Never On Sunday, a new favourite

Never On Sunday is a 1960s comedy film set in Greece. It's one of those films that I found while wandering among the audio-visual shelves (or shelf as it were) at my university. And I think that I can safely call it one of my new favourites.

The plot is sort of a Pygmalion retelling about a wannabe philosopher from America named Homer (Jules Dessin, who also directs) and his attempts to educate and elevate Ilya (Melina Mercouri), a Greek prostitute. It's a light little film that celebrates both the ancient and modern Greek cultures. But the thing that stands out for me is just how progressive it is, especially for its time period.

Ilya is probably the only cinematic prostitute I've seen who is never beaten, or threatened, or raped. She is completely in charge of her own life, and picks clients according to whether or not she likes them, as seen in a memorable scene featuring two American sailors. She is financially stable, and is able to skip whole days so that she can go see Greek tragedies. But most importantly, she really enjoys what she does.

Even though we never really learn her backstory, it seems that prostitution was never something that Ilya was pushed into. Throughout the film she fights against what she doesn't like, and completely gives her life to those pastimes she enjoys. Every time she comes across something she doesn't like, she either ignores it or changes it.  One of the funniest moments in the film is when she gives her version of Medea. Instead of Medea killing her children, she and Jason resolve all their conflicts and go to the seashore!

In the second half of the film, Homer buys Ilya's time so that he educate her in all the academics that he holds dear, namely literature and philosophy. The reason that he fails in reforming her is because he never fully sees Ilya as a woman, rather as a concept, an idea that he needs to form into what he considers perfection.

But Ilya is perfect in her own way. She exudes love and joy in everything she does, and finds pleasure in the simple things that life has to offer. And Homer can't look past her profession which is ultimately why he is unworthy of her affections. 

I think Ilya might be one of my favourite characters. She isn't vilified by the other characters, except for Homer. Her clients instead become her family, and the other prostitutes in the film look up to her and admire her independence. And the way she leads them on a revolt at the end is both hilarious and so satisfying.

To see a character so comfortable in their own skin is rare in film. But to see such a character in a profession that Hollywood has never quite gotten right (looking at you Pretty Woman) is so refreshing. Considering that Never On Sunday came out just before the second-wave feminist movement is so astounding, it blows my mind whenever I think about it. I hope that more people discover this gem for themselves, and fall in love with Ilya just like I did. 


References: 
Never on Sunday 1960, DVD, MGM Home Video, directed by Jules Dessin. 

The Mouth of Madness: The Shining and The Babadook

Tell me if this story sounds familiar: A child becomes more and more afraid that their parent has been taken over by some sort of evil entity and is now out to kill them. Or how about this one: After losing sleep continuously and isolating themselves from the world, a parent slowly succumbs to the demons that plague them and allows their baser instincts to take over, leading to violence against their family members.

Those two descriptions could apply to either Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) or to Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014), two films that on the surface share little in common except that they are both horror films. But upon looking closer, the films have more similarities than first thought, especially concerning the two main characters. Both Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) are pushed to edge of their sanity through paranormal forces, who then persuade them to turn on their respective families.

The way that Jack and Amelia begin their descent into madness begins with them losing sleep. It’s more obvious in The Babadook that Amelia is suffering from sleep loss. Her son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman), keeps her awake for most of the night with his own fears of monsters under the bed, causing dark shadows to fall under her eyes and her smile to become more and more strained.

There are only a couple of little clues in The Shining that point to Jack’s own sleeplessness. During the scene with Danny (Danny Lloyd) in the bedroom, Jack admits to his son that he has been having trouble sleeping. This is backed up later in the film when Jack has a nightmare, one where he kills Danny and Wendy (Shelley Duvall). These nightmares are what’s probably keeping him awake. The sleeplessness that both characters feel make them vulnerable, and allow the malicious forces around them to influence them in unsettling ways. 

Once both characters are vulnerable, they are then isolated from the world. In The Shining, the isolation is very literal, with the Torrance family being cut off after being snowed in, with no way to contact anyone after Jack sabotages the radio and snowmobile. Amelia’s isolation is a little more subtle, as throughout the film she breaks contact with those around her, including workmates, her sister, and her neighbour. After effectively blocking everyone out of her and her sons’ life, she then locks them up in the house and breaks the phone line, making their isolation complete. 

The final part of the two characters' descent is through giving into temptation. In the first scene at the Gold Room, Jack says to himself that he’d give anything for a drink, even his soul, and when his prayers are answered he is told by Grady (Philip Stone) that he must stop his son from bringing outside influences into the hotel by killing him and Wendy if he wants to remain at the Overlook. Amelia is presented with a vision of her dead husband (Benjamin Winspear) telling her that they can be together if only she gives him Samuel. 

Once they are fully under the influence of their demons, Amelia and Jack begin to lose their humanity. Jack has become so influenced by the Overlook that he has become less of a man and more of an animal. He lumbers through the maze, shouting out Danny’s name over and over until the shouts become nothing more than primitive grunts and screams. Even the way he moves becomes less human; he drags his legs and hunches over himself as he fights through the snow while looking for his son. 

When the Babadook completely takes over Amelia, she too becomes more animalistic, more cat-like in the way she moves. Her arms are straight by her sides when she runs, almost as if she is preparing to pounce. She moves her head stiffly when she talks, and like Jack gives up on speech altogether and just screams her frustrations at Samuel. 

 

In the Under Your Bed podcast, Gerard Lough described The Shining as being about “a dark side of a family unit, a family unit that’s breaking down” (2012). I think you could describe The Babadook the same way. Both films are about families being pushed to the edge of hysteria, and how they either come out the other side or are lost forever. 

References:

·         The Babadook 2014, DVD, Umbrella Entertainment, directed by Jennifer Kent. 

·         Murphy, B & Lough, G 2012, Under Your Bed Podcast, podcast, 10 August, Under Your Bed, viewed 2 Sept 2016, <http://underyourbed.org/wp/blog/the-horrorcast-episode-3-gerard-lough/>.

·         The Shining 1980, DVD, Warner Bros., directed by Stanley Kubrick.