As the presence of a star, Greta Garbo, indicates, characters are the focus of the film Joyless Street by G. W. Pabst. Women in particular play a pivotal role, as modern issues such as sexual harassment and other difficulties facing working women are addressed. While the characterization of the poor women is quite complex, the men in both the upper and lower classes seem to be relatively weak, or at least controlled by their vices. Their characters are certainly static and flat. Finally, the realist nature of the film is very moving, as it shows Vienna in the midst of an inflationary crisis.
With the slight exception of Ellen in Nosferatu, the films we have watched so far have been dominated by men. In contrast, Joyless Street seems to revolve around the lives of its female characters. The two most captivating female characters are Greta and Marie, inhabitants of Melchoir Street. Of the two, Greta has the benefit of a more caring family and apparently a better financial situation. When she is unable to buy meat from the butcher, her father encourages patience and does not blame Greta. Marie's father, on the other hand, is furious when she returns from the butcher without food. A bitter, crippled man, the father chases Marie around their slum-like apartment with a menacing cane. Symbolically, although they live in the same building, Marie's family lives in the dingy basement, and Greta's lives in a cheery upper floor. This light and dark contrast is carried into the women's moral characters. Marie's motives always seem to be selfish and sinister, while Greta is almost saintly in her desire to help her family. In fact, some of the close-up shots of Greta seem to create a halo around her anguished face. Marie is not simply an evil character, though. To her detriment, she wants to escape her family and leave them to their plight. To her credit, though, her fawning devotion to Egon leads her to prostitute herself to earn $100 for his stock market investment. She is mastered by her jealousy, though, as she murders a rival for Egon. After the murder, she displays her selfishness in accusing Egon of the murder and her ultimate devotion to him in her confession to the police. Whether Marie's passion for Egon is purely self-serving or unselfish seems to be ambiguous.
If in fact Marie's passion is martyr-like, Egon is a questionable benefactor of the sacrifice of her virtue. Like many of the men in Joyless Street, he does seem to have any redeeming qualities. His desire to have Regina or her wealth leads him to take advantage of Lia, but only after she has already propositioned him. As can be seen in his lack of interest in Marie, Egon seems to be motivated only by wealth and connections. Greta's father is also an unimpressive character. He foolishly quits his job and risks his pension on the stock market. When his investment turns sour at the hands of the wealthy, he does not have the spine to confront his plight. Greta assumes the role of head of the family as she finds a tenant and cares for her father after his breakdown. The Counselor gains a little life and determination at the end of the film, but this vitality may only be a tool of the plot to convince Lt. Davy of Greta's virtuous motives. Turning to the butcher and Greta's boss, these male characters are only motivated by their desire for flesh. Without their power over women from their positions, they would be weak characters, enslaved by their vice. Lt. Davy, who should be the hero of the film, turns in a disappointing showing with his subjection to the man in the black jacket and his double standards. He believes Greta's show of virtue to have been an act when he himself was at the orgy. It is likely that the men are foils to highlight the character strength of the women.
One of the most visually striking aspects of Joyless Street is the contrast between the poor inhabitants of Melchoir Street and the wealthy society people. Pabst shows this contrast brilliantly by cutting quickly between the line at the butcher's shop and the orgy. Making use of lighting, the orgy is brightly lit in comparison to the dark street in which the families are standing in the hopes of feeding their children. As Canez toasts the beautiful women of Vienna, there is a scene of Greta fainting while waiting in line. In another case, the film shows the contrast between the squalor in which Marie lives and the opulent restaurant in which Egon is dining with his boss. It is a very striking portrayal of class division.
``Joyless Street'' is unlike the earlier movies we have seen in this class. Instead of focusing almost completely on the artistic aspects of the production, ``Joyless Street'' is realistic. Compared to ``The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' and ``Nosferatu,'' ``Joyless Street'' has a much more coherent narrative, and the movie flows almost as well as a modern movie does.
