1942
Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur
Horror films are often dealing, as a sub-text with the eruption of the repressed as something horrific. In this film we need to ask if this is the subtext. If so what is repressed and what happens when it ruptures forth.
Lewton and Touneur often interested in whether or not the horrorific element is real or not.. Since many people who go to see horror movies expect to see the horrorific, the studios wanted the frightening event to be visible so they insisted on the insertion of elements that Lewton and Tourneur preferred to leave up to the viewer.(The studios wanded to specularize the horrorific to satisfy the viewers scopophilia!)
Cat People is, like many Lewton/Tourneur films a low budget film and in part the lower budget motivated them into creative ways to deal with problems. Many artists set limits or “obstacles” within which they must work. Hitchcock often set such obstacles for himself
Horror films often have interesting sound designs and this one is no exception. Try to note the kinds of sounds that occur that mark the appearance of the supernatural. Listen also to the use of diagetic and non diagetic music in the film. How are they related?
AFTER THE FILM
What are the text and subtext of Cat People?
The film seems to be interested in alternate modes of explanation: science vs. metaphysical. Does Irena turn into a cat or not? Is it real or all in her mind?
Sounds
Footsteps echoing in the park on the walk through the transverse.
Sounds of cats. Irena likes these, but not those of the panther which is “like a woman,
The arrival of the bus. This is a very famous scene and has given rise to a term “a bus” in movies which refers to the idea that the audience is led to suspect one thing and then it turns out to be another, perfectly normal event,
Echoes in the pool.
The song which Irena sings is also used as background music during the film
Symbols
Cats
Swords/crosses=phallic symbols
Bars
Animals recognize supernatural
Cat images appear right from the start. Irena is drawing a cat – and more interestingly a skewered one! A cat on a sword also appears on the St. John stature in Irena’s room. There are also pictures of cats all around her house in the paintings and on screens.
Cats, especially the panther, are described as evil, hence there association with witches. The zoo keeper says that the panther is “like unto a leopard” as the bible says in Revelations.
House cats are frightened of Irena, as are many animals. The kitten she gets as a pet seems afraid of her. The pet shop animals go berserk when she enters. The bird she was given dies of fright when she tries to hold it. The implications are that she has a “cat” nature.
Swords appear in Irena’s drawing of the leopard. They are equated with crosses, T-squares and keys. In Irena’s dream the key from the panther’s cage replaces a sword.
Dr. Judd’s cane does not protect him, perhaps because it lacks a hilt which makes it appear like a cross. It is, however responsible for both Judd’s death and ultimately Irena’s.
Bars appear most overtly on cages both at the zoo and in Irena’s apartment. They frequently appear as shadows, most notably when Oliver goes to visit Irena for the first time. There are shadows from banisters, and many other objects.
Lighting
Much of the lighting is high contrast. There are great contrasts between dark and light and light forms pools surrounded by darkness. This is often called chiaroscuro, a kind of lighting used in paintings by Rembrandt among others. Here we can feel the darkness (which Irena likes and feels is comfortable)
Photographic techniques
Lewton frequently uses surprise. Bus scene, often things look like they are one thing but turn out to be another. Oliver arrives at the building where he works. The revolving door appears to turn on its own. There is something on all fours that turns out to be the cleaning woman. Lewton often did a few scenes where something appears to happen and doesn’t and the suddenly does one that is real.
Difference between shock and suspense is suddenness rather than using time to build tension. The build up of tension on the walk through the park transverse is a good example of building up tension. Lewton’s films often have “a walk” like this one in which he builds tension. The set of scenes that build up to the appearance of Irena in the pool similarly generates a good deal of tension
Irena’s perfume is defined as not plant like but warm and living (i.e. perhaps animal like)
Sexuality as a subtext in the film
Irena’s problems seem to revolve around her frigidity which manifests itself in her fear that she will turn into a cat and kill the person who releases her emotions. The idea of cats with their association with both witchcraft and the feminine make them good choices for the location of the fear. She manifests this in her dislike of the panther which screams like a woman. The phallic nature of the swords etc. lends more force to this analysis. The ultimate release is the jealousy with Alice. She can not respond to Oliver but is jealous of Alice who (probably) can.
The scene with the strange woman (described as “looking like a cat) at the wedding banquet has some strange lesbian-like overtones The two woman are clearly linked. Not only does the woman recognize Irena as “her sister” (both as a cat woman and perhaps with lesbian overtones), but her lines are clearly said by Simone Simon.