The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is a 2001, comedy crime film, written, directed and starring Woody Allen. The film also features renowned actors; Helen Hunt as Miss Fitzgerald, Dan Aykroyd as Mr. Magruder as well as a very young Charlize Theron.
The film is set in New York in the year 1940, gambling, larceny, addiction and infidelity is at the core of these characters and the film. We follow the story of CW Briggs who is an insurance investigator at North Coast Insurance. Later on Briggs and a group of people as well as his possible love interest Miss Fitzgerald go to see a hypnotist where they get programmed to react a certain way when a certain word is used. They are not aware of the fact that the hypnotist wants to use this control to his advantage. They suddenly become puppets in his master puppeteer's plan. The film seems to look like an old black-and-white Noir film, just in colour this time, and the witty banter and comments exchanged between characters, especially that of Briggs and Fitzgerald, makes them more lovable towards the audience.
In the foreground we see characters living in the mid-ground of apartment buildings and the insurance company. They join the background when we see Briggs going out to do as the Hypnotist said. Allen stays to the traditional linear storyline, following only one story line (which is that of Briggs) clearly staying to the recipe of cause-and-effect, logic and rational.
Allen cleverly uses contrast in the execution of the characters. Briggs is seen as a more hyper character saying what's on his mind in the most creative ways, as well as covering his own behind in the most clever of ways. The other characters being more calm and collected in their lines and execution of their character. It is also definitely seen in the difference in behaviour between when Fitzgerald and Briggs jump from being themselves to being controlled by the hypnotist.
We also see the actors and actresses giving not only giving great work, but also giving such theatrical performances that at some stage it felt like I was watching a theatre piece and not a film. By keeping the look of the film warm and almost retro, the director succeeds in creating a film that is visually as enjoyable as the story itself.
The film is also presented as a satirical Noir film. The use of warm colour and mundane shapes make this film easy to watch, and almost sooths you as you go along for the ride. There are crimes being committed, investigations being held, our protagonist confronted with beautiful women and his own hormones, just in this case our hero is not your normal Noir hero, he's the underdog, the loser. They guy who has wanted attention his whole life.
Like in most of Allen's films, such as 1977's Annie Hall, 2013's Blue Jasmine and 2014's Magic in the Moonlight, we are clearly aware of the space in which the story takes place, as well as which perspective from where the story is told from, in this case the character of Briggs.
The title of the film and the content of the film go hand in hand. Fitzgerald and Briggs are under the control of the Jade Scorpion. Doing as the hypnotist wishes and not asking anything. It makes you think that maybe we are all just puppets in the hands of a great or evil puppeteer. Aren't we all just instruments? Then there's the recurring carnival music that plays when Briggs or Fitzgerald goes into their larcenist hypnosis. This makes me feel like he's putting the people on display, saying humans are made to be viewed and made to be manipulated, because in the end their minds are stronger than their bodies, but it is so easy to hack those minds, thus so easy to control those bodies.
The characters in this film are also a lot older than me at this stage and they all have been married at some stage, but none of it turned out the way they wanted it to be. People cheat on each other and even when they judge the act of infidelity we have two characters, Fitzgerald and Magruder engaging in a heated affair. This comments strongly on the legitimacy of marriages, what do they really mean, when people are so eager to break them.
We see people who are filled with addiction, Briggs with his gambling with the horses, Fitzgerald who has tequila at 10 in the morning, downing a bottle in a matter of seconds, as well as a bullpen filled with drifting smoke from the smoking staff.
We are also faced with the idea of mental illness, what is reality, if we are all just puppets in the hands of a master pupeteer... We see Fitzgerald wanting to jump out of the window just when Magruder, (who has a wife) tells her he can't be with her. The film also highlights the power of the human mind and the senses of the human as strong and durable. Because there was nothing Briggs could do on his own about the hypnotist and his assistant, because he didn't know what was going on and it was his mind that made him do what he was doing.
We also see a slow and steady love story that makes us realize that maybe the one you were meant to be with was right under your nose, because even when their feelings for each other don't come out until the end, Briggs and Fitzgerald behave as if they are an old married couple. In the end we see them together, but only after Fitzgerald's secret word is said. I then started to ask myself, what is love, is it just an infatuation that can't last, or are we so hypnotized by the idea of love or a strange love story that we are willing to settle, like most of the characters in this film? How intoxicating or toxic is love actually? Because in the end all the characters are playing games with each other, this is shown much more clearly with the sly way the hypnotist uses hypnosis to force people to do what he wants, Magruder holding Fitzgerald on a line, postponing to talk to his wife, but rather keeping Fitzgerald under wraps and not letting anyone know what's really going on.
We also see a film about men being attracted to strong women, men like Briggs, and women seeking independence and adventure as with the characters of Fitzgerald and the erotic supreme queen, Laura Kensington.
On an imitational level the film succeeds to create a story that doesn't only feel plausible, but it creates a world that was so long ago, but it feels so real and tangible right now.
On a formalist level, we don't see Allen really playing around with symbolic composition, the film's composition is as real as possible. He intuitively uses the elements of a realistic, yet theatrical, film.
And then on an emotional level we see the film excelling in making us feel sympathetic towards the characters, in the way the music flows from one scene to the next. The way Allen and Hunt so carefully and steadily create their chemistry on stage, as well as the believability of the whole situation, even though he threw in something as strange and odd as hypnosis.
In the end I found myself really enjoying this film. It's not one of my favourite films, but it's definitely not one of my least favourite.
