Obviously I never saw
the play but I came across this film recently and decided to review it for
Predominant. “The Balcony” is very racy at times and definitely pushes the
envelope for society in 1963, but it is the film's subtle humor that keeps it
from becoming serious. The wild fantasies played out inside the brothel are
turned into something that can put an end to the violent revolution. While the
film is mainly comedic, Genet’s societal metaphors do abound. Genet's play
seems at first to be about how sex binds, but it's more a post-modern sort of
play, where all is an illusion and we play roles. In Genet's world, our choices
are governed by sex and there is truth to that. I’m sure ninety-nine percent of
the role-playing that went on at ‘Village Fantasies’ had sexual elements.
The first three clients
that we see in the brothel are very flaky and it is easy to judge them as being
“weirdoes”. Their fantasies and how they act them out seem way over the top but
perhaps that is how all fantasies appear to those who don’t share them nor
understand them. In preparing to write this review, I went back and researched
some of Elise’s comments about role-playing. In her Q&A forum, one woman
asked her about her husband’s desire to role-play that he is being executed and
he wanted his wife to be the executioner. Elise wrote;
“People have all sorts
of fantasies and I do not judge them as being weird or perverted. It may simply
be a case where he (the woman’s husband) saw a movie or read a story as a child
where a dominant woman executed a man and this stirred his submissive nature.
So he desires to act it out. It is no different than a man wanting to be
dominated by Catwoman.
I added a section to my
site where people share their role-playing fantasies and how they acted them
out. If you would read these, you will see that people's FemDom fantasies are
quite a variety. As long as these fantasies do not become obsessions and as
long as the people acting them out stay rooted and grounded in reality, I see
no problems with it. Role-playing can actually be a healthy thing as it gives
people a safe outlet to explore secret desires. The key here is the word
"playing". It is just that. Adults playing make believe by becoming
characters and acting out fantasies.”
Elise’s response to this
question would also apply to the clients of the brothel we see in “The
Balcony”.
The first client (Jeff
Corey) is a gas station attendant who role-plays that he is a Bishop and he
wants the prostitute/role-playing actress (Joyce Jameson – you might remember
her best as the dizzy blonde Skippy in the old “Andy Griffith Show”) to confess
her naughty sins to him. The client wants her to tell him really ‘nasty’ sins
but when he seems disappointed by her confessions (which we never hear), the
girl gets frustrated and lets it slip that she had thought long and hard for a
week to come up with the most naughty sins her imagination could think of. This
makes the client question her about whether the sins are real (which is what he
wants) or merely make-believe. The girl quickly recovers and assures him that
all the sins she has confessed are indeed real, that she did them all, which
causes the client to become excited and he falls back into his role as Bishop
where he proceeds to forgive her for her sins.
The next client we see
is a milkman (Kent Smith) who role-plays that he is a General. The girl
assigned to him (Arnette Jens) pretends to be his horse, albeit a rebellious
horse with a sassy mouth. The General wants her rebellious because his fantasy
is to break her. What is rather interesting about this scene is that it is
obvious that the General wants to dominate the woman yet the prostitute/actress
is totally in control and she has the General in the palms of her hands, making
sassy remarks that often humiliate the General. The session goes into a strange
direction when the General wants to pretend he is being buried with honor as
the girl drapes flags across his body.
We are distracted from
the General’s session when we hear a woman’s voice in the next room yelling
“Lick it! Lick it!”
The film takes us to the
next room where we see a client (Peter Brocco), an accountant, dressed as a
Judge on his hands and knees before an African-American woman (Ruby Dee). She
is ordering him to lick her shoes. The client stops because he is not ready yet
for that part of the fantasy and he returns to the bench where he questions the
woman about her crimes as she sits on the witness stand. The woman is accused
of being a thief and the ‘Judge’ wants her to explain what she stole and why
she stole it. When the woman explains that she took some bread because she was
hungry, the Judge becomes very excited and encourages her to continue. Finally,
once the woman has gone into the details about her crimes and the Judge is
about to pronounce his sentence, the woman reverses the D&S dynamic by
ordering the Judge to crawl before her and "Lick it!" This is the
crux of his fantasy, to be a man of power who debases himself before a woman by
licking her shoes.
During these three
fantasies, we see the Madam Irma (Shelley Winters) and her file clerk Carmen
(Lee Grant), a woman who was once one of the prostitutes but who was promoted
by the Madam, watching all the fantasies over a television screen in a kind of
a master-control room with lots of filing cabinets that gives us the impression
that the brothel has hundreds of clients. Each fantasy is staged in rooms with
eloborate sets and costumes and Irma monitors everything from the control room,
intervening should a session go too long or gets out of hand. It is during the
Judge’s session where he is licking the woman’s shoes that Carmen makes it
known to Irma that she longs to become one of the prostitutes/actresses again,
even for just a session. In fact, the Judge’s session was one that Carmen used
to perform and she makes the comment that she was much better at it than the
current girl. I find that hard to believe because Ruby Dee is superb although
we later find out that Lee Grant can also be quite good when it comes to
role-playing.
