He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Time: 1h 35mins
Director: Victor Sjöström
Quick Summary: Paul Beaumont, a genius scientist, is cheated by his wife, Marie, and fellow scientist, Baron. Soon, fed up with his life, he decides to take up a job at a circus in Paris as a clown.
I went into this assuming it was going to be funny since the guy is a clown, but I was met with one of the saddest stories I've seen in a while.
I mean the guy takes such a traumatic and terrible experience and turns it into a way that he knows how to process it. Laughter. It's such a twisted masochistic recreation of the event, but it's in his control and he can actually laugh with the crowd, so they're not just laughing at him. He remains a prisoner to himself and his internal struggle and it is all masked over by makeup and pain inflicting gags. Honestly, it's quite sad because you realise that it broke the poor guy and the only way he knows how to do anything is to be a clown to people. Repeating in a vicious circle of pain and humiliation every night to be slapped over and over again just to feel useful.
Of course what makes this work so well is Lon Chaney. He's an incredible actor who does such a brilliant performance that revolves around grief and sadness. He's so intense in his facial expressions that it's frightening. It's shocking to watch him at times because one second he's confessing his love to a woman, who mistakes it as a joke, to then be jumping around making a fool of himself.
Watching this became too much at some points as we get glimpses of hope and sanity for him, only for it to be painfully snatched away. It's hardly the conventional melodrama that so many films of today, between the dark comedy plot and some clever cinematography, with audiences fading in and out transitioning from jeering intellectuals to clowns, and Chaney getting his figurative heart pulled from his chest before its buried in the dirt. This is why I love Silent Films since they manage to convey so many emotional storylines without a single spoken word, and again my point is proven with this devastating tale.
I believe the version I watched had some cuts, which actually brings me to my only complaint. I found some of the editing and transitions to other scenes really jarring. Obviously, they cut things that started scenes or ended them, because it was either suddenly jump to something or from something and I was a little bit lost occasionally. The other thing is, I'm glad I'm not afraid of clowns because even for me they were a bit creepy at times.
That all said, this is still a brilliant story that really goes under the radar because it's a silent film. Please watch this if you love heartbreaking tales.
9/10
"In the grim comedy of life, it has been wisely said that the last laugh is the best..."
"HE: You see - I am happy - I am smiling - a fool is always smiling..."
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