Lucy always seems to be the one who is in control. While Jerry is all over the place, getting irrational at the thought of his wife being unfaithful, Lucy acts as if she hasn't a clue as to what he's alluding to, at least at first. What Lucy's so good at is being steadfast, resolute; she hasn't been unfaithful. She catches Jerry in a peculiar lie with the California oranges, and suddenly the roles are reversed. She smiles and acts innocent, but Jerry can see through her game plan. But then Lucy is great at saying things like, "You've come home and caught me in a truth and it seems there's nothing less logical than the truth," and in way it leaves you as dizzy as it leaves Jerry speechless. So he doesn't believe her; she tells him to divorce her. When he won't, she initiates the proceedings.
Although this might seem like a spontaneous moment in which Lucy is caught off guard, she soon catches her footing at the divorce trial when she's granted custody of Mr Smith, and not so fairly either. What's most interesting is this custody fight over Mr Smith. When Lucy takes the stand, we get to hear how Lucy and Jerry met and it was when they both eyed the dog at the pet store and both claimed to be the first to claim him. While you could see this as each being stubborn and wanting to win one over on the other, both are fighting over a dog that basically is an important part of their now dead marriage, much like a child can be to a couple's marriage. Without Mr Smith, Jerry and Lucy wouldn't have met and gotten married, and yet both want to hang on to him. It's almost as if neither is ready to let go of what's left of the marriage. And in the end, while Jerry does get visitation rights, Lucy manages to win custody of Mr Smith. In fact, it always seems she's a few steps ahead of Jerry in all matters. She's not Penelope, waiting for Odysseus to come home, Lucy goes out to have fun, perhaps a little too much fun. You might think this doesn't make her likable, but Jerry's no saint either. And what makes Lucy fun to watch is that she just doesn't let bad things happen to her, she's smart and finds a way out of the mess.
Once Lucy meets Dan from Oklahoma though, things change a bit. Suddenly, Jerry starts to have his fun. Here we see Lucy's true colors. While she's still livid with Jerry, she has her pride. She wants to show him she's moved on and with Dan around, in spite of the fact that he's dreadfully dull, Lucy tries to do just that. Some of the best scenes between Grant and Dunne come in these middle sequences. Their bantering is so charged by his mischief and her annoyance. Dan sums it up best by describing the little red rooster and little brown hen back on his farm, "They fight all the time too, but every once in a while they make up again and they're right friendly." And while we didn't really need this reassurance, it's so dead-on. Lucy and Jerry both are trying to get on each other's nerves, and you only do that when you really care.
So now, Jerry does his best to instigate a bit of fun at Lucy's expense precisely because she looks so ridiculous with Dan. All the while, Lucy is trying her hardest to seem completely unfazed by his attempts. She puts on a good face for Jerry, giving him some biting backtalk whenever she can. As she told her aunt Patsy, she's completely over Jerry and is sure she never loved him to begin with. Which, of course, we know this means that she's mad for him. Lucy goes as far as accepting Dan's marriage proposal just to prove she's over Jerry. This, of course, leads to disaster simply because Jerry is trying to figure out Lucy's game plan. Lucy meanwhile is trying so hard to be one step ahead of Jerry that she doesn't realize what she's getting herself into, a marriage that'll include the constant interference of Dan's disapproving mother. But after all the shenanigans, and a great scene in which Jerry crashes Lucy's recital, Lucy realizes she's in love with Jerry. But Jerry can't seem to trust Lucy forasmuch as he might try, especially after he hides in Lucy's room from Dan, only to find Lucy's music teacher hiding in there as well.
Now, near the end of the film, is when things change a bit more drastically and we see the Lucy who's fighting and won't take anything lying down. With the finality of the divorce less than 24 hours away, Lucy visits Jerry, who's newly engaged to Barbara Vance. And Lucy fights back. Impersonating Jerry's sister, Lucy shows up as Lola at his fiancée's house, dressed like Dixie Belle Lee the singer from the restaurant who's dress goes flying up "with the wind." She proceeds to make several embarrassing remarks and then does Dixie Belle Lee's number of "My Dreams Are Gone With the Wind" much to the horror of the Vance family. But one of the moments that stand out here is Jerry's face as Lucy's dancing this horrible number, he's completely amused, beyond that even. And it goes to show that just like it took Jerry acting screwy for Lucy to see that she's still in love with Jerry, Lucy has to get all screwy herself in order for Jerry to remember why he fell in love with her to begin with. This simple notion is classic of the genre. The two leads fall in love because things are screwy. For Jerry and Lucy, that spark had left their marriage and they'd forgotten. They needed a reminder, and what better way to get the one you love than by acting like an utter fool.
Even still, it's interesting the manner in which Jerry and Lucy realize they still love each other. There's pretty much equal balance here, in which Jerry and Lucy both have their share of acting as the screwball hero/heroine. This has to be because if both acted zany then it'd probably be too much. It's almost like thinking about Grant and Carole Lombard both in a screwball comedy; I think it'd be too much, although I'd be really interested in that film if it existed. So both Jerry and Lucy take turns as acting as the adult while the other acts the fool in love. But the best part is that Lucy has the last word, as she often does with Jerry. When she goes after Jerry, she actually gets him back, acting drunk and cornering him in the cabin.
The ending of the film isn't as great as I thought it would be, but mostly because Lucy is laughing at the end and as I've mentioned, I wish I was laughing with her. I think part of the problem is how quiet the scene is and how serious it gets. Jerry realizes that he's mad for Lucy as well and he's almost trying to make a point to get Lucy to realize she was at fault in their marriage, but Lucy goes into one of her dizzying speeches, in which "things were only the way you think they were" and you try to figure out what's what. But the great thing about Lucy is that she's so self-assured in this scene, so matter-of-fact. Jerry is so obviously confused and Lucy smiles and wishes him good night. All the way to the end of the scene, Lucy's leading and in effect, Jerry follows her, straight back into the relationship.
Part of the reason The Awful Truth is such a great film of the genre is the way in which tells a new type of romantic comedy. The film takes two people already married and throws a divorce at them to show how much they're crazy for one another. But then, there's also the fact of how they do fall in love. The simple fact that both have to take on the crazy fool role at different times in order to win the other's heart is well within the rules of how people fall in love in a screwball comedy. While it's usually one person trying to show the other through screwy antics that they're meant to be together, the two leads in The Awful Truth both take turns at being a screwball hero/heroine. And along the way, we have great fun watching.
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