Introduction

                                  Welcome to Stuart Fernie’s Blog

Please scroll down or find on the right links to articles, pages of reflections on films and books, and occasional pieces of short fiction.

Articles include discussion of "American Gigolo"(1980), "Ace in the Hole", "Suite Française", elements of a good lesson (secondary level), "Sweeney Todd", "The Yakuza", using film and song in the modern languages classroom, "The Dirty Dozen", "Megalopolis", Critical Thinking, "the relationship between an artist, a work of art and the consumer of a work of art", "respect, self-perception and self-healing", "Sicario" (2015), Steve McQueen, "Dracula entre l'amour et la mort" (the French-Canadian musical), science-fiction films, films about teaching, "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958), "The Invention of Lying", the Arts, the James Bond films, "Sweet Smell of Success", "Rollerball" (1975 and 2002), "The Professionals" (1966), "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The Name of the Rose", "The Man who would be King", "Mr. Holmes" (2015), "The Last Samurai", "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), "The Sand Pebbles", "Forrest Gump", "Gran Torino", "Gangs of New York", "Emperor of the North", "Five Easy Pieces", "Chinatown", "Casablanca", Blade Runner", "The Big Red One", early Luc Besson films, "Being There", "An Inspector Calls", "La Belle et la Bête", "The Searchers", "The Mission", "High Plains Drifter", "Nuremberg" (2025), "Prime Cut", the influence of existentialism in society today, anxiety, professional criteria and essential attributes in teaching, professionalism versus careerism, thoughts on the meaning of "success" and "worth", "Hobson's Choice", "Quai des Orfèvres", "Le Corbeau", "The Wages of Fear", advice and questions to assist in the writing of essays about films, thoughts on Proportion and Self-respect, "The Offence", "Trainspotting", "Three Days of the Condor", "Spotlight", "Good Night and Good Luck", "The Count of Monte Cristo" (French version, 2024), "Midnight Express", Jason Bourne, Advocating Arts and Humanities, "Heaven's Gate", "Civil War", "The Ghost and Mrs Muir", "Ad Astra", Duality in 19th century literature, "Living", "Hell in the Pacific", "Point Blank", "Vera Cruz", "Dr Strange in the Multiverse", my interpretation of "Il faut cultiver notre jardin", "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources", "Drive my car", "The Batman", the place of acting in society, thoughts about religion and fate, "The Banshees of Inisherin", "Full Metal Jacket", "The Bishop's Wife", "Moliere", "Les Fleurs du Mal", "Soylent Green", "Bad Day at Black Rock", "The First Great Train Robbery", The Dreyfus Affair, "Persona", "The Seventh Seal", "A Clockwork Orange", "Night Moves", "Lonely are the Brave", "In the heat of the night", "The League of Gentlemen" (1960), thoughts on the nature of film noir, "Star Trek", "Seven Days in May", "Dead Poets Society", "Good Will Hunting", "Callan", "The Hill", "Cool Hand Luke", "The Hustler", "Road to Perdition", "The Verdict", "Three Colour Trilogy", "Jojo Rabbit", "Jeremiah Johnson", "Collateral", "Joker", "Barry Lyndon", "The Bridge at Remagen", "Le Mans '66 (Ford v Ferrari)", Charles Foster Kane ("Citizen Kane"), "The Deer Hunter", "Highlander", "No Country for Old Men", "Gattaca", "The Adventures of Robin Hood"(1938), "Apocalypse Now", "Spartacus", "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Long Good Friday", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", "The Third Man", "Finding Forrester", "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "Untouchable" (2011),"Unforgiven", "The Manchurian Candidate", "The Wild Bunch", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "Papillon" (1973), "Public Eye", "Existentialism in society today", "Seven Samurai", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Don Quixote", "We're No Angels", "The African Queen", "Babette's Feast", "War for the Planet of the Apes", "Dunkirk", “Dances With Wolves”, “Inherit The Wind” and “The Prisoner”. 

A link to my YouTube channel with video presentations of a number of my pages.

After I retired from teaching, I thought I’d write my memoirs, “What have I done?”, and present them online. Please find links to these memoirs, some French support pages and reflections on "Les Misérables" below.