The Balcony is a place
where mortal men go to live out their fantasies. It is a modern day dream
castle, where men can escape from the hardships of the real world and act out
lives of important people that they may never have the opportunity of becoming.
It is a place where men go to fulfill not just their sexual fantasies, but also
their dreams. If one wants to become the Bishop; he can go to the Balcony and
demand that women tell him their sins. If one wants to become the strongest
General in the English army with a trusty steed by his side, all that he needs
to do is go to the Balcony and a woman will become his sidekick. If one wants
to be a powerful Judge who is humbled by the sexuality of woman, the Balcony
can make this fantasy come true. Rooted with deep political and sexual
undertones, this black comedy allows us to watch as three men live out their
fantasies as their troubled country is rocked right outside the doors by a gang
of rebels.
With the revolution
happening outside, the business has been tough, but the ladies seem to be
surviving. Everyone is happy, until Peter Falk enters the scene. Falk gives a
performance of sustained intensity as a man who thinks he's in charge of his
destiny. He plays the Police chief who is trying to bring the rebels outside to
justice. He is also the man who is dating the Madam Irma (she is also the owner
of the brothel). The Police chief also has a favorite fantasy, as he likes it
when Irma role-plays that she is the Queen. She uses this fantasy to keep the
macho police chief in line.
He does not know how to
bring the rebels to justice and keep the moral of the people and troops
together when a real-life Bishop, a General, and a Supreme Court Justice have
all been murdered. Then he finds his answer in the least of places when Irma
comes up with the idea that her current three clients could become stand-ins
for the actual leaders of the country. After much persuasion, they say
"yes" and begin their voyage outside into the "real world"
wearing the masks of their fantasies. The three unknowns head out onto the city
to bring peace and justice to the unknowing people. They do not care that they
do not have the training for this power. All they care about is being able to
feel like they have the power if only for just one moment.
At first they succeed,
but soon the power becomes too much for these men as they begin to believe they
could actually run the country. This angers the police chief but Irma keeps him
at bay when he tries to shoot one of the three men (upon their return) as even
the guns and bullets inside the brothel are fakes. The Madam proclaims,
"We don't allow death in here."
Next we are introduced
to the Leonard Nimoy character, Roger. He is the leader of the rebellion and the
enemy of the police chief. Earlier in the film Peter Falk asks Irma why none of
her clients ever want to pretend they are the chief of police. Seeing how most
men want to pretend they are men of authority like a Bishop, a General and a
Judge, Falk is offended that nobody ever wants to role-play that they are him,
seeing how he views himself as a powerful man. This all changes when Roger
visits the brothel. He wants to role-play that he is the chief of police, his
sworn enemy.
Carmen begs the Madame
to allow her to do Roger’s fantasy. She agrees and the girl concocts an
elaborate fantasy where he is dressed as the chief of police and she appears as
a beautiful Goddess of Nature.
However, the fantasy is interrupted when Falk discovers that Nimoy
is present at the brothel. He bursts into the room and the men begin to fight.
Irma has been monitoring the room and she pulls an alarm which sends all of her
girls into the room where they proceed to force the men to the floor and they strip
them naked. Once naked, in a kind of a CFNM humiliation, the men no longer feel
macho enough to fight each other.
The two men hide
together, get thrown some bath towels and slowly leave the Balcony discussing
"power" as if they were friends. Madame Irma closes the film by
addressing the audience: “Their illusions at home are even less realistic than
here at the Balcony.”
“The Balcony” is an odd
film and a black comedy that audiences in 2013 will not find very funny.
However, it really was a daring attempt to put Genet’s play on the big screen
at a time when the American public was scarcely ready for it. From what I
understand, the movie “The Balcony” is, on many levels, "tamer" than
the stage version. The castration of a character is eliminated as are most
homosexual references and exposed skin is kept to a minimum. Nonetheless, much
of the acting is terrific, especially the lesser-known actresses Ruby Dee, Lee
Grant, Joyce Jameson and Arnette Jens. Winters gives a solid performance as the
Madame and both Falk and Nimoy are sufficient, although we know they can be
much better by their later works.
I enjoyed this movie
however I wouldn’t recommend buying it unless you can find it for a bargain. It
is one of those movies that is so different and such a departure from the kinds
of films you would expect to see in 1963 with actors of Winters, Falk and
Nimoy’s talent, that you find yourself wondering if it is an actual film or a
crazy episode of “The Twilight Zone”.
Nevertheless, the film
did remind me of how wild and fun role-playing can be. One of the benefits of
the female domination lifestyle is that it allows us the chance to explore
different aspects of our natures, and this exploration can include playing
make-believe from time to time. If nothing else, “The Balcony” has motivated me
to explore role-playing again. But you don’t have to see this film to
reacquaint yourself with the joys of role-playing. Still, if you ever come
across “The Balcony” it is worth 84 minutes of your time.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
