MovieChat Forums > Céline et Julie vont en bateau : Phantom Ladies Over Paris (1974) Discussion > a cat's daydream

a cat's daydream

posted 16 years ago by shelltothefuture
4 replies | jump to latest

i remember after seeing this film i watched the analysis by Jonathan Romney which was an extra feature on the bfi dvd. he made a really interesting comment (i cant remember it so well though), about how the last shot is of a cat's face and of course there are lots of cats hanging around in this film, but because of this one shot of the cat he liked to think the whole story could have just been a cat's daydream... isnt that a strange but really wonderful theory?

...yea if any one has seen this analysis and can remember what he said better than i can then feel free to elaborate..

[–] Ethan_Ford 16 years ago

I think he said there were a lot of cats who just mysteriously appeared on the set of the film although Rivette is known to be a cat lover and a cat plays a very large part in one of his later films,Une histoire de Marie et Julien.But as Céline et Julie is a film where there are many references to magic books and spells,then it is only appropriate that a cat should figure large.And the film played out as if it were a dream,whether of a character or a cat is unclear.

[–] prodigylover 16 years ago

The film also has several references, homages, and allusions to Alice in Wonderland -- where the Cheshire Cat looms large as a mysterious character.

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

Cool theory. And the film´s final shot of the cat was just perfect (as was the penultimate scene on the pond - by far the strongest parts of the entire movie).

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] Eponymous-too 12 years ago

It makes as much sense as any other theory, and more sense than the movie did.

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