A New Leaf Analysis —

“Keep Quiet Henrietta”

A New Leaf, directed by and starring Elaine May, tells a story of a bankrupted playboy pursuing an intelligent female botanist, to pay up his debt. At the first glance, the central story in the movie seems to be feminist: the woman eventually conquers the male protagonist with the power of love. However, once we look closer, the film suddenly reveals its unconscious misogynist side. The overall plot of the movie seems to endorse the woman’s power in relationships, but the details of the film, which suggests more about the social context, are conveying the opposite message by condescending to females. One scene that exemplifies the film’s conflicting message is the sequence when Henry Graham is proposing to Henrietta in his lounge. The sequence portrays Henry Graham calculating the right time to propose to her, and then asking his butler to set up the proposal scene. On their next date, the couple is drinking the sweet wine together, and then Graham finally dares to propose to her. Here, Henry is seen as a courteous, humorous, nervous man who is anxiously waiting for the answer from Henrietta. On the other hand, Henrietta is a naive, socially awkward, clumsy woman who needs to be “saved” after she makes mistakes. The main plot is supposed to be the turning point of the film: after Henrietta accepts Henry’s proposal, the audience expects Henry will eventually falls in love with Henrietta. However, the underlying message here suggests the impossible compatibility between the two, and moreover, the embedded misogyny in the society. To begin with, Henrietta’s behaviors in this scene match her overall character, which are emphasized by various details. These details present an extremely prejudiced and contemptuous view on females. Her clumsiness and awkwardness are exhibited and exaggerated in every possible way in the scene: when she drinks the wine, the camera zooms in, and her upper lip is stained; she spills the wine on the carpet; she wants a straw when drinking the wine; she has troubles checking the time with the glass in her hand; she even internalizes her impotence by literally calling herself “so stupid, so clumsy.” Meanwhile, after she spills the wine and wants to find water to clean up, Henry does not want her to worsen the situation further, so that he stops her from trying to clean up. All of the details in this scene can be referred back to her overarching character, an intelligent but socially awkward female botanist. Even though one can say that her clumsiness is exaggerated for the comical effects, it is definitely over-doing the comical part to the degree of absurdity. It is absolutely unreasonable for the audience to picture a knowledgeable botanist who discovered an entire new species has such limited social and survival skills. This absurdity is the unconscious signal of the misogyny in the movie and becomes a stereotypical generalization of a female scientist’s identity. The underlying message here is that a woman simply cannot be perfect, that she can either be intellectual, or socially skilled, but never both. Furthermore, Graham’s behaviors and facial expressions also implies the males’ dominance and his carelessness in the relationship, which also applies to the greater context of the film. Henry Graham is seen as the nervous groom who anxiously prepares for the “perfect” proposal setting, conveying the message that Graham cares about Henrietta’s feelings, even though he is only marrying her for her money. The audience might think that Graham is attracted by Henrietta, as he starts to change his attitude towards her, and eventually they will fall into love. However, we can see that what he does is different from what his facial expressions reveal. When he proposes to her, he starts to recite a “love letter” in the botanist language, but we can see that he is not trying to express his emotions to her. His voice is so indifferent and bland that the audience can tell he is merely reciting what he prepared beforehand. Also, seeing from the camera’s angle, we know that Henry is not looking into her eyes. When he tells her about her “well-informed beautiful eyes”, it seems so ironic in comparison to his drifting eyes. In addition, Henry’s presumed dominance is shown by his reaction when Henrietta tries to correct him. When Henry is reciting the passage, Henrietta points out that they might not be from the same class in botany. Reacting annoyingly, Henry abruptly shouts, “keep quiet, Henrietta” to her to shut her up, and of course she stops. And soon enough he realizes that he shouldn’t say that, and he then says that he is sorry. His unconscious scolding, which he later wants to apologize, suggests that he assumes that he is the more dominant one in this relationship, and he wants to take control over her. His assumed control over her is also highlighted by another subtle detail: the fact that the male protagonist is called Henry, and the female protagonist is called Henrietta. To conclude, there are numerous trivial details in this scene that suggest the assumed gender inequality in the social context. All of these details add up to form a bigger picture in the film, that males are expected to be the saviors and protectors of females. It also raises further questions for the audience to contemplate: why does a female director want to portray a female intellectual (like herself) in such way, and then she herself also played the role? Does she realize what messages were implied through these subtle details in her film?