Wednesday 16 March 2016

What does the naked man signify?

In the film, Mr Neville and Mrs Talmann debate the value of classical allusions. There is also reference to there being a statue of Bacchus in the garden. Bacchus was a God associated with virility, so if we assume that the living statue is supposed to be Bacchus, we might view it to symbolise the sexual aspects of Mr Neville's personality, which are forever present, consciously or unconsciously, in the plot and in the minds of the characters, much as the statue is forever present in the garden, though rarely acknowledged by characters. The statue seems to 'haunt' the garden, in the same way that Mr Neville's intimacy with the two women haunts the male characters, especially Mr Talmann, upsetting the hierarchical order of the estate and causing chaos, as the statue does. Thereby, the statue is seen pulling faces at the nephew, Augustus, who may not inherit the estate if Mrs T was to conceive a male child by Mr N. Also, when (spoiler alert!) Mr N is murdered due to his relationship with the two women, the statue shows cold disregard for the body; instead, it gorges on his pineapple, before spitting it out. It is as if Mr N's promiscuity, as manifested in the figure of Bacchus, overpowered him, led to his downfall, and stands triumphantly over him at his death. Apparently, the value of the living statue was more explicit in an earlier edit of the film, though in the released version, much is left to the viewer's interpretation, another reason why it is such a refreshing and interesting movie!

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