A Film Canon

This isn't nearly as strong a film as Greed or Foolish Wives, mainly because von Stroheim breaks his persona into its two basic constituents, thereby reducing it to the mere sum of its parts. On the one hand, his supremely masculine self-confidence reaches its narcissistic apex, requiring us to identify with an appreciative female gaze to a ridiculous extent. On the other hand, his boyish charm is taken to such an implausible extreme as to allow him to become the moral centre of the film. This separation of arrogance and charm clarifies that it was their very combination that was the reason for his appeal, as well as transforming the contradictions of his character into mere implausibilities, rather than seductive, sado-masochistic mysteries. Fortunately, von Stroheim's darker realism finds an outlet in the sudden, unexpected ending, which subverts this more sentimental dimension. Nevertheless, it doesn't fully redeem the film, partly because it is so out of keeping with the majority of it, suggesting that its brutality is more an indication of massive overspending, which necessitated finishing the film earlier than planned, than any real aesthetic intention.