Polanski's Bitter Moon Nightmare

Bitter Moon 1992 is a film that was written, directed and produced by Roman Polanski. This means that this film is worthy of attention because Polanski held all the reins to it. The following Nightmares were discovered to be recurrent through all Polanski's films in Polanski's Nightmares: An Introduction. How does Bitter Moon fare?

1. Horror movie: There are no horror elements as eloquent as in Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion but there is a cruelty first dealt by Oscar to Mimi and then her revenge on him that is unspeakable. It is like an Edgar Allan Poe torturing both of the other and the self. 
2. Fear of disablement and physical pain: Both Oscar and Mimi suffer the fear of disablement and pain, but Bitter Moon goes past this. Both Oscar and Mimi end up beaten and in a hospital bed. Oscar is made a cripple for life.
3. Infidelity and death: Bitter Moon is all about infidelity. It explores the subject more closely by attempting and managing to test Nigel and Fiona's fidelity to each other. Oscar's story is enough to make Nigel want, seek and try to make love to Mimi, whilst Fiona ends up in bed with her. The ending: spoiler warning is Mimi's murder and Oscar's Suicide. Perhaps, Oscar is mouthing Polanski when he says, 'I always found infidelity, the most titillating subject.' 
4. Intrusion of privacy: Privacy is a word unknown in Bitter Moon. Oscar prods into Nigel's and Fiona's sex life. He talks about his in extracting detail. Oscar and Mimi have no problems with privacy. Both nudity or even having sex is not a private matter. There is a scene where Oscar uses his binoculars to pry on his neighbours, reminiscent of Hitchcock's 1954 Rear Window.
5. Helplessness in the face of war or tragic consequence of illogical government or authorities decisions: The theme of helplessness is reflected by the passengers at the mercy of the sea. Seasick passengers fall and roll on board many times. Indeed it is Mimi's seasickness that brings the four protagonists together and it is Fiona's seasickness that permits Nigel to meet Mimi and Oscar. There is also a helpless Oscar who cannot get his book published because of publishing regulations.
6. Blood: Let there be blood. First it is just a razor cut, but it ends in a stained bed sheet as Mimi is shot dead and a bullet hole that sets blood everywhere in the cabin at the end.   
7. Water and Death by Drowning: Mimi and Oscar die at sea, on the boat.  
8. Parties and peaceful couples being torn apart by mindless strangers: This is exactly what Bitter Moon is about. The party scene that goes rowdy and rough is very similar to Rozbijemy zabawę (1957) English Title We will break up a party. The main theme in Bitter Moon is about tearing Nigel and Fiona's 7 year marriage apart, probably because Oscar and Mimi cannot bear to see such an exemplary and happy couple. 
9. Sexual dominance, violence and bondage: Once again this needs no comment. Bitter Moon is all about Sexual dominance, violence and bondage.  
10. Being spied on, followed, chased, caught and punished: Bitter Moon starts with Oscar trying to trace Mimi who he had met by chance on a bus. Oscar may spy on his neighbours but Mimi too knows his whereabouts and comes to him when he is most vulnerable in hospital. It is only the naive Nigel who is not spying on anyone and therefore has to be told of the particulars. He never notices that Fiona is watching when Nigel is trying to woo Mimi, but when he swings around there is his wife and Oscar who have been watching all the time. Nigel is therefore spied on, followed, chased, caught and his wife's punishment is 'Anything you can do, I can do better.' This results in her wooing Mimi and bedding her. Mimi's punishment for Oscar is more severe.
11. A frantic but hopeless escape: One aspect of this film is Oscar's trying to get rid of Mimi. It only ends in death. Nigel and Fiona are trying to save their marriage by going on a holiday to India. This is both frantic and hopeless.
12. Chance meetings where uninvited stranger/s walk into and take over people's lives. Right from the start Oscar as a tourist in Paris meets a girl in a public bus who takes over his life. Then the couple take over Fiona and Nigel's life when they accidentally meet on the ship. 
13. The Knife or Razor Blade: Mimi looks at Oscar shaving himself with a razor and asks, 'Isn't it dangerous?' However unlike Carol Ledoux in Repulsion, she is not repulsed by the razor or by the man shaving. On the contrary she is attracted by it and shaves Oscar. She licks the blood off and later she will use the razor to dominate Oscar sexually. This is a knife that has not been thrown into the water but one which is manipulated to lead the dance as in Nóż w Wodzie. 

The way that Polanski dealt with these Nightmares can be traced in the themes discovered to be recurrent through all Polanski's films in Polanski's Nightmares: An Introduction. How does Bitter Moon fare?

