MovieChat Forums > Une partie de plaisir (1975) Discussion > The scene at the graveyard (spoilers)

The scene at the graveyard (spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by PoppyTransfusion
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So ... having kicked Esther to death, Phillipe then wrestles with an undertaker and others from a nearby funeral, including a woman with a long black veil, as they try to restrain him. The veil then shrouds Phillipe's face and we the viewers realise this is a symbol act. But I found the whole scene funny. It looked ridiculous having the woman fighting with him and her veil blowing from her to him.

Why problem make? When you no problem have, you don't want to make ...

[–] swanstep (2615) 3 years ago

The veil then shrouds Phillipe's face and we the viewers realise this is a symbol act. But I found the whole scene funny. It looked ridiculous

I didn't find that it looked funny or ridiculous, *but* it does represent a noticeable shift in the film: everything has been so grittily realistic up till that point (at least if we accept that Phillipe is so super-talented that he can be more or less irresistible to women no matter how much he's a jerk to be around) then suddenly we get an action beat and shot that works in a different way, that seems, as you say, quite posed and symbolic (of what? Philippe's status as a dark agent of some kind? Phillipe's so f-ed up that he's plausibly mourning his ex-wife even as he's killing her/just killed her?). The beat and shot's strangeness (like something out of Brian DePalma film) does, however make it useful as a transition to the prison coda.