NOW, VOYAGER (Rapper, 1942) - It’s a pity BF came home fifteen minutes before the end of this one - his eye-rolling and snickering kind of ruined the glorious weepiness of the film. I don’t know why, but Heinreid kissing Davis when she’s asleep? Heinreid telling her, almost casually, looking at her in that way, that he’s head over heels in love with her? And, of course, Heinreid lighting those two cigarettes? Reader, I swooned, even if - as pointed out in this great essay - the romance is not, ultimately, the point. The ending makes no sense any more nowadays, but it’s still the only possible happy ending: managing to escape from the clutches of a domineering mother would feel pretty useless if the escapee then voluntarily enslaved herself again, just to a husband this time.
Note-that-should-be-superfluous-but-might-not-be: I don’t personally think of marriage as enslavement, but in those times, it certainly meant not being independent, especially since for most of the movie, Charlotte has no money of her own.
