My Fair Lady Film Critique

Film Critique/ Analysis #11

Michael Atkinson

Cinema 28

A Fair Film

One of the most classic and endearing tales of rags to riches is My Fair Lady (1964). Audrey Hepburn stars as Eliza Dolittle, a lower working class woman selling flowers. Her language is atrocious with horrible pronunciation and inarticulate grammar and one is barely able to even understand what she’s saying. But when a phonetics professor overhears her dramatic wallowing in the middle of town, he ridicules her language and says that he could make a lady of her if he wished. This, thus, prompts Eliza to seek out Professor Higgins and ask if he could transform her into a lady, one suitable enough to work in a flower shop and become respectable. He only then accepts her offer when he makes a bet with his friend saying that he can turn her into a lady in six months for the Embassy Ball, making everyone believe she is actually royalty. 

    The minute the characters started singing, I fell head-over-heels in love with this film. There is something, to me, about the musical element in a film that promotes life in a captivating way. Even as the characters sing out their feelings in angst, there is nothing more moving than the intrinsic melody of a song. Furthermore though, this film felt more like a stage play rather than a film one, because of the songs and melodies and two, because there were very limited close up shots and limited cutting. The main aspect of the film was the mise-en-scene as the camera swooped and panned through the scene. The rolling dolly shots brought the choreography to life, letting the viewer’s eyes travel through the scene and watch everything at once - just like a stage play. 

    However, as much as I enjoyed watching the dramatic camera movements and the in depth dancing and singing, there was much that irked me about this film. Perhaps it’s just many films from this time period, but this one in particular brought it to light best. This film sends the message that men are the dominant and better sex. In fact, there is an entire song devoted to asking why women can’t be more like men. I understand, it was to show Professor Higgins narrow-minded viewpoint of women and his opinion does actually empower Eliza to take a stand against him and leave after he’s used her and won his bet. But in the end, after the dramatic climax where Eliza sings her opinions that she is a lady, despite his protestations and his insults to her sex, she comes floundering back to him and the last thing he says to her is: “Where are my slippers?” I’m not too sure if this was supposed to be a happy ending, that despite their fall-out, the two main characters are at peace in the end, but to me, I was not satisfied. After her entire stand, he doesn’t change his ideals at all and they are exactly back where they started and she is okay with it. 

    No matter how you cut it, this film does not portray women in a good light. It shows them as objects to men, there to be used and submissive in all things. Eliza’s father even stops by, offers Higgins “five pounds” to buy her and then says, “If she’s any trouble, a few lashings with the belt never hurts.” Constantly, this film makes reference to Eliza’s devalue. She is always waiting for Higgins to strike her for her outbursts - which he never does - and she cowers as soon as he raises his voice. She even mentions how he can’t do any worse to her for she has already “had plenty of black eyes before.” This problem was never brought to light in the film, but it is more a subliminal message to show women’s objectivity to men, showing their place beneath them, showing their stubbornness, and their unwilling attitude unless they are forced to do something. It is constantly reinforcing a “woman’s place” and nothing makes me more mad than this. 

    Domestic violence against women is a real issue and it has been taken too lightly for years. We joke about it since it’s a common problem - an epidemic in parts of the world - and it is films like these that give women the impression that this is how men are supposed to be and give men the right and the power to do what they do. I love this film for all the things it does right - the music, the camerawork, the characters, the plot - but I hate this film for what it promotes. No matter what, it’s not okay.