The Divorcee

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Louisa E I thought the plot was very thought-provoking and highlighted the double standard of the time when it came to infidelity. There was a slow patch three-quarters of the way through, but the ending was great, and as a whole, the movie felt relatively modern. Any film with bridge in it makes me happy as it's one of my favourite hobbies. I would have had a lot of fun hanging out with this group at their guest house. My first impression of Norma Shearer is that I was underwhelmed, considering she got the Oscar for best actress for this movie. The constant giggling of the first half an hour was very annoying. By the movie's end, I could see the character progression through the acting, but her performance felt a bit flat to me. Moments of brilliance but moments of cringe too. According to trivia, Joan Crawford wanted the role; I think that would have been fascinating (and maybe a better fit?) I think Conrad Nagel did a great job, as did Robert Montgomery, and I think they were the stars of this movie acting-wise for me. I wasn't overly taken with Chester Morris in this role. I prefer him as a gangster. The special effects of the fast driving scenes are almost comical today but might have been good for the time. I kept wondering if Norma had a "good side" because we kept just seeing the side of her face, usually her left side. In the trivia I read afterwards, it said Norma was cross-eyed, and I guess maybe that is why there were so many side shots. The sets and costumes in this movie were divine. My favourites were the wedding bouquet and dress and Jerry's pants! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/08/23 Full Review brad h Overrated. Interesting subject matter but not much more. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Norma Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar. The topic was rather risque at the time and shows a sort of love triangle for the first time in film. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review william d Fair to middling melodrama. The most interesting thing is the subject matter. Not many movies from the '30s deal with adultery, and since The Divorcee is Pre-Code it talks about adultery pretty extensively, albeit somewhat obliquely. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Jared D A very dated tale of the sexual double standard where the double standard wins in the end. Shearer had some memorable scenes as a more "liberated woman" once she is divorced. Despite bring a somewhat risque pre-code film, the filmmakers couldn't bring themselves to close the film with anything but a thrown together sop to the wounded husband's vanity. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/02/20 Full Review Audience Member Keep in mind, the movie should be watched in its historical context. For 1930, it was a very risquee plot, testing the limits of social mores of the time. The idea of a women being perceived as a sexual equal to a man was way beyond its time. Norma Shearer did such a great job of the role, struggling between her self-perception as a modern, liberal-minded woman and her feelings of jealousy and betrayal, like a "typical" housewife, which she never thought she was. The line "it didn't mean anything" characterizes the irony of the film -- it actually meant everything and destroyed the lives of those who thought it didn't. The film reinforces the idea of the importance of the sanctity of marriage and fidelity in a monogomous relationship - a concept that may seem antiquated in our times, but something that was being tested in the 1920s and 1930s. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Divorcee

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