All About Eve is a story about a lying, sociopathic actress who is so fixated on success that she will achieve it at any cost. Now, I don't feel bad about spoiling this twist because the original trailer gives it away, and the film itself gives plenty of early hints concerning Eve's deception, gradually revealing it to the audience instead of springing the truth on us all at once. The more that Margot lashes out at Eve in suspicion, the more innocent Eve seems, and the story builds up a wall in the first act to disguise Eve's buried motives, only to break it down over the course of the film's second act. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
As with all my other videos, I'm here to talk about what makes this particular film a great film. While it's not as talked about as some other 50s classics, it still holds a special place in the Hollywood canon, tying with Titanic for the most Academy Award nominations for a single film, although most people remember it for this one famous line: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." This is just one example of the film's razor-sharp dialogue, which is one of the film's most prominent elements. All About Eve is a film which is just as enjoyable as it is impressive: this is due to both its brilliant acting, tense drama, and clever banter. But instead of wasting words listing all of the general reasons this film is impressive, I want to jump straight into why I think this film is essential: to put it simply, I believe that this is the greatest film about acting that I've seen so far. Movies about acting are just about as innumerable as novels about writers, because people like to tell stories about themselves. And while there are many well-made movies about the toil and glamour of being an actor, few of them say quite as much about the career as this one does, and even if they do, few of them say it this boldly. Of course, in a movie like All About Eve, every line comes with hidden motivations and sly double meanings, so the film is more a web of interconnecting themes than it is a presentation of one central idea: but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Now, a good starting point for understanding what makes this film unique is by comparing and contrasting it with other films that have handled the same or similar subjects, and there's probably no better counterpart to All About Eve than director Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. Both All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard are harsh satires of the entertainment industry, but each takes its own approach. Sunset Boulevard is a film noir with heavy gothic elements: it's a classic, but its drama resides in the realm of extreme coincidence and intense exaggeration. All About Eve is more down to earth and has more human, fully-developed characters, and though it's still a little campy by today's standards, it's comparatively more subtle.While Sunset Boulevard relies on grand sets and lush camerawork to tell its story, All About Eve comes across as more of an intimate living-room drama: and this makes sense considering that Sunset Boulevard is about the world of Hollywood, whereas All About Eve is about the world of the theatre. By confining itself to simple set pieces, the film places an emphasis on the characters and the performances-- which is appropriate, considering the entire movie is about the act of performing. Strangely enough, we never see anyone performing onstage during the film, and I think this is meant to alert us to one of the film's key thematic elements: that is, the actors never stop performing.
One element of the film that some modern fans criticize is the film's high level of melodrama which mostly comes from the antics of the film's two leading women: but it's important to remember that characters within the film openly call each other out for being melodramatic. What I'm saying is, Margot and Eve alike behave melodramatically because they are both aware that they're giving a performance. They're so accustomed to acting that they have an inability to be themselves, and throughout the film this is where their internal struggle lies: their complex human nature is caught up in a struggle with the simple roles they feel pigeonholed into. For Margot, she finds herself shoved into the role of the venomous aging star, and begins to constantly fear that with age, her career will come to an end. Eve, on the other hand, remains in a distinctly different position: at first glance, it appears that she is sliding into a role that she has fashioned for herself: the role of the meek starstruck young woman who wants nothing more than to be allowed to help her idol. However, beneath that there remains yet another expectation that she's conforming to: her preconceived notion of what is required to become a star. Eve's actions demonstrate a belief that in order to achieve success and become exceptional, one must be an exceptional person in every aspect of life, especially if it requires personal and even moral sacrifices. In a way, both Margot and Eve can be considered the film's protagonist, as we are shown not only the problems faced by someone growing old in a competitive industry, but also the problems faced by someone who is so ruthlessly ambitious that she stages a deception so grand that it separates her from everyone she knows and turns her into a hollow shell of the person she once was. Success always comes with a price, and in the field of acting that price is a unique one. Being an actor, you have to work yourself into a place where faking emotions and adopting false personas comes naturally to you, making it potentially more difficult for others to trust you or for you to trust yourself. Perhaps this is why in cultures around the world, acting was seen as one of the lowest professions. Now that the tables have turned and actors sit among the upper tiers of our society, what does that say about our culture and how we've changed?
Of course, many believe that this film isn't just about acting, it's about a battle between traditional gender roles and non-traditional gender roles. When the title reads All About Eve, it's on one level talking about Eve Harrington specifically, but on another level it's talking about all women. In Margot, we see a representation of the old way, and how at the end of the day, regardless of all she's accomplished, she still feels that she is incomplete without a man in her life. Contrast this with Eve, a character who is decidedly independent, who attempts to hold relationships with multiple men, and who even exhibits subtle signs of homosexuality. Therefore, it's not just a fight between Margot and Eve, it's a fight between the old way and the new way: the domesticated woman and the independent woman. In its cultural context, All About Eve could be seen as a response to movements of female empowerment that had been growing throughout the first half of the twenty-first century. The film celebrates women, but it also displays a certain view of what both male and female gender roles should be, and illustrates fears of ambitious women like Eve and effeminate men like Addison, whom it portrays as scheming outsiders. For better or for worse, it is Eve and Addison who win in the end, and who represent a new more self-oriented set of values that the film suggests will seep down to future generations.
In this way, All About Eve operates as a time capsule for the concerns and values of a specific era, as well as a magnificent character study and a showcase of acting talent at the height of Hollywood's Golden Age. It's a film that can be appreciated regardless of whether or not you empathize with its social perspective. It holds a deep ocean of analysis within it for those who are curious to search deeper into the gender dynamics of post-war America, while also maintaining a broader level of appeal through its critique of the ambitious vanity of the entertainment industry, something which is sadly becoming more and more relevant in today's world.
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