''Life Lessons'' Film Analysis By KayeCee Austin
KayeCee Austin
Thought Leader/Army Retired/Theater & Film Director/Musician/Vocalist/Mother To One Beautiful Daughter
This will be the last “memory lane” film essay I share. Lol. Any other film content from this point forward will be “fresh”! ;)
But no seriously, I wanted to share this film analysis because watching this film with my colleagues — we all agreed that this film is one of Nick Nolte’s best performances hands down! It feels like you’re viewing him in rare form but yet it seems natural. The film is not listed in his awesome list of projects as of yet when you look it up but we all agreed that it should be!
Okay, Martin Scorsese’ New York Stories: “Life Lessons” is a film about renowned abstract artist, Lionel Dobie portrayed by Nick Nolte. It takes place in Lionel’s New York loft overlooking the city.
If you’re here for the free film studies lesson again, remember—Lionel would be the “Active Protagonist”. This means he is the character in the film with a clear goal. Additionally, that he meets with conflict.
Lionel’s girlfriend Paulette has not only been living with him but she has served as his muse, protege and intimate partner. The conflict occurs when she announces to Lionel that she is leaving him and has had an affair with another man. Lionel becomes insanely jealous but hides this fact. He immediately decides to keep her around as their fights and his repressed passion fuel his creativity and motivation. His “clear goal” is keeping her around in order to mentally and emotionally assist him with completing his works of art.
Lionel along the way has seemed to figure out that emotional turmoil OR outright positive passion is what drives him to excel. I derive this theory as he seems to have been thriving initially with Paulette when life was “going well”. In the end of the film when he is filled with lust and passion for the new object of his desire; he seems to have that same spark in his eye he has when filled with agony from sexual repression and angst.
Keeping Paulette around proves not an easy task, as she (the Antagonist) no longer wishes to reside with Lionel and fights with him constantly. As I stated earlier, this is the conflict Lionel faces in the film. However, she chooses to stay to collect a pay-check and use him to climb the societal ladder. Her staying becomes mutually beneficial. Thus, Lionel gets what he wants in the end. Her staying allows him to use his emotional creativity to paint great pieces that he then uses to create a successful gallery showcase event.
The film is aptly named as this is what I received from it:
1. “You get what you put out (their mutually beneficial relationship)— or don’t put out... in Paulette’s case.”
2. Lionel seemed to be very self-aware. He is middle aged when we meet him in the film and we can gauge that Paulette is not his first. He has used life’s lessons to learn what makes him grow/great.
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