Huh. So. That was unexpected.
With a somewhat corny name like A Streetcar Named Desire, I was expecting a big ol’ soppy romance between Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, complete with cliche soundtrack, sappy dialogue, and all the other trappings. A little annoying, but I could live through it. Then, about 20 minutes in, Emily mentioned that this movie was based off of a Tennessee Williams play, and I thought, “Oh. Nevermind. Here we go…”
I have to preface my review with this before I continue – I don’t like Tennessee Williams. If this makes me a bad Oberlin kid, whatever, but I could never get into his plays. His tendency to make really toxic, unlikeable characters just annoys me and makes me not want to watch his plays, and they tend to be mostly about character interaction, meaning it all pretty much boils down to a lot of self-absorbed pricks onstage fighting with each other. I understand he’s considered one of the great American playwrights, but… I just don’t like his style.
I was a little hopeful that the movie adaptation would soften Streetcar up a bit, maybe even make it more of a happy play, but this is not the case. The director was faithful to Williams’ play, right down to the atmosphere and tone. The director used mostly dark, moody shots with medium-high contrast. This has the benefit of making the movie even darker than it already was, but unfortunately, also makes it pretty damn hard to see anything. The acting is also pretty uneven. Marlon Brando is the highlight of the movie, as the abrasive and cruel but truthful Stanley Kowalski. Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois is just plain annoying. Her character rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning, and just got more petty, annoying, dependent, and stupid as the movie dragged on. Brando is at least watchable, but his character also degrades as the story goes on, making it harder and harder for me to pay attention to the petty infighting.
I really didn’t like the (spoiler) rape that served as the climax of the movie. Basically, Blanche and Stanley are on a collision course the entire movie, as their characters are pretty much incompatible. However, the way in which they finally collide really pissed me off. Stanley rapes Blanche, then commits her to a mental institution because the rape has destabilized her. Does he get punished for his crime? Hell no. His wife (Blanche’s sister) goes upstairs with their kid because she is upset that Stanley committed Blanche – not because he raped her, just because he committed her. Something about this whole ending sequence really really annoys me – the inherent unfairness of it all, the reasoning behind Stanley’s treatment of Blanche, the fact that he gets away pretty much scot-free… you get the idea.
So no, I don’t like this movie. I don’t really understand it, it’s hard to watch, the ending annoys me… you get the idea.
Score: 1/5 (A 1 is a movie I found no enjoyment in whatsoever. It should be far lower down the list than it currently is, if it should even be on the list at all.)
