The Libertine

Mythology Goes to the Movies

The libertine is a creation of the civilized world. It was once practiced only by the wealthy, but in the modern world, anyone can play. The archetype of the libertine is Don Juan. He’s a character created by a monk, back in 17th century Spain, in a play, titled, El burlador de Sevilla. This has been translated as, The Trickster of Sevilla, but I prefer the more direct translation of burlador, which is mocker. Because Don Juan not only tricks women into sleeping with him, he mocks them. 

Several versions of the story have made their way onto the stage and screen. The two most popular versions are Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Zorilla y Moral’s stage play, Don Juan Tenorio. Don Giovanni is probably Mozart’s most popular opera. 

To recap the story, Juan is a guy who lies and tricks his way into seducing upper class women. Like many of his ilk, one day he steps too far, and is caught. A father catches him, they duel, and Juan kills the father. Later on, Juan mocks the father’s grave on his way to seduce another woman. The grave calls out to him that his days are numbered. Juan, holding nothing sacred, tells the voice from the grave, that he is not afraid of hell, and that he invites the father’s ghost or the demons, to dinner. They show up, and Juan, laughing as he goes, is taken to hell. Which suggests that Juan knows perfectly well he is quite the ass. Juan is self aware, that he hurts others, and doesn’t give a damn that he does.

In old British society, Juan would be referred to as an incorrigible. In today’s world, the polite term is sex addict. Like all addictions, it’s a device to anesthetize pain. Jane Austin said it best, when she referred to the Don Juan characters as “…that compound of cruelty and lust.” Cruel people are, many times, unaware of their own pain. The libertine may think he’s on a pleasure tour when in truth, he’s on a self deluded, destructive ride through life. Don Juan makes no one happy, not even himself. 

It is time to get around to the movies. The first movie, is Goodbye Charlie, with Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds, was directed by Vincente Minnelli. The second is Switch, with Ellen Barkin, and Jimmy Smits. It was direct by Blake Edwards. Both movies turn the Don Juan legend sideways, as it is Juan that is killed, not the father. Both movies end with redemption for don Juan. The Charlie and Steve of the movies are not 17th century characters. In spite of the 17th century having its share of issues with morality, it was nowhere near what we have today. Partly this is so because today, our morals have been tampered with by the Great Libertine, Hugh Hefner. 

Goodbye Charlie was released in 1964. In this plot, Charlie is a writer in the movie business. He’s over his head in debt, but instead of writing more, his main hobby is sleeping with the wives of producers and studio heads. Finally, on the yacht belonging to producer Sir Leopold Sartorie, when Charlie leads Sir Leo’s wife to a below deck tryst, Sir Leo follows. He shoots Charlie, who is then shoved overboard. For the memorial service days later, Charlie’s best friend, George, comes into Los Angeles. Four people show up at the service. Once everyone leaves, George tries to take a nap. He is interrupted by  a knock on the door. A guy named Bruce delivers a naked woman kept covered by his overcoat. George does not want this package. Neither does Bruce. He drives off. 

The naked woman is Charlie reincarnated. Debbie Reynolds gives an amazing performance as a man in the body of a woman. One of the best scenes in the movie is Charlie convincing George that he, Charlie, is the real person inside this feminine body. Naturally, best friends know things about one another, that others don’t. For George, he must overlook some of the not-so-nice memories, because like all libertines, Charlie’s main priority has been his own pleasure. He lies to get it, including the lies he told George. Included in the lies are the rationale for why he fibbed. 

Charlie decides to use  his new body to return to his usual ways. He attends Sir Leo’s coming home party, after Sir Leo is released from prison for shooting Charlie. The police still investigate. Charlie’s body has yet to be found.

This is one of the most tantalizing scenes in the movie, as the killer, the dead lover and the wife all come together. Part of the interest lies in the hint of what punishment is to come to all three of these players. The groundwork is laid as Sir Leo, a libertine himself, is smitten with the female Charlie, who now says she is Mrs. Charles Sorel. 

The next day, Charlie, as Mrs. Charles Sorel, makes a lunch date with two of his old lovers. Over a martini lunch, Charlie proceeds to get 10k out of the women in exchange for not writing a book about their husbands. 

In death, Charlie is still lying, still mocking. George, who is the archetype of the good angel sitting on Charlie’s shoulder, tells him it is a despicable act, since the two women he exhorted were the only two that showed up at his memorial service. 

How weird it must be to be able to redeem oneself after death. Charlie burns his sin away by burning the checks the women gave him. The metaphor here is making amends from the grave. Charlie’s body is dead, but his conscience is now alive. 

Bruce, the nice guy with mommy issues, who rescued the nude Charlie, asks “Charlene” to marry him. Charlene accepts the proposal, and a huge diamond ring. As Charlene and Bruce get drunk, the analogy for losing inhibitions, Charlie allows his conscience full reign. He understands, that he is still deceiving, still the trickster.

Once Bruce passes out, Charlie returns the ring, and returns home.

And now the ultimate punishment awaits. 

The other libertine,  Sir Leo, waits for Charlie. Sir Leo pretended, to George, that he would help him get fake documents for Charlie, who is a “person of unknown origins.” Instead, he sent George on a wild goose chase so that Sir Leo could have some time alone with Charlie. When Charlie arrives, a sort of keystone cops/French bedroom farce, ensues. This brings us full circle with a twist. Sir Leo’s wife shows up, packing a gun. At first, Sir Leo thinks he will be killed, but his wife wants to kill Charlie for the very same reason Sir Leo did. To prevent an infidelity! 

Oh, this is a delicious scene, the three running around like crazy, all three full of the same sin. What a web they have woven, a web they are all caught up in.

George shows up. As the wife shoots Charlie, George runs to try and save him from falling into the ocean. It is all in vain. Charlie is returned to his watery grave. 

The investigating police will have fun trying to sort out the crime, as they now have two suspects to charge with Charlie’s murder. 

Is Charlie redeemed? At the movie’s end, he returns as a dog, a Great Dane, named Charlie. His female human self, goes on without him. as a neighbor. She falls in love with George. And the moral to the story?

Goodbye Charlie was the canary in the coal mine back in 1964. The sexual revolution was about to boil. There would be many Charlies, men that would be told the best life is one where he gets to be a bee, going from flower to flower. What no one wanted to face was this was a breakdown of civilization, not an advancement. Don Juan bragged of sex with 1000 women. That  number pales in comparison to Wilt Chamberlain’s claim of 20k. 

As for Charlie’s reincarnation, he lives the modern man’s fear of marriage. He is a domesticated dog, probably neutered, and must walk with a leash, controlled by his female. That is the hell he could not avoid, because he was always controlled by women. What we sow, we reap.

Look for Part 2 of The Libertine, next week. We will look at the movie, Switch.