"Red is the color of lust, but green is the color of what lust leaves behind...in heart and in womb."
***
I'm going to start this review by pointing out that I am not a Medievalist or an English Lit major. I did read part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight either in high school or possibly college, but in any case it was so long ago that I don't remember anything about it. I'm also generally not that interested in Arthurian legends. I don't even like Monty Python and the Holy Grail that much!
That said, I went into this movie as someone who likes pretty movies and pretty boys, and I'm reviewing it from that perspective and not from the perspective of someone who actually knows anything about the legend or the time period. But as far as prettiness goes, David Lowery's The Green Knight has it in spades. The cinematography is breathtaking, the costume and sets are a feast for the eyes, and Dev Patel has never been more boneable as the young Gawain, nephew to the King (Sean Harris). There's a lot of pretty stuff to look at...and to listen to, as the soundtrack is luscious and haunting as well.
The plot of the film, like the legend, is pretty simple: on Christmas Day, a strange figure known as The Green Knight shows up at the King's feast. The dude basically looks like Groot, but scarier. He issues a challenge to the King's knights: any man among them can try to land a blow on the Knight, but only under the condition that the Knight is allowed to land the same blow exactly one year from that day. Gawain, who is basically a fuckboy who loves getting drunk and getting it on with the ladies (and one lady in particular, Essel, played by Alicia Vikander) immediately steps up to the challenge. The Green Knight lays down his ax, and bows his head. Gawain, apparently too dumb to see that this is a trap, cleanly slices the Knight's head off. But the Knight stands up, picks up his decapitated head, and says "one year hence" and then bounces.
One year later, Gawain sets out to travel 6 days to the north to meet his appointment. Along the way, he encounters thieves, a lonely lady ghost, a talking fox, a group of giants, and a Lord and Lady (played by Joel Edgerton and, again, Alicia Vikander) who invite Gawain into their home, only to try and seduce him. Yes, both of them.
(Side note: I was not expecting to see jizz in this movie. But...you see jizz in this movie. I wonder what they used for the effect. Dishwashing soap?)
When Gawain finally sees the Green Knight face-to-face, we get a little bit of The Last Temptation of Christ: basically, a fast-forward into the future of what life would be like for Gawain if he were to run away from the Knight and attempt to live life without honoring his side of the bargain. Then, boom, we're back in the room with Gawain and the Knight. Gawain accepts his fate by removing a green girdle that the Lady of the manor gave him, which would protect him from harm. The Knight says "Good job, my brave Knight. Now, off with your head." End of movie.
So, the movie ends on a very confusing and ambiguous note. Those who are familiar with the legend know that after flinching a few times, Gawain bravely holds still to endure the life-ending blow of the the Green Knight...only for the Green Knight to give him a tiny nick on his neck. Basically, the Knight just wanted to fuck with Gawain to prove a point. Since the movie ends without the Knight making his final move, we just don't know what happens (although apparently there was a scene after the credits that I didn't know about, so feel free to let me know if there is more to the story that I didn't see).
I'm going to give you my interpretation of the message of the film, which may be radically different from others' interpretations. I believe that the film was trying to say that man's hubris and foolish pride lead only to violence and death. Although honor and bravery were HUGE in Arthurian legends and the Chivalric code, I think this version of the legend is trying to reveal that honor and bravery for no other reason than to be seen by others as honorable and brave is folly.
I have a couple points that back up my interpretation:
- The Green Knight's game is dumb and pointless. Whoever accepts the Knight on his terms is literally asking to be harmed or killed, unless they deal the Knight a harmless blow (which would make them look foolish to their fellow knights). Basically, it's an unwinnable proposition: either you deal the Knight a mild blow and look like a scaredy-cat, but live...or you deal the Knight a serious or deadly blow, which the Green Knight will survive because, well, look at him, but YOU will not survive when it's your turn to get the same blow back. Unless the Knight is merciful, as he is in the legend. But Gawain doesn't know that.
- Gawain wants respect and admiration, but he doesn't want to do anything to earn it. He thinks that by accepting the Green Knight's challenge, he can take a shortcut to honor. But wouldn't it be more honorable to say, fight in a war defending your king, or spend your life being a good and protective husband to your wife? But those are REAL challenges. The Green Knight's game is, well, just a game--as the King whispers to Gawain before he deals the fateful blow against the Green Knight.
- When Gawain is at the Lord and Lady's manor, the Lord basically says to Gawain, "So, you're going to meet up with this Green Knight guy and defeat him and then you'll return home, a changed man and full of honor?" and Gawain says "Yes" and the Lord just sort of looks at him and is like "Haha, ok buddy." I mean, I'm giving you the gist, not the actual dialogue, but you get the point: the Lord is skeptical. Now, some people could interpret this exchange as simply another obstacle in the way of Gawain's quest to become a brave, strong man. Just as the Lord's wife tempts Gawain with the world's most awkward hand job, the Lord is tempting him to give up because...uh, the quest is like...dumb. But *I* took the Lord's skepticism to be more in line with what the movie itself is trying to say: that Gawain has the mentality of a young man who just wants to look badass in front of his fellow knights, but isn't actually doing anything inherently brave or honorable.
- Finally, before the Green Knight returns his (presumably lethal) blow, Gawain says "Wait! Is this...all there is?" and the Knight says "What else would there be?" I take this to be Gawain finally seeing his own folly: that he fucked around and is about to find out. If we are to believe that the Green Knight is actually going to decapitate him, Gawain came to the end of his short life not through defending his king, or his lady, or for any REAL reason to die...but because he took up a foolish and unwinnable challenge to look cool in front of da boys.
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