Probably symbolising the Wheel of Fortune, a beautiful hand-cranked carousel in a pond features a couple of times towards the end of the film. Look for the rabbit seat which resembles the dog, Dougall, from the British Magic Roundabout stop-motion children's series. Here the church's St George vs Dragon stained glass tableau plays out in real life as the morality play on our freedom to choose right from wrong. Death & the Maiden are here, too, for those with the eyes to see. It seems that the first meeting of St George & his maiden happens at a rural bathing fountain where a serpent has lain hidden in this dress of one of the damsels bathing there. A strike from his riding crop dispatches that incarnation of the Beast but there will always be more. His other lady - seemingly more fair but dark at heart - dies when her jealous spouse disguised as a 'good fortune' manakin-selling beggar mistakes her attentions to a milliner's mannequin & shoots her out of the picture, so to speak. The delicate kiss of benediction which he gives to the girl whilst slipping quietly through her bedroom chamber may translate as a reverse Pygmalion touch where the spirit of St George transfers out of her dreams & into the rogue upon whom the chapel's window is styled.
Review of A Scandal in Paris
