The Awful Truth

At the beginning of The Awful Truth, I was convinced that when Jerry was not in Florida, he was cheating on his wife, Lucy. Throughout the movie, I was furious that Jerry was upset with Lucy, even though she did not do what he thought she did, but he did in fact with another woman. I was surprised that Lucy never asked Jerry where he truly had been because she knew that he was not in Florida. When Jerry tells his masseuse that "What wives don't know, won't hurt them" and then he tells the man what he doesn't know won't hurt him either. I thought the line was supposed to be directed at the audience. So because we do not know what Jerry was doing for two weeks was vital for the audience otherwise we would not like his character as much as we do. Cavell states that, "Jerry is less interested in the fact of philandering than in the possibility of it...What is so awful about the truth that nothing happened? And why would a married man find it more important to seem unfaithful than to be so?" (Pursuits of Happiness, 244). I also wondered this question. I think Cavell makes a good point that Jerry is testing Lucy's faith, but he fails his own test because he doubts Lucy. Whatever Jerry did in those two weeks, the audience knows he was not in Florida, he is hiding where he was, and he accusses Lucy for something she did not do. I still am curious why Lucy never asks him where and what he was doing in those two weeks.

One of my favorite scenes of the movie was when Lucy was dancing with Dan Leeson. I had never seen such a genuine and large smile as the one Cary Grant showed in front of the camera when he was watching the two of them in any other movie. He did not just grin once, but throughout that scene. He makes the audience believe his facial expressions, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I can understand why Cavell chose to have that image on the first page of this book. I'm surprised it's not more famous!

I was surprised at the end of the movie that Jerry went into Lucy's room right at midnight. I thought he would have gone in sooner, when they were "legally married". I am sure it was very risque to sleep with someone you were not technically married to, even though they had already been married before.

This movie was not my favorite of the comedy of remarriage, but I do think it was the most applicable to the comedy of remarriage. Throughout the movie, Jerry and Lucy question their trust for one another and what it means to be married. Both of them dabble in different relationships, but they realize that they were meant to stay married in the end.