The last time I watched "Five Easy Pieces" I was probably 15 years old. I didn't like it. I don't really remember any of the reasons why other than Jack Nicholson's character Bobby treated his poor, sweet, dim-bulb girlfriend Rayette so very bad that it made me want to reach into the screen and strangle him before giving her, I don't know, ONE compliment, about SOMEthing, just ONCE - would it have freaking killed him?
I get that I missed the much larger messages and themes carried by the movie based on my sappy heartbreak over (to me) one of the great tragic characters of 1970's cinema - Rayette, as masterfully portrayed by the great cult icon Karen Black.
I watched the movie again today, and I could certainly relate to it more than I did at 15. I went into it knowing that Rayette was going to break my heart, but trying to keep an open mind. The movie certainly is a masterpiece, and Nicholson's performance is perhaps the greatest of his career, but I still found I couldn't take my eyes (or mind, when she wasn't on screen) off of Rayette. I'd think about her all alone waiting for some sign - some olive branch of affection - from her aloof, self-loathing boyfriend, understanding fully how impossible their situation was, their emotional and intellectual incompatibility staggering.
The little details are what get me. In one scene during the long road trip north for Bobby to visit his ailing father, Rayette wears a negligee to bed and attempts, in her own (simultaneously grating and endearing) way to seduce a thunderously apathetic Bobby. Only moments before in the movie, Bobby had attempted to end their entire relationship before caving to a sobbing, suicidal Ray and asking her to make the trip with him. In the few minutes she had to pack her bag before they headed out, she composed herself enough to have the presence of mind to pack lingerie for some potential late night tryst. After all, Bobby's her man, and she loves him. That is so pure - so simple - so sweet, and so tragic because Bobby is none of those things, and absolutely unable and unwilling to try to become them.
When he sticks up for her late in the movie it's more out of protection than love - perhaps he feels about her the way I feel about her, after all - but it changes nothing about the dynamic between them. He reaches a small sort of resolution with his family and before he and Ray leave she asks his sister to take a picture of them in front of the house. Bobby scoffs and doesn't slow down. Ray grins sheepishly before telling Bobby's sister, "If any of y'all are ever down our way, know our home is always open to you!" She is like a cork bobbing on a sea of great, unfathomable depths.
It's that buoyancy that lets you know, threats of suicide or not, Rayette will more than likely end up on her feet in the end. If Bobby left, she would cleanse her emotions in a very honest way, pick herself up and go about her life. The best I can hope for her is that she will meet a man somewhere on her journey who can treasure her sweetness, protect it, and nurture it. Someone as sweet, stupid, and naive as her. When I was 15, I thought that person could be me. But at 29, I can see more of myself in the character of Bobby than I was prepared for, so I know that's not the case. All I can hope is that she doesn't have to meet many more like us before she finds what she needs. She's a good person. She deserves that.
No comments:
Post a Comment