Characters in stories, like those of us in the real world, want things. Narrative is quite often the story of a character overcoming obstacles to reach a goal. Conflict occurs when something or someone gets in the way of achieving that goal. We usually see the person obstructing that goal as the antagonist or bad guy of the story, but you should always remember that the antagonist is simply another character trying to reach his own goals. It’s important to assess the antagonist by his/her goals before we label them a bad guy. A good story makes the conflict clear. A great story piles on layers of complexity that make it difficult to pigeonhole protagonist and antagonist. Cat People is just such a film.
It’s an erotic horror film, so the plot revolves around sex. Sex is a universal goal as well as a social and biological imperative. Even God said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” But in this film we have characters that face an interesting conflict. What would you do if you were told there were only a few people in the world you could have sex with? Well, that’s not it, how about…you can have sex with anybody you want, but afterwards there would be a terrible consequence unless it was only with certain people…a consequences where you’d have to kill someone. That’s Cat People in a nutshell, but there’s even a worse conflict. What if that other person were a family member, say like a brother or sister? Decisions, decisions!
Incest is one of the few universal taboos that permeates world cultures. Director Paul Schrader complicates this for us by giving us main characters with this ‘curse’ that are very attractive making the choice even more difficult. Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski) and her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) are not hard on the eyes. If you’ve ever seen Ms. Kinski’s poster with the snake (just because I had this poster framed on my college walls!) then it’s very easy to imagine her as a sexual creature. The same can be said for McDowell after A Clockwork Orange or Caligula. So for us to assume they should abstain from sex is absurd. These two people are people who SHOULD be having sex…just probably not with each other since they are brother and sister in the film, but Paul knows the secret while Irena does not.
The film opens with a long shot of wind blowing sand uncovering skeletal remains. It’s an apt symbol seeing as how the big skeleton in this family’s closet is going to be revealed to Irena. Paul shows her a cupboard full of old circus junk that belonged to their parents. It appears on the surface as a pleasant trip down nostalgia lane, giving his long lost sister some items to help fill in the blanks about their parents. Paul even says when he opens the cupboard, “The skeletons are out of the closet now, eh?” Hardly.
They are descended from…well…Cat People. The curse is that they can have sex with members of their kind (usually family…their mother and father were brother and sister) and everything is hunky dory However, if they have sex with a non-werecat…they turn into black leopards. Very cool. But in order to turn back into a human, they have to take a human life. Ah, there’s the rub. Paul is meant to creep us out because he’s pursuing a sexual relationship with his sister. Oddly enough his occupation is minister. We’re supposed to see him as repulsive and cheer for Irena to not fall into his clutches or succumb to accepting the curse. We feel this way because 1) we think incest is yucky and 2) Irena’s initial state is one of innocence. She’s a virgin…could you imagine if she had found out about the curse while making out with her prom date? Can you say Awkward?
So we see her as innocent and Paul as the bad guy, but let’s slow down a minute and look at their goals. Irena falls in love and her goal is to have a normal relationship. We know that’s not possible, sucks, but there it is. Us mere mortals don’t get a say. Paul is obviously experienced enough to know about the curse and the results of having sex. Later on we’re convince even further that Paul is a bad guy because we see him as the cat mauling a hooker. I guess he got so horny waiting that he transformed spontaneously. It’s not very clear.
Let’s look at those codes again… Irena – Young (we love young, we value youth in our society), innocent (she’s a virgin), beautiful (hey it’s Nastassja), exotic (she has that accent and just look how she spells her name!), loves animals (she hangs out at the zoo sketching a black leopard she doesn’t even know is her brother), an last but not least…she’s so friggin’ sexy. She’s coded from the beginning as someone we will cheer for.
Now let’s look at Paul… Sure he’s a man of God, but he’s creepy. He snuggles up to his sister in a very intimate way. She shrugs him off, but still… He tries to kill a hooker (strike two) and if that’s not enough…he wears black (and yes, since you asked…SHE wears white!) Kind of obvious symbolism, but there it is. These decisions are made for a reason and that reason is to manipulate YOU. A good writer does this well…a great writer does it so well you have no idea it’s happening.
Now let’s look at Paul… Sure he’s a man of God, but he’s creepy. He snuggles up to his sister in a very intimate way. She shrugs him off, but still… He tries to kill a hooker (strike two) and if that’s not enough…he wears black (and yes, since you asked…SHE wears white!) Kind of obvious symbolism, but there it is. These decisions are made for a reason and that reason is to manipulate YOU. A good writer does this well…a great writer does it so well you have no idea it’s happening.
Cat People is pretty heavy handed, but then again it’s not trying to be literature. It’s trying to be a sexy movie with some scary moments and some things to think about like “Would I have sex with my sister if she looked like Nastassja Kinksi and it meant I wouldn’t have to kill any more hookers?” And believe me when I say the scene at the end where Irena gets tied up to a bed before sex…well…you’ll just have to watch the film.
Yes, there’s Nastassja, and there’s Malcolm and there’s even John Heard in his prime…but the sexiest thing in this whole movie is the theme song sung by David Bowie. I saw him perform it live on his Serious Moonlight tour. Ahhhhhhhhh. Just amazing. He did it again on his Glass Spider tour too. Both times were awesome. It’s set to music by Giorgio Moroder who knows how to make music sound like sex. He wrote “I Feel Love” - the Donna Summer hit. Now THAT’s sexy music. And the words… “We’re putting out the fire…with gasoline!”
I’ve seen this movie so many times….I think I’ll watch it again.
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