Until the End of the World / Dramatis Personae

UTEOTW Dramatis Personae
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	Claire Tourneur - played by Solveig Dommartin
	Claire is the film's protagonist. She is not a heroine in the sense that there is a specific obstacle which she must overcome in pursuit of a more important goal. She just happens to be someone seemingly average and aimless, who is lifted out of the anonymity of everyday life into a sort of hyperactive life, where every turn is another adventure, as she finds finds herself not in pursuit of something larger, but pulled toward it by chance and restlessness.
	Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee - played by William Hurt Sam is one of those particular characters in the story who is crucial, but never acts, and is only acted upon. Sam has no will of his own. As Claire pursues him around the world (in a sense, only acting upon him), he is really only doing the will of his father: collecting images for his blind mother. I've read in several reviews how inactive the romantic chemistry between Sam and Claire is. These reviews also suggested that the couple's lack of sparks was intentional, a sentiment I agree with. But I believe this has to do with Sam's general lack of interest in anything. His desire for Claire is never as strong as her desire for him. It seems that once he left his family and became his father's helper, he lost all passion for life. The most passionate we see him during the film is while dancing with Claire in San Francisco. And even then, it is as if he's borrowing her enthusiasm.
	Eugene Fitzpatrick (Gene) - played by Sam Neill Writer. Omniscient narrator. White medicine man. Pathetically forgiving ex-boyfriend of Claire.
	Phillip Winter - played by Ruediger Vogler Winter, like Sam Farber, has the problem of being a character with no desire of his own. All his actions have to do with carrying out the will of others. And why shouldn't they? He is a detective after all.
	Edith Farber - played by Jeanne Moreau Edith's failed attempts to mediate between her son and his father reflect well on the theory of her relationship with Sam as quasi-oedipal. Edith is a character torn between satisfying the storyy's proprietary Oedipal paradigm and creating a new one that is inclusive of both the men who are dear to her. In a similar way, Sam is typically torn between resenting his father (for having to always be dwarfed by his shadow), and wanting to please him.

This page last modified on Saturday, December 27, 1997, at 21:33
Please send comments and criticisms to Archie Harris (archii@panix.com).
Copyright© 1997 Archie Harris.
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