I'm less than impressed with this film.
I feel it’s a good idea for a movie, but there comes a point at
which a horror film becomes too subtle. Parts of Cat People
feels more like a discussion of a horror film the characters saw
earlier that evening than an actual horror film in itself.
The basic premise is that a young
Serbian immigrant named Irena (Simone Simon) believes that if she
falls in love she'll turn into a panther and kill her lover, and
she's just gotten married. From there on we establish that animals
are afraid of her. She feels an attraction to a panther in the zoo,
to whom she feeds a dead bird who died of fright after seeing her.
Eventually, Irena’s husband (Kent Smith) falls in love with another
woman (Jane Randolph). And he feels torn between his responsibility
to take care of his wife, who he believes to be mentally ill, and his
desire to be with his new lover.
Having Irena actually go to a
psychiatrist is really the kiss of death for this movie. Because
while he does serve a role in the film, attempting to seduce her and
thus drawing her wrath on himself towards the end in one of the few
truly frightening moments, his talks with her frequently serve to
make her emotional turmoil too explicit, leaving nothing for the
viewer to interpret.
I've heard many people say that this
movie is brilliant for its subtlety, making it uncertain if Irena is
actually becoming a panther or merely imagining that she is.
However, my opinion is that this is total bullshit. Several scenes
leave no other interpretation, unless a panther literally just
happened to wander into the room and attack someone. Specifically, a
panther with a strange fear of crosses.
The movie ends with Irena, having
attempted to kill her husband and his lover, allowing herself to be
killed by the zoo's panther. The husband says “she never lied to
us,” and he and his new lover walk off. Apparently a bit of
reflection at the end would be too much to ask in a film that was
otherwise obsessed with analyzing itself.
Do I hate this movie? No. But do I
find it memorable or interesting? Equally no.
Cat People Movie Review
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