Cat People

(1942) ***1/2

"Never let me feel jealousy or anger. Whatever is in me is held in, is kept harmless when I'm happy."

This should have been obvious from the get-go, but like, the cat symbolism in Cat People is really good, you guys! There's felinity (totally a word) all over this movie: it's in Irena's sexually finicky vibe around her new husband Oliver, and it's in her territoriality and jealousy whenever Oliver's comely coworker Alice is in the room with him (her *cattiness* if you will. [smirk] The jokes write themselves). But it's evident even in the way people react to Irena. Oliver has this to say about Irena in the middle of the movie:

"I'm drawn to her. There's warmth from her that pulls at me. I have to watch her when she's in the room. I have to touch her when she's near."

You know that thing when you're petting a cat, and the cat's all like, "Yes. Yes. This is workiiiing. Keep doing that. MmmmmmmmmROWR-STOP THAT! I BITE YOU!" Only it's cute because your cat is tiny, so all she can do is scratch and nip. But Irena's a person -- so she herself couldn't be certain what she might be capable of if someone were to take her across that line.

By the time I got to this scene of Irena prowling from side to side next to the panther cage, I began to finally fully appreciate how well thought-out the cat symbolism is in Cat People. Of course this example is rather on-the-nose (boop), but I'm glad it was so obvious because it inspired me to keep an eye out for more of that kind of thing elsewhere in the movie, and it turns out, there's plenty.

And mixed in with all the great subtext, it turns out director Jacques Tourneur's technical game is really strong. Particularly with regard to light and shadow, both in terms of the contrast between them, but also where the light's coming from. I particularly liked the lighting scheme in Oliver's office where late night scenes are lit primarily from the blare of the drafting tables.

I should also mention, speaking of lighting and cat symbolism, that the shadows in Irena's apartment are designed to symbolise the bars of the panther cage in the park she's so fond of visiting -- something I completely didn't pick up on until I read JPX's review before writing my own.

After three 3-star reviews in a row, I was beginning to second-guess my decision to focus on Criterion Collection movies this October. Not anymore. Cat People has a lot of depth and deserves all the praise it gets.