, I see. Good answer and thanks!

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SPOILERS!!

I've seen this film many times, and never gave the Miriam/Jewel street interchange as much thought as I have since reading this thread.

I have always accepted Jewel's words as an indictment (somehow) of Miriam, though I couldn't have told you why, even after multiple viewings, I still can't. Until we learn the truth at the end, we don't know what she might mean at all. It's been so long since I first saw it, I don't know what "virgin eyes" would make of the scene as it occurs. I'd love to watch it with a group of newbs and stop the film at that point and ask them what they think-- though I would hate to spoil the flow of their experience. I try not to read a lot into a scene unless most of it can also be supported by the film's content, but will undoubtedly do so. We can speculate all we want, but are we doing a lot of needless work to make a less-then-perfect script work?

I never felt that the writers were trying to give us a possible murder suspect with the scene (Miriam) and still don't. I don't see that anyone else has suggested it. I don't know that I ever thought that Charlotte might not have done it either. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure anything out because I never saw the film as a "whodunnit". Not an Agatha Christie detective piece at all. I think this comes from being so young when I first saw it. I just took it in. I can only wonder what I would have thought if I had been older.... certainly it is quite a complex work with plenty to think about.

I love the street scene. Both actresses are wonderful. But it just doesn't work for me without a lot of effort. Frankly, I would have preferred not to have looked so closely at it. Knowing the full story, how can Jewel possibly point her finger at Miriam about murder, at any time? I do think she has call to righteously abhor Miriam for "bleeding her white" through blackmail, but----

after Miriam's blabbing, Jewel goes on to murder John within a day of talking to Big Sam about what Charlotte and her husband were up to. That's clearly murder in the first, or so it would seem. Why was stopping John and Charlotte's flight not enough for her? Jewel could have just gone straight to murdering John on learning the news. I can only think she wanted to get Charlotte in trouble along the way, too. If it was a "crime of passion", John never would have made that party. LOL. I suppose Jewel thought more about it after talking with Big Sam and decided she'd be better off without a philandering husband, denied his little Baton Rough love nest, hanging around moping and bitching and making her miserable.

Would it have been "better" for Jewel to have only learned that her husband ran off with Charlotte after they were gone? Is Jewel saying she would rather have never known beforehand? Why? And why call Miriam on it? Unless Miriam spoke up, no one (**but see below) would have known where they even went, though they would have worked out the "why". What would Jewel do then? Would she have tracked them down, killing one, the other or both? Who's to say she would have done anything at all, except play the "wronged woman everybody pity me"?

I say it's Jewel's anger at John, not Miriam's alleged "vicious tongue" that drove her to hack up John. If Miriam's tattle-tale-ing was the issue, Miriam would have gotten the hatchet! Maybe Jewel would have gone after Miriam for notwarning her. Maybe blaming Miriam's "vicious tongue" only occurred to her years later. Who can say?

If she were jealous, why not kill Charlotte for ruining what was to her a good marriage? I suppose it makes sense to keep the straying "cad" (to put it nicely) and do away with the "honey trap". But, lordy, that would likely be the start of a string of serial murders if the true bad egg isn't recognized. He does it once, he'll do it again! But, in real life, people do choose to off the one that doesn't seem to be the "real" problem. It's always the one who gives into temptation, not what they were tempted by.

I really loved the weary, present-day Jewel in her "ruined finery" and hate to see her in this light, but that's how I see her. In blaming Miriam, she's just sniveling her way out of facing her own choices and refuses to take responsibility for them. I hate saying that cause Jewel finally comes through at the end and Charlotte is reborn from it. The only real way I can see Jewel's words as on point, is that if we were to learn that Miriam had made it all up and Jewel killed John based on that lie. THAT would be murder springing from a vicious tongue!

** As far as what would have happened if John and Charlotte just vanished from the party and we didn't have Miriam to set us right, I just want to point out that Charlotte and John were seen dancing together at the party (Ginny Mae: I haven't seen her for a long time now. The last time I saw her, she was dancin' with John Mayhew.)and one guy says "Yeah, and it looks like it's gonna be quite a spell before you see her again." They all "knew". They knew about the affair as well as the planned "elopement". No one seems the least bit shocked or scandalized. Just happy to gossip salaciously. Word would have traveled to Jewel quickly enough, had they "vanished".

Could Jewel have heard all the party gossip and that'sthe vicious tonguery she was referring to, thinking that "everyone" knew due to Miriam starting it all up? Was it simply a matter of lost pride? Oh, the plight of the southern aristocrat... OK, I'm a little sorry about that last one. But something changed Jewel's outlook between her meeting with Big Sam and the party, right? Again, why go to Sam at all if she planned to kill John after Miriam spilled the beans?

But--along the same line, there's something else we don't know. John and Jewel were at the party together? So we really can't say whether or not Jewel got the idea to kill John at the party. It seems clear that Jewel hadn't done a lot of planning since the murder weapon was picked out and picked up during the festivities. Maybe she decided to do the deed after seeing John and Charlotte dancing and thinking that Big Sam had failed her. Perhaps she had thought Big Sam would have gone on and done it himself after meeting with him. I think not mentioning Jewel's presence at the party was an intentional omission, because we would naturally suspect her first. I can't imagine Jewel going to a party with John under the circumstance, but maybe she was just trying to save face and it turned out bad.

Jewel must have missed out on hearing John break up totally with Charlotte (John Mayhew: I made a mistake, Charlotte, that's all. Don't cry. Look, I-I know it's no consolation to you, but I really loved you at one time. Try and understand that. I really loved you.) Oh, that hurts, but of course, he's lying. Big Sam could break them up but not stop their feelings. If she had heard John's fare-the-well, why then would she murder him?

All these what-ifs are pointless, I suppose, but if we analyze the film, these questions do come up. I suppose Jewel might have seen them dancing and assumed Sam had failed. Then she found John sitting in the summerhouse, apparently waiting for Charlotte and her luggage to show up and she chose to act.

Ultimately, a scene that has impact fails to hold up under scrutiny and requires our application of workarounds. It might better have been edited out. I hate that. Except for "vicious tongue" part, with some other pointed remark, say, a veiled accusation about blackmail, the scene is a great one and could have worked just as well and saved me (and you!)from all this prattling.