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So is Mattie his first extramarital affair?

posted 7 years ago by amyghost
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I'm wondering this because Francis as described in Dobbs' original novel and Francis as depicted in the teleplay do have some differences in this respect.

In the novels we're given some indication that Francis has played around on his wife in the past, though nothing particularly detailed about this is described in House of Cards (in the original version, before Dobbs retrofitted his and Mattie's affair into the re-write). In To Play the King, his rather tomcat ways are made much more explicit, including the reader being told that he's indulged in at least a couple of illicit affairs with female students he'd been tutoring. And of course there's his highly sexual romp with Sally Quine.

In the HoC teleplay, however, there's some hint that Francis is a bit naive in that department, as when Patrick Wolton makes an off-color joke about brothels, which it seems fairly clear Francis doesn't quite get although, to seem one of the boys, he laughs along and then later repeats it when upbraiding an underling who's been careless in his dalliances. The idea that he's been a longtime philanderer isn't given much play in the screen version and it's almost possible to suspect that Mattie might be his first foray into actual adultery.

Because this act is so pivotal and central to the story, it does raise the question of just how unfaithful Francis has been to Elizabeth in the past, or if in fact, this is a new avenue that he's decided to pursue as in keeping with his all-stops-out drive to win.

50 Is The New Cutoff Age.

[–] combatreview 7 years ago

>>>In the HoC teleplay, however, there's some hint that Francis is a bit naive in that department

I'd always read it that way... though perhaps I took it as a matter of primness rather than naivete. I think he'd show a certain amount of lip-curling scorn towards philandering per se - this is a man who deals with (and trades in) petty sexual indiscretions and other traits of the weak and tractable.

In fact, as far as he shows any emotion toward Mattie it is initially that of a mentor with a fatherly streak. Sexuality only comes into it when it is suggested by his wife - and not to say that Francis never had an amorous thought about the attractive young woman coming to his study late at night, but rather that he would never have allowed it into the open. He's not a man who pursues his appetites for self-indulgence.

Also, when he does have an affair with Mattie, it certainly isn't played out as a cheap exploitation of an easily influenced young woman - it's steeped in tactical, political motives. No cheap tail-chasing for Francis, his mistress is a political tool and a weapon. Besides, his wife knows. And she suggested it. So it's entirely... 'respectable', not some tawdry indiscretion of the kind committed by a man not in control of himself.

>>>The idea that he's been a longtime philanderer isn't given much play in the screen version and it's almost possible to suspect that Mattie might be his first foray into actual adultery.

Very much so, I think - because, while it's possible to imagine that Francis may well have a few dark deeds under his belt, I think the story (as played on television) is of a man who has by and large played entirely within the rules all of his life, and who is finally pushed to transgress those rules, and in so doing discovers the extent of his talent for it. Likewise, while Francis clearly has ambition, he's also been sitting patiently in the slow lane - it's only frustration and anger that ignites a more genuine ambition in him.

Actually, it only strikes me now (talk about sitting in the slow lane) that when he uses the phrase 'beware an old man in a hurry' to answer Mattie's question, and she instantly takes it to mean Lord Thingy... he might well have been wryly referring to himself.

Of course, while I'm interested in seeing the next series of the US House of Cards, I have this worrying suspicion that by the time it arrives it's going to look like the flipping West Wing next to reality...

[–] amyghost 7 years ago

I'd always read it that way... though perhaps I took it as a matter of primness rather than naivete. I think he'd show a certain amount of lip-curling scorn towards philandering per se - this is a man who deals with (and trades in) petty sexual indiscretions and other traits of the weak and tractable.

Good point. There's definite evidence of his primness as well as disdain for the sexual weaknesses of others in his exchange with Roger, when Roger offers to 'loan' Penny to Francis, misinterpreting his remark as an interest in her. Francis' complete (and seemingly unfeigned) appalled reaction could be read as simply racist, but could just as likely be seen as a more broad-based disgust that Roger, whom he sees as one of these weaklings, would dare to suggest anything so base to him.

Also, when he does have an affair with Mattie, it certainly isn't played out as a cheap exploitation of an easily influenced young woman - it's steeped in tactical, political motives. No cheap tail-chasing for Francis, his mistress is a political tool and a weapon. Besides, his wife knows. And she suggested it. So it's entirely... 'respectable', not some tawdry indiscretion of the kind committed by a man not in control of himself.

Sexuality only comes into it when it is suggested by his wife - and not to say that Francis never had an amorous thought about the attractive young woman coming to his study late at night, but rather that he would never have allowed it into the open.

Another excellent point. Insofar as Francis might become involved in any extracurricular marital activity, it seems most likely it's because Elizabeth, for motives of her own, has guided him towards it. There's a brief scene near the beginning of Part 1, when, as they're leaving some affair, Elizabeth makes a comment about one particular young woman looking as if she'd have liked to have Francis give her a good spanking, or words to that effect. On the surface this initially seems to be just a playful exchange between a securely-married husband and wife, but in light of Elizabeth's later actions, we can guess there's a possibility that she's quite willing to arrange his indiscretions for him--as long as they can be made to pay off politically at a later date.

And it's undoubted that Francis has been quite willing to take his career in the slow lane until events push him into a higher gear with regard to it than he's been accustomed to take before. If one of the dividends of that is a liason with an attractive young woman (with his wife's tacit approval to boot) well, why not have his cake and eat it too?