Besides being a great piece of ``street realism,'' ``Joyless Street'' is often hailed as being the first great melodrama. In this movie, we see the clear demarcations between the economic classes in post-war Vienna: the destitute people of Melchior Street versus the rich industrialists and profiteers enjoying themselves at parties.
Is it contradictory that the film is considered to be both an excellent piece of realist work and a melodrama? Not particularly. The film manages to be both. The movie did not spare us from seeing heartwrenching scenes, such as the line of Melchior Street residents waiting in line all night to get a pound of meat, or seeing how poor Greta gets mistreated by everyone from her boss to the butcher, or how Marie has to watch her lover having an affair with another man, and then kills the other woman out of rage. Despite all of these emotionally charged scenes, I did not feel that this movie was overly melodramatic or oversentimentalized in its treatment of all of the issues it takes on. At the same time, even though it is realistic, the movie was not an impartial documentary of the class differential in Vienna, or of the stock market, or other subjects the film deals with. Like all great melodramas, the viewer is made to feel sorry for the oppressed individuals and angry towards the oppressors in this film.
Greta Garbo plays Greta Rumfort, a poor resident of Melchior Street who suffers through misfortune after misfortune, through no fault of her own. Greta's father loses everything when he is scammed into putting all of his money in the Petrowitz company stock. She is mistreated by everyone, and goes through many hardships. One of the things that made me feel most sorry for Greta was when she bought an expensive fur coat after being urged by her father to do so, in anticipation of the money that the family would have after the supposed stock windfall. When we see that the family loses all of their money, our heart breaks as Greta's does; her guilt for buying the fur coat only adds to this feeling we have for her.
Besides the emotional aspects of this film, one of the other aspects of ``Joyless Street'' that really struck me was the maturity of the film editing. The movie was took on several different subplots, like modern films and television shows we see today. In ``The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,'' for example, which is a nonlinear story, has basically only one plot line, but in ``Joyless Street,'' we see the stories of several peoples' lives, not just Greta's. There is the story of the people of Melchior Street, Greta's story, the story of Marie and Lia, and so on. We see all of these things, encapsulated in one movie.
Joyless Street, by G. W. Pabst, displays, with amazing realism, the effect of the inflationary period on German society. Just as in Metropolis there is a social division between the working class, who must busy themselves with the notion of survival, and the rich upper class who are seen as gluttons dabbling in the pleasures that money can afford. This distinction between the classes was due to the economic and moral decline of Vienna's working class during the financial crises of Germany after WW1.
The film shows the financial division of the privileged and the destitute. Scenes cut from Maria and other poor women desperately waiting in line for meat to feed their families, to scenes of the rich enjoying an orgy with food and drink. The two classes are visually juxtaposed which has a striking effect of displaying the gross discrepancies. The women of the working class are also forced to seek the help of Frau Greifer, who runs a brothel. The women see prostitution as the only alternative to free themselves and their families of the financial turmoil that has afflicted their socio-economic group. Even Greta, who ironically quits her job because of sexual harassment, is unwillingly forced to seek the help of Greifer.
Joyless Street uses the duality of women to portray the moral decline felt by the inflationary period. Greta Garbo is the virtuous woman who saves her family. The Counselor looses all the families' money and it is Greta who comes to the rescue. She takes upon herself to pull the family out of their financial strife. Her virginous characteristics are strengthened when she quits her job after her boss makes sexual passes towards her.
Maria on the other hand is driven by her self-serving nature and will follow her desires in procuring money and the love of Egon. Maria cannot handle living the lifestyle that she has been handed and will go to any moral bounds to change her present situation. To acquire the money that Egon needs, Maria seeks the help of Frau Greifer. She submits to prostitution in the name of Egon, while Greta is forced into the same situation but only to prevent the starvation of her family.
It is worth noting that when this film was released in 1925, it underwent harsh censorship. Much of the text was deleted and there was also complete banning throughout Europe, Soviet Union, and even America. This can only show that Joyless street was a film unprecedented in its realistic depiction of the inequalities seen in the German society.