Review of The Divorcee (1930) by Daniel P — 20 May 2008
As in The Women, Norma Shearer is married to a cheating bastard, and as in The Women, she foolishly reconciles with him in the ostensibly happy ending. Unlike in The Women, she gets revenge on his philandering by (goodness gracious!) having her own affairs. The problem with these '30s morality tales is that the message they're trying to get across completely doesn't resonate today. Today, one likes to think, men who cheat are just as bad as women who cheat. It's hard for me even to envision a world in which that wasn't true.
Also, there are some times when divorce really is the best option. In The Women it's less clear, but here it's very obvious that divorce would be a good thing. Except instead of running to loser Paul, in a modern happy ending, Shearer would walk out on both men in a great you-go-girl/you-don't-need-a-man-to-be-happy moment.
If you need your Norma Shearer fix, watch The Women instead.
This review of The Divorcee (1930) was written by Daniel P on 20 May 2008.
The Divorcee has generally received positive reviews.
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