• Surreality and a Fable-like World
• Escapism
• Absurdity
• An illogical / dysfunctional world
• Black Humour and Comedy
• Absence of Meaning and therefore of ending.
• Pre-Destination with No Destination
• The Knife or Razor Blade

Surreality and a Fable-like World

Although Bitter Moon features none of the surrealist paintings of a Nancy in Polanski's fabled version of Alice in Wonderland in What?, the Satanic world of Rosemary's Baby or the horror twisting walls in Repulsion, it does present an inconceivable surreal world. The relationship between Mimi and Oscar is surreal and Nigel finds their story impossible to digest. This is not a fable for kids, it is one of intense sex, bondage and Mimi as a dominatrix which forever hovers on a thin line between a man's innermost sexual desire and nightmarish repression. It takes a sexual and love/hate relationship to a surreal dimension. When Oscar takes Mimi to a fun park, he wins a teddy bear for her thanks to his skill at shooting. This is so surreal that Mimi cannot believe that Oscar has admitted his love for her. As they pull each other close and kiss, the next scene is of them posing for a wedding photo. However, this is all a fable. The two pull out their faces of the wedding photo backdrop. There is no wedding, well not yet. Whether the story that Oscar narrates and Polanski displays is real or surreal does not really matter because when it comes to Nigel this is beyond him; It is surreal and fantastic, something completely out of his world. When he declares his love to Mimi, her answer is, 'Come on, I am just a fantasy.' 

Escapism

Nigel and Fiona are escaping from their humdrum lives and trying to keep their marriage by taking a trip to India. Oscar escapes from his ineptitude as a businessman by settling down in Paris (thanks to his inheritance) and turns himself into a wannabe writer. He meets the love of his life and tries to escape from her to no avail. When he is made a cripple, he knows that there is no escape possible. Therefore escapism needs to take on a different form: A form that traps others into the vicious circle that they have created, but it is a circle with no exit. Mimi is not a cripple, but she seems to be unable to live a life without Oscar, just as Nigel and Fiona are unable to run away from her clutches. Mimi's sexuality and dancing are the very expression of her escapism, a moment of liberty, but a moment.

Absurdity

The absurdity of Oscar's, Mimi's, Fiona's and Nigel's decisions is what breaks up both relationships. There seems to be no reason. Both couples seem to be in love with each other. They bot seem to be the perfect fit. Why destroy it? There is another absurd element in the fact that Mimi is a great dancer, whereas Nigel has got 'two left feet' and Nigel is a cripple. 

An illogical / dysfunctional world

Bitter Moon portrays dysfunctional proper high class people playing bridge and their complete opaque vision of colonies like India. This is a class that is completely at the mercy of an Oscar and a Mimi who may have the money but have lived on the streets. Bitter Moon is a bitter story of boredom that kindles fantasies, however absurd and illogical to survive. It shows how an English couple dream of going to India, whilst an Indian man is running away from it. As the New Year is ushered in, the passengers get into a brawl, Fiona and Nigel both betray their marriage vows whilst Mimi is shot and Oscar commits suicide. What a way to start the year!

Black Humour and Comedy

Indeed what a way to start the year. The promiscuous Mimi starts making love to Oscar under the table in the kitchen. An aroused Oscar jumps as the toast pops out of the toaster. Funny but dark in the context of what is to come. No matter the harmony between a couple, 'Every relationship contains the seeds of farce.' Indeed as Fiona says, 'It is bad for a married couple to be glued together.' Indeed they will not be. 'Is it some sort of game?' Nigel asks on his first and then his last meeting with Mimi. On both occasions she replies in the affirmative.

Absence of Meaning and therefore of ending.

There is no ending to Bitter Moon, at least not for Nigel and Fiona. They have also found no meaning. This trip was supposed to be a search for meaning but ends up in a horrific revelation of self discovery that leaves both questioning, wondering and lost. 

Pre-Destination with No Destination

'She was somewhere, my sorceress with white sneakers' This belies Oscar's belief in a pre-destination with no destination, which is a key theme in Macbeth and in What?  It also cross references the fairytale of Cinderella and the Prince look for his princess' shoes. 

Fiona: Are you going to Istanbul? Yes and then we want to go to Bombay.

Mimi: I am going much further

Oscar's novel remains unfinished. Like his unfinished novel, 'The gates of Paradise were open only to slam in my face.' 

Go to A Lesson in Story Telling in Bitter Moon

Go to Polanski's Cinematography