I can be contacted through the comments sections or at stuartfernie@yahoo.co.uk

Other blogs available:

French Support Pages

Discussion of “Les Misérables”

Tales of teaching – memoirs of a former French teacher

Version française d’articles initialement publiés en anglais sur mon blog

All intellectual property rights reserved

Brief reflections on "American Gigolo" (1980)

 

Brief reflections on “American Gigolo” (1980)

Directed and written by Paul Schrader

Starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo et al.

 

“American Gigolo” is an allegorical tale cum thriller that is very European in style in that it focuses far more on observation of character and society than on plot, and as such it is much more insightful and successful as an allegory than as a thriller.

Julian Kay is a high-end male escort who is pretentious, materialistic and somewhat superficial, perhaps necessarily so due to his profession. We see him as he charms his way through his life, providing an attentive service to his clients but also grating on colleagues and business partners as he pursues his career and puts his ambitions above loyalty, gratitude or even true friendship.

His world is one of heartless transaction and reciprocation in which ambition and self-promotion are set above compassion and values, and I suggest this is to be seen as an allegory for American society at that time. Everyone, though especially Julian, appears to be content to be superficial and mercenary, committed to the principle of quid pro quo and cold-bloodedly using one another for personal benefit. As such, the choice of male prostitute as the central character is perhaps perfect as Julian uses others but is also used by others to achieve personal satisfaction.

However, Julian learns the disadvantages of this state of affairs when he is suspected of the murder of a former client and no-one is willing to support him or tell the truth about their involvement with him. He discovers that his entirely superficial existence, void of connection, depth and attachment, renders him entirely expendable. Indeed, he may be seen as the perfect candidate for a frame up exactly because no-one is willing to defend or support him, making him the perfect patsy, and the thriller element of the film involves his attempts to prove himself innocent despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

He meets socialite Michelle, with whom he starts a relationship and this relationship becomes essential both in terms of Julian’s personal development and the thriller aspect of the film, and it is Michelle’s involvement that I find particularly problematic. She invites compassion and represents genuineness and depth, and she is clearly the means of Julian’s spiritual salvation as she provides him with emotional closeness, spiritual depth, loyalty and sincerity. However, while I can see that she may not be receiving such relational features within her marriage and may seek them elsewhere, I fail to see why she would find Julian so spiritually attractive as he has displayed none of these qualities beyond the most superficial level.

Nor can I understand why he would abandon his carefully cultivated outlook on life all of a sudden and indulge in the kind of emotional attachment he has resolved to avoid and which has, from the evidence presented to us, held no interest for him.

I understand that for the sake of the storyline and the desired transformation, this shift in character is essential, but I find the rationale behind it quite unconvincing.

I understand that virtually everything in the film is about fakery and appearance and we, along with Julian, are being taught a lesson about the need for connection, honesty and sincerity, but ultimately, Julian’s alibi, provided by the loved-up Michelle, is also a fabrication. Granted, it reveals the depth of her feelings for Julian and the lengths to which she is prepared to go for him, but it is yet another lie in a web of fakery, appearance and reciprocity as opposed to integrity, authenticity and compassion hinted at as an alternative.

The film is stylish and beautiful to look at but it is quite uninvolving and unconvincing in terms of character development. Its strengths include its observations of character and society, its depiction of a spiritual and moral vacuum, and the plot device of the death of a former client, but the frame up is an obvious and clumsy attempt to introduce much needed threat and urgency while the genuine jeopardy created by the death of Julian’s business associate (and Julian’s direct involvement in it) is casually discarded on a legal technicality to allow for Michelle’s act of salvation!

Quite apart from these structural issues, I would say it doesn’t succeed terribly well as a thriller because we don’t really care about Julian’s fate. We may recognise the injustice of his situation but we are curious, not outraged, as we have remained emotionally unengaged by a character whose principal trait is lack of emotional engagement.

Somewhat ironically, if fittingly, I found it a beautiful but shallow and not very rewarding experience.

My thanks for taking the time to read this article. I hope you found it of some value.

Stuart Fernie (stuartfernie@yahoo.co.uk)

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