EVA (EVE)

France, 1962, 115 minutes, Black and White.
Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, Virna Lisi, Giorgio Albertazzi, James Villiers.
Directed by Joseph Losey.

Eve was directed by Joseph Losey. Losey had a mixed career, beginning with effective short films in America in the 40s but with McCarthyism?, had to move anonymously to England. In the early 60s, his career began to rise with These Are The Damned and Eve. However with The Servants, King and Country, Accident, he became a well-known director in his own name and has made quite a number of striking films, eg. Mr. Klein. Eve is a complex film about the relationships between men and women. This is evident from the symbolic name. Losey had worked in several films with Stanley Baker. However the enigmatic presence of Jeanne Moreau is the important one. A complex and difficult film.

1. Was this a likeable film? How enjoyable was it, interesting? Would it repel audiences? Why?

2. How important was the black and white photography, the Venetian backgrounds, the nature and quality of the angle shots, the various poses, sculptures, use of symbols, the contrived and artificial presentation, the embodiment of the wheel in the symbolic, the allegorical detail, the didactic nature of the film? How varied would audience response be to all this? In what way? Would audiences be involved?

3. The biblical overtones of the title? Were these pretentious? Did this Rake the whole film pretentious? or was it valid symbolism used well? Adam and Eve, the man and the woman, temptation, sin, evil consequences? The power of nun over woman? The visual symbols used in the film to illustrate this sculptures, and the posings of the actors and actresses?

4. Was this an optimistic film in any way? was it totally pessimistic? Its attitude towards men and women and their relationships? The power of one over the other? Victims and predators? The role of sexuality, violence, power, death, destruction in this interplay and interaction? Were these themes well explored and with insight?

5. The importance of Venice as the city for such a film? The old world of Venice and its decay as background for modern man and his decay? The main characters as visitors? The modernity of tourism and the background of people living in exile? The reality and unreality of such a setting? The luxury of the past, the hotel and the gambling? Venice as an atmosphere? Venice as offering moral judgement on human behaviour?

6. How interesting a character was Tyvian Jones? As a twentieth century man? Was he a good man? An ordinary man? The background of his faking a novel? His living a pretence and a hypocrisy? Caught up in the superficiality of the film world? His strengths and weaknesses? The quality of his relationship with Francesca? Why did he become infatuated? Why with Eve? His weakness making him a victim of Eve? Was there any meaning in his life? Eve's tempting him and giving him power of life and death? Did this make his life any better? His capacity for changing his mind and affections? The impact of the marriage, Francesca's death? Two years later and his readiness to begin being entangled once again? How was he a parable of twentieth century man?

7. The character of Eve? How well was she portrayed by Jeanne Moreau? Her style? Was she explored as a character or as an archetypal woman? Even as the woman, the temptress, the mother, the wielder of power over man? How well were these complexities portrayed in the screenplay? How melodramatically, how sensuously? Were these two things characteristic of Eve's character? The importance of sexuality, violence, power, pride, humiliation? The games that Eve played with Tyvian, playing on his emotions and weakness? Ignoring, infatuation etc.? Eve as the archetypal whore? Money for her work? The taint that she gave to people she came into contact with? And yet her power of drawing continuously people to herself?

8. How did Francesca contrast with Eve as normal? The pathos of her ordinariness, her love for Tyvian, her work, the marriage, importance of her suicide for the dram and judgement of the film?

9. A critic called this an exercise in sado-masochism. To what was he referring? The self-punishment of Tyvian, his inability to get out of his bind, Eve as a jailer, as sadistic, Francesca as a victim? Did the minor characters throw light on this? other critics likened it to La Dolce Vita. The picture of the modern superficial world with the deep underlying themes of discontent, unhappiness, passion? The feebleness of society. Are these insights into the film?

10. Was the film made for all audiences? For what specialist audiences would it particularly be made?