I love disturbing movies like Silence of the Lambs and A Clockwork Orange, but for some reason (I guess this is subjective and irrational) much of this movie didn't sit well with me. Some of the people who were murdered weren't jerks, for one thing (the photographer was nice to the protagonist, the suffragette was just campaigning for her rights, then there's the girl in the boat).
shareSometimes murder victims in good films aren't jerks. Did Buffalo Bill or Hannibal Lecter only kill jerks? How about the ultra violence that Alex and his crew foisted on innocent bystanders? The characters in this film were killed because they stood in the way of the lead becoming a Duke. Plain and simple. Just like that poor census worker served with fava beans and chianti was just doing his job when Dr. Lecter was feeling a bit peckish.
shareYeah, but we weren't supposed to sympathize with Buffalo Bill or Hannibal Lecter. The hero was Clarice.
shareWell I don't think Mazzini is really meant to be a hero. He is more of an anti-hero (very much like the Blackadder characters, if you're familiar with them) and one of the ironies of the film is that you end up wanting the murderer to win because he's so charming and witty in comparison with the people he kills, and he explains his actions in so calm and rational a way.
Maybe it's more of a British thing, but you get these kind of anti-hero characters who you can't really relate to from a moral standpoint, occurring quite frequently in British comedies.
Come to think of it, Clockwork Orange is very much in the spirit of Kind Hearts and Coronets. The protagonist and the narrator himself is a serial killer and the kills are performed in a humorous fashion. The Orange explores/its a different idea, but doing it in a very similar manner, but much more graphic and, strangely enough, less subversive.
sharelet's not forget that the census worker tried to test Lecter...a mistake he shouldn't have made ;)
"We've got lumps of it round the back."
Perhaps you should give this movie and yourself some time, and watch it again, when you are much, much older.
Yes, it's a shame about the girl in the boat. However, she had presumably already undergone a fate worse than death, so she had it coming.
CAT - it's small, neat and doesn't care if you live or die! CAT - the dog of tomorrow.
GIZ.... but you see, Mazzini's utter hate and revenge for his relative's treatment of his mother was his only motivation. And Mazzini does mention his regret of the deaths of the girl in the boat and photographer. He is not amoral in a sense - just overtaken by his determination for "civilized" revenge.
Enrique Sanchez
I agree with the OP.
shareThe OP certainly has a right to express her opinion, and from all of the responses I read, no one was unkind to her/him, but it is for me, one of the best films ever and written as a black comedy.
This is a very civil and gentile board compared to most. Edit: compared to just about all.
... and written as a black comedy.A fundamental point especially if one is going to contrast this film to something like Silence of the Lambs. It's a 1949 film, but I would have liked to have seen just a little more action played out with the murders. Most of them occur off screen and have little impact any way.🐭 share
...one of the best films ever and written as a black comedy.
I see what you mean about the characters, but the main character didn't see it that way. He wanted revenge.
He did explain that he didn't really want to kill the photographer. He also said that the girl in the boat would be better off dead than hanging out with her loser boyfriend (well, not in those exact words...).
The main character was a serial killer. He achieved his objective. That's all he wanted.
It's a dark comedy.
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Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen =
It is a black comedy...
Any art that portrays only good things happening to good people and only bad things happening to bad people is a lie. Kind Hearts and Coronets tells the truth; sometimes we're at the wrong time at the wrong place.
Louis Mazzini just wanted to kill those who oppressed him and his mother. He regretted the hapless, kind people he had to off and was especially relieved he didn't have to kill the kind banker. He had a conscience and also a vulnerability.
I did laugh when he decided to kill the Pastor next because his sermons were "abominable."
it is disturbing, especially the murder of the photographer, who is a very nice man. but because it is a black comedy, i find it acceptable. if it was a serious film, like silence of the lambs, it would be distressing, but because the whole film is so absurd, i find I just go along with the absurdity.
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