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Have you noticed the tribute paid by Pedro Almodovar to Elia Kazan in the famous "All About My Mother" during the scene of a theater rehearsal titled "A Streetcar Named Desire"? Have you noticed the same tribute in an episode of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"? Yes, I know, from the stars to the stable, but that's not the point. Kazan was one of the most influential directors of all time, author of great titles like "East of Eden," "On the Waterfront," "Viva Zapata!"
The greatness of the character and the reverential attitude that many filmmakers and cinema experts have towards him are closely connected to his multifaceted nature that led Kazan to manifest his talent in theater (also as an actor, especially in the early days), in cinema, on Broadway. He is credited with spreading the "Method" in Hollywood, that is the Stanislavski method, the actor directing criterion still in use by other directors. The memory of his person, which passed away just five years ago, will always be compromised, however, by Kazan's active and official participation in the McCarthyist government. But this is beside the point. Rather, let's go back to 1951 when "A Streetcar Named Desire" made its entrance into movie theaters. The film is based on a play by Tennessee Williams that Kazan himself staged in theater in 1947 with the same cast except for Vivien Leigh. The latter, along with Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter, constitutes the film's cast.
The heroine of "Gone with the Wind" is the widow Blanche DuBois visiting New Orleans at the Kowaloski's, particularly her sister Stella (K. Hunter) and her husband (M. Brando). Blanche appears from the start as a fragile woman still traumatized by her husband's suicide. This does not prevent Stanley from treating her with the same brutality he reserves for his wife. In reality, the protagonist hides a murky past: she fled her city because of her scandalous behavior and lost the family property that she was supposed to share with her sister. To the latter, she tells a lot of lies and pretends to live in more than comfortable conditions. During her stay in New Orleans, Blanche dates Stanley's friend, Harold alias Mitch (K. Malden), and there seems to be an understanding between the two. Stanley breaks the idyll by revealing the truth about his sister-in-law to his friend, who then abandons her. At this point, the relationship between Blanche and Stanley, already filled with a sentiment of attraction and repulsion, completely deteriorates, culminating in the sexual violence that drives Blanche to madness.
The relationship between Blanche and Stanley is not simply a matter of opposites attracting. Reducing the relationship between the two characters to a banal representation of the conjunction between "rude" and "elegant" would be ungrateful. Through Brando and Leigh's excellent performances, the audience can perceive the tense atmosphere of seduction that establishes between the two. Using the sensuality of bodies, a scenography that evokes sordid environments, violent and realistic dialogues, Kazan stages the dramatic struggle between a coarse and simple world degraded by work and perpetual misery against another subjugated to conformism, flaunting good manners but harboring a hidden urge towards the wildest orgy of the senses; this is where the streetcar taken by Blanche leads. It is easy to see that it is not even a class struggle, or at least not exclusively: Blanche pretends to possess something Stanley lacks, which would place her a step above in the social ladder.
The director seems to take a tendentially critical stance towards the story and the characters. And indeed, it seems possible to see in the madness Blanche encounters (more than in Stanley's rape) a true condemnation. The woman invades the Kowaloski family unit forcefully. Kim Hunter offers us a great example of the wife captive to the husband, worshipper of his protective nature but degenerating towards violence. Although Kim is disgusted by her husband's behavior by the end of the film, she still qualifies as a character much closer to Stanley than to her erudite sister. In reality, Kazan's gaze aligns with an objective perspective. Both Blanche and Stanley desire to unite sexually, but for her, it would mean bowing her head to the being that humiliated her, while for him, it would contradict the attitude of hatred perpetuated for so long. The rape conceals these controversies, allowing them to respect the roles of the defenseless victim and the evil executioner.
Nine Oscar nominations and four awards won by both female performers (lead and supporting) and actor Malden (Brando was outshined by Gable). The importance of this fact is relative. The awards won do not matter, the praises do not matter, perhaps not even this review. Thankfully, this time it is good cinema that speaks.
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