The Party offers a remarkably skillful blend of humor and critique. I'd like to offer a somewhat serious but very informal observation of this very clever, funny movie. We've got a non-Westerner (Hrundi Bakshi, played by Peter Sellers) trying desperately to fit into American culture. We've also got a young French woman (Michele Monet, played by Claudine Longet), who is also trying to fit in. Neither of them like or understand what they see. Hrundi seems incompetent, but when he's not bending to American society we recognize that he's really intelligent, intuitive, funny, and caring.
As Hrundi wends his way through the hosts' gigantic house, he observes the pitfalls of the American way: drugs, alcoholism, greed, deceit, vanity, materialism, sexism, and racism, to name a few. He also observes societal constraints. Michele sees these things too, and she is also the target of sexism and even, perhaps, of misogyny (her date tries to force himself on her and, later, demands that she leave with him or lose any chance of a film career). They interact with people who think they know who they are but, as Hrundi infers, don't really know who they are.
The climax occurs when Hrundi demands that the hosts' daughter and her friends wash an elephant they have ignominiously painted (a representation of ideological protest gone wrong, since it's more for entertainment than for anything else). When they start washing, the party turns into a real party. Social lines are blurred as people in different social levels are equalized, for example, when some of the housekeeping staff joins the party. Constraints and boundaries are laid aside and forgotten. The American guests, a group of Russian entertainers, Hrundi, and Michele all join in and have fun together. Not everyone joins the party; the older Americans refuse to participate. But we get the idea that they and their ideals have been vanquished.
In the end of the movie, we get a strong and uplifting suggestion that Hrundi and Michele are going to be spending more time together.
Subtle humor, clever slapstick, romance, and serious issues -- The Party has them all in good abundance. The best aspect of this movie, however, is that it examines serious themes through masterful,unrelenting humor.
As Hrundi wends his way through the hosts' gigantic house, he observes the pitfalls of the American way: drugs, alcoholism, greed, deceit, vanity, materialism, sexism, and racism, to name a few. He also observes societal constraints. Michele sees these things too, and she is also the target of sexism and even, perhaps, of misogyny (her date tries to force himself on her and, later, demands that she leave with him or lose any chance of a film career). They interact with people who think they know who they are but, as Hrundi infers, don't really know who they are.
The climax occurs when Hrundi demands that the hosts' daughter and her friends wash an elephant they have ignominiously painted (a representation of ideological protest gone wrong, since it's more for entertainment than for anything else). When they start washing, the party turns into a real party. Social lines are blurred as people in different social levels are equalized, for example, when some of the housekeeping staff joins the party. Constraints and boundaries are laid aside and forgotten. The American guests, a group of Russian entertainers, Hrundi, and Michele all join in and have fun together. Not everyone joins the party; the older Americans refuse to participate. But we get the idea that they and their ideals have been vanquished.
In the end of the movie, we get a strong and uplifting suggestion that Hrundi and Michele are going to be spending more time together.
Subtle humor, clever slapstick, romance, and serious issues -- The Party has them all in good abundance. The best aspect of this movie, however, is that it examines serious themes through masterful,unrelenting humor.