Love and relationships are often considered to be sacred and private. When one betrays the social contract which is a relationship, the automatic reaction is one of judgment and disgust.
Ida Lupino is clearly not as sold on the black and white nature of this crime however as seen in her 1953 classic The Bigamist. In which a man named Harry (Edmond O’Brien) finds himself torn between two women not knowing how to get out of the situation without hurting someone he loves.The film might seem like it will fall into cliches, but stands tall as a nuanced and tragic look at the situation and the complexities of love.
One of the clear masterful elements of the film is its ability to evoke feelings of understanding and reason even in highly emotional situations. Dealing with a man who has been unfaithful naturally feels like a set up for showing the worst of characters in their malicious lack of morals, But The Bigamist pushes to be more. It is a film that turns every character into a victim, from the women who are guaranteed to have their hearts broken down the line, to Harry who has to live with what he has done and the dominoes of pain he has set off.
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The film makes every character, despite their flaws, feel completely genuine which helps make them evoke sympathy and understanding. Even with this level of understanding however, the film is careful not to downplay their mistakes and say that the characters are completely in the moral clear. But rather are smart bringing a level of nuance to the conversation of good people making bad choices. To put it bluntly, The Bigamist captures a rarely honest look at the complexities of life and trying to be a good person, while also balancing finding happiness and dealing with turmoil.
So much of why this works is because the catalyst for the turmoil is so effective. Rather than just having Harry fall in love with the provocative Phyllis (Ida Lupino) casually, the film is careful to construct an accurate and fair representation of the turmoil within Harry and Eve’s (Joan Fontaine) relationship. With Eve being infertile and shutting partly down in the aftermath of learning of her condition. This puts just as much if not more space between the couple than Harry’s business trips to Los Angeles, and serves as yet another example of the nuance within the film.
It would be far more common for a film like this to hide from details like this in fear of demonizing the character they also want the audience to view as a victim. But the film is confident in its screenplay by Collier Young, and trusts in the audience to be able to see the deeper complexities of the situation which was a gamble that clearly payed off nicely.
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Because of this representation, The Bigamist carries a unique weight to it. Where the film is shockingly sparse when it comes to actually showing the lasting consequences of the mistakes made by the characters, the sense of a lasting pain is absolutely present. Because the film doesn’t glorify its characters and instead grounds them in an authentic human experience, it is incredibly easy to become invested in the characters. Which makes the pain they are forced to confront all the more haunting.
With that said, it does feel like the ending of the film could have found a more grand stance to end on to better wrap up the story. The film fails to leave the audience with a final punch to the gut. And the majority of the haunting effect the film has on audiences is found in thinking about the film after it ends, when the weight of the characters truly starts to pull on the hearts of audiences.
The Bigamist undoubtedly could have been cleaned up here and there, but overall is a worthwhile excursion into a layered and nuanced exploration of love. Clearly benefiting from having a woman in the director’s chair, who wasn’t worried about an over dramatized story, the film is grounded and haunting. In all, a piece of cinema that is sure to stay on the minds of audience members for long after the runtime ends.
The Bigamist is available to stream right now on Amazon Prime.