You start to wonder if Allen is really playing a character, or if he's just being himself and living out his own life frame for frame. In the end it made me feel hopeful about life and love, saying that you have to take chances on yourself and other people, and that sometimes just the right word can change your whole life.
The film is set in New York in the year 1940, gambling, larceny, addiction and infidelity is at the core of these characters and the film. We follow the story of CW Briggs who is an insurance investigator at North Coast Insurance. Later on Briggs and a group of people as well as his possible love interest Miss Fitzgerald go to see a hypnotist where they get programmed to react a certain way when a certain word is used. They are not aware of the fact that the hypnotist wants to use this control to his advantage. They suddenly become puppets in his master puppeteer's plan. The film seems to look like an old black-and-white Noir film, just in colour this time, and the witty banter and comments exchanged between characters, especially that of Briggs and Fitzgerald, makes them more lovable towards the audience.
In the foreground we see characters living in the mid-ground of apartment buildings and the insurance company. They join the background when we see Briggs going out to do as the Hypnotist said. Allen stays to the traditional linear storyline, following only one story line (which is that of Briggs) clearly staying to the recipe of cause-and-effect, logic and rational.
Allen cleverly uses contrast in the execution of the characters. Briggs is seen as a more hyper character saying what's on his mind in the most creative ways, as well as covering his own behind in the most clever of ways. The other characters being more calm and collected in their lines and execution of their character. It is also definitely seen in the difference in behaviour between when Fitzgerald and Briggs jump from being themselves to being controlled by the hypnotist.
We also see the actors and actresses giving not only giving great work, but also giving such theatrical performances that at some stage it felt like I was watching a theatre piece and not a film. By keeping the look of the film warm and almost retro, the director succeeds in creating a film that is visually as enjoyable as the story itself.
The film is also presented as a satirical Noir film. The use of warm colour and mundane shapes make this film easy to watch, and almost sooths you as you go along for the ride. There are crimes being committed, investigations being held, our protagonist confronted with beautiful women and his own hormones, just in this case our hero is not your normal Noir hero, he's the underdog, the loser. They guy who has wanted attention his whole life.
Like in most of Allen's films, such as 1977's Annie Hall, 2013's Blue Jasmine and 2014's Magic in the Moonlight, we are clearly aware of the space in which the story takes place, as well as which perspective from where the story is told from, in this case the character of Briggs.
The title of the film and the content of the film go hand in hand. Fitzgerald and Briggs are under the control of the Jade Scorpion. Doing as the hypnotist wishes and not asking anything. It makes you think that maybe we are all just puppets in the hands of a great or evil puppeteer. Aren't we all just instruments? Then there's the recurring carnival music that plays when Briggs or Fitzgerald goes into their larcenist hypnosis. This makes me feel like he's putting the people on display, saying humans are made to be viewed and made to be manipulated, because in the end their minds are stronger than their bodies, but it is so easy to hack those minds, thus so easy to control those bodies.
The characters in this film are also a lot older than me at this stage and they all have been married at some stage, but none of it turned out the way they wanted it to be. People cheat on each other and even when they judge the act of infidelity we have two characters, Fitzgerald and Magruder engaging in a heated affair. This comments strongly on the legitimacy of marriages, what do they really mean, when people are so eager to break them.
We see people who are filled with addiction, Briggs with his gambling with the horses, Fitzgerald who has tequila at 10 in the morning, downing a bottle in a matter of seconds, as well as a bullpen filled with drifting smoke from the smoking staff.
We are also faced with the idea of mental illness, what is reality, if we are all just puppets in the hands of a master pupeteer... We see Fitzgerald wanting to jump out of the window just when Magruder, (who has a wife) tells her he can't be with her. The film also highlights the power of the human mind and the senses of the human as strong and durable. Because there was nothing Briggs could do on his own about the hypnotist and his assistant, because he didn't know what was going on and it was his mind that made him do what he was doing.
We also see a slow and steady love story that makes us realize that maybe the one you were meant to be with was right under your nose, because even when their feelings for each other don't come out until the end, Briggs and Fitzgerald behave as if they are an old married couple. In the end we see them together, but only after Fitzgerald's secret word is said. I then started to ask myself, what is love, is it just an infatuation that can't last, or are we so hypnotized by the idea of love or a strange love story that we are willing to settle, like most of the characters in this film? How intoxicating or toxic is love actually? Because in the end all the characters are playing games with each other, this is shown much more clearly with the sly way the hypnotist uses hypnosis to force people to do what he wants, Magruder holding Fitzgerald on a line, postponing to talk to his wife, but rather keeping Fitzgerald under wraps and not letting anyone know what's really going on.
We also see a film about men being attracted to strong women, men like Briggs, and women seeking independence and adventure as with the characters of Fitzgerald and the erotic supreme queen, Laura Kensington.
On an imitational level the film succeeds to create a story that doesn't only feel plausible, but it creates a world that was so long ago, but it feels so real and tangible right now.
On a formalist level, we don't see Allen really playing around with symbolic composition, the film's composition is as real as possible. He intuitively uses the elements of a realistic, yet theatrical, film.
And then on an emotional level we see the film excelling in making us feel sympathetic towards the characters, in the way the music flows from one scene to the next. The way Allen and Hunt so carefully and steadily create their chemistry on stage, as well as the believability of the whole situation, even though he threw in something as strange and odd as hypnosis.
In the end I found myself really enjoying this film. It's not one of my favourite films, but it's definitely not one of my least favourite.
You start to wonder if Allen is really playing a character, or if he's just being himself and living out his own life frame for frame. In the end it made me feel hopeful about life and love, saying that you have to take chances on yourself and other people, and that sometimes just the right word can change your whole life.