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Friday 15 May 2015

Marie Poupée - A Second Glance

So, last night I watched Marie Poupée with English subtitles. This time around I noticed it was much more sinister than at first glance; it seems that Marie is being kept prisoner in a way by her husband, and she can't make even the simplest of choices for herself - such as what she wants to wear each day, or where she goes and what she does. Her husband leaves her for long times and doesn't seem to love her like a human, instead, he is very possessive and treats her like one of his dolls, or perhaps not even as lovingly as one of his dolls. "She is trapped in a doll house!" is my first reaction upon understanding the dialogue. 
This leads to her death, ultimately. In this respect, I think Marie has a lot of similarities with Curley's Wife from John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. They are both embodiments of femininity (black "sausage curled" ringlets, as they would say in Of Mice and Men; heavy makeup, latest fashion crazes, always looking for a man to be with, and girlish pink, pink, pink - or a sultry red, in Curley's Wife's case) and both end up dying because they're seen as inferior by men. Plus, they were both used by their husbands - Marie was used as a very pretty new ornament for her husband's chateau, and Curely's Wife was simply there to boost Curely's status on the ranch, as something to be smug about. 
These are my interpretations, so feel free to ignore them.

At the end of school I told Wendy all about Marie Poupée and she seemed quite interested. We both had a discussion and decided that it wasn't true love between Marie and her husband, as he just wanted to possess her like a doll. Though, she did say that wanting to own somebody could be seen as a form of love - I must say I only half agree with that, as if you love someone, you want them to be free and happy rather than trapped and intimidated.
It's an interesting question as to whether he loved Marie... I would speculate that he thought he did love her, as he mentions it was love at first sight (which I don't really believe in, to be honest), but in the end he just wanted her for his collection.
On the other hand, Marie was mad about him, so I do feel very sympathetic towards her. He was a huge disappointment when she was expecting her prince to come.

Also, I found some songs by France Gall (from the 60s), and 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son' and 'Les Sucettes' reminds me of Marie Poupée. The sweet, baby-pop songs and candy-pink related words in the lyrics are reminiscent of Marie, and the innocent mind of the singer in 'Les Sucettes' (which has a deeper meaning than just lollipops, I'm afraid to say) does too in particular. The way the singer was coerced into singing a song about sex without knowing its meaning, is like the innocent, childlike mindset of Marie when she enters into an unsavory world of men wanting to do damage to young girls.

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