Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown is set just prior to the onset of WWII and follows amateur plumber Cluny Brown who gets sent by her uncle to work as a servant at an English high-society country estate. On her arrival, Cluny struggles to understand the proper practices of a servant in the household, as she befriends one of the estate's guests, Adam Belinski, a charming Czech refugee and author whom the estate mistakenly believes is an important figure in the resistance against the rising Nazi threat. Though not nearly as impressive as some of Ernst Lubitsch's earlier work, Cluny Brown still features the charming characters, whimsical storytelling, and playful satire that makes his films so infectious. With Cluny Brown, Lubitsch uses a slowly-brewing romance between Brown and Belinski to playfully roast high society and the judgement which class puts on the individual. Lubitsch's film captures the vapid nature of manners, with characters routinely acting barbaric in their actions but using a polite tone to hide their darker, more incendiary feelings. The owners of the estate are polite and well-tempered on the outside, but as the film progresses it becomes apparent that they are self-centered, self-important, and arrogant about their superiority over others. One of the best examples comes when Adam Belinski announces that he must leave, prompting the head of the household to exclaim "it took me so long to learn how to properly say your name and now that I finaly have you are leaving, that is so selfish you". While a funny line, it is a telling one, as it reveals the overall self-importance these upper class members have, viewing themselves above everyone else. Cluny Brown is a film that reveals the silliness of labels through humor, capturing how absurd predefined characterizations of someone based on their financial situation are. When Cluny Brown first arrives at the estate she finds herself mistaken as an important houseguest by the two owners of the home, who simply don't realize she is just a maid. While the scene feels somewhat superfluous at first, I'd argue it's another subtle swipe at this silly distinctions, showing how there is no true characteristics which define someone as rich or poor. Potentially the most interesting aspect of the entire film is that Lubitsch takes humourous swipes not only at the upper class but also the middle and lower class, keeping a balanced approach as he skewers the class system. Cluny Brown, for example, is not an intelligent character, being sweet and sincere but quite simple, and this juxtaposition of her lack of intelligence with the smart but cretinous characters of the upper class is a unique and balanced approach that saves no one from the film's humourous swipes. A film about societal labels that feels like a farce at times about the absurdities of manners and class, Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown features a host of strong character acting, witty dialogue, and a pleasant love story of two lower-class citizens in Belinski & Brown who find love and happiness in each other, with financial success hinted at in the final scene.
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June 2023
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