Jessica Palud
2024
100 minutes
This is a French biopic film largely about the making of Last Tango in Paris (from Section 237), featuring Matt Dillon as Marlon Brando. Naturally the central event in this is the filming of the notorious butter scene, which was traumatic for Brandon's co-star Maria Schneider since it was sprung on her rather suddenly in a way she didn't know was coming. The incident in question is portrayed here as tastefully as possible and emphasizing the discomfort of the actress. The film also portrays the trauma of this event afterwards, as well as the problems caused by the actress being notorious for this film and being typecast because of the scandal involved.
You don't want to think about the butter-rape-sodomy right now. That's a matter to be pondered after the other film, which you'll get around to eventually if you haven't already. But it is important not to be typecast. You feel strongly enough about this that you wrote a poem about it with the title "Egg Guy". This was included in your book of poetry Crustaceans, published by Dull Boy Publications. That publisher is a micropublisher that you also run, so don't get a big head about that publication credit or anything. This poem is quoted in its entirety below:
Egg Guy
I don't want
To be
The egg guy
At least one possible interpretation of this poem is the desire not to be typecast. It's a short poem and the actual interpretation is left to the reader. But if the author (you) had intended this to be the interpretation, the author may have written the following instead, as presented here for the first time:
Egg Guy (Explicit Version)
I don't want
To be known as
The egg guy
But you wrote the former instead of the latter. Is there a reason for that? There may be, or perhaps it was on your mind since a later poem in that same collection directly addresses ambiguity. That poem is called "Epitaph". It is the last poem in that book and it is separated from "Egg Guy" only by the very short poems "The Indianapolis Motor Speedway", "Dwarf Fortress", and "How to Write Pansexual Deviled Egg Erotica". That poem is quoted in its entirety below:
Epitaph
The ambiguity
Was intentional
However, it is not clear if the ambiguity in this poem refers specifically to "Egg Guy" or something broader than that in the author's life (as the title may suggest). Or the ambiguity could even be self-referential, referring to the poem "Epitaph" itself.
It's not up to the author to explain himself or herself, and often such exercises are left to the reader after the fact, even when the reader is the author himself or herself--in which case it is literally up to the author to explain to himself or herself. In any case, you wrote it. Silently decide now what you meant by it. Or what it means to you now. Or refuse to do so altogether. The choice is yours.
The one thing you do know is that you don't want to be typecast as the sort of poet who finds too much profundity in silly little poems like these. Rupi Kaur kinda has a monopoly on that right now, and your publisher tells you there's no money for you in that market. You're not going to get rich off your poetry or your deep thoughts on films anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Time to choose something different: