La Poison

One is perfectly justified to see this as social satire, but for me Guthry's "La poison" (1951) is, above all, an easygoing, darkly humorous and witty pastiche on acting in all its forms – taking on roles in marriage, in society, in one's own eyes, in others' eyes, and of course, in a film. The opening introductory credit sequence sets the mood perfectly, as there we are explicitly shown that we will witness a performance that has been carefully planned, all actors, actresses and staff selected. I don't think this is just a stylistic whim of exuberance, it's an actual set-up for us. There are several references to theatre with exits and entrances through doors, and space is handled with confines, scenes as separate entities, spaces as separate entities. And then there's the central scene in the lawyer's office, where they literally create a fabrication that when inverted becomes the desired reality for Simon's character. Reconstruction, deconstruction, all of this means the same in this wonderful scene.

The chimera and the clown, death and joy – that's what the film is also about. This contrast of tragedy and comedy, its light-hearted darkness, presents itself also in the title, playing with the meaning of poison ("le poison" in French, with the masculine article) and the mocking identifier "la poison" (with the feminine article) given to… well, by all means watch the film and you'll find out.