"The Key" attempts to convince us that we should let our spouses scratch their itch because it will be better for our marriages in the long run.
The movie takes place in Ireland circa 1920. British soldiers are everywhere and they are clamping down on Irish rebels aka freedom fighters. A man named Captain Andrew 'Andy' Kerr (Colin Clive) was a British spy. He spent many nights hunting for Britain's most wanted: an Irishman named Peadar Conlan (Donald Crisp). He was committed to his job much to the consternation of his wife Norah (Edna Best), and this would become a serious problem later on.
Also in the King's army was Captain Bill Tennant (William Powell), a rather carefree gentleman who seemed like he should've been enjoying parties, not serving in the military. Tennant was relocated to Ireland to help tamp any kind of Irish uprising. He rented a flat in a building right below Andy and Norah. It turned out that he knew both Andy and Norah, but not as a couple. He had a romantic fling with Norah years ago. Andy wasn't aware of it and the two wanted to keep it that way.
At this point I could see the scandal on the horizon. Norah's old flame was back in the picture plus Andy wasn't a romantic; it was easy math.
As anyone could predict, Tennant and Norah hooked up. They happened to hook up the same night Andy caught Conlan (Britain's most wanted), and they didn't even have the decency to part ways before Andy got home. He left the two together, thinking nothing of it (he still didn't know they knew each other), then came back hours later that night to find Tennant still at his home with his wife. Norah looked guilty, Tennant looked a bit smug, and Andy was crushed.
It was such an awkward scene I thought they planned it that way. I couldn't believe that they were so caught up in passion that time and caution gave them the slip. What I thought was that Norah re-fell in love with Tennant and fell out of love with Andy, and their plan was to tell him.
Norah did tell Andy what happened.
Well, no she didn't because 1934 social mores don't permit such things to be said on film, but all the context clues were there to convey that she and Tennant had sex.
What was she supposed to do at home alone with her old flame? She had begged Andy not to go out to work that night. Andy didn't know that her plea was for her protection, not his. As Norah put it when she tried to explain to Andy what happened:
"It was like a fire that I thought had gone out, but suddenly it flared up again."
She was talking like she had hemorrhoids.
Andy did what most guys would've done in that situation and left the house. He was devastated. Then Norah was devastated, because it was when Andy left that she realized how much she loved him. But! She had to have sex with Tennant to truly realize that she didn't really love Tennant and that she really loved Andy.
"She merely thought she was in love with me once perhaps. But she knows different now... Norah's been in love with a memory. Glamorous memory. For three years she was struggling to kill it. It's the thing that's always stood between you two.
"I came into her life and went out. I became a sort of unfinished chapter," Tennant carefully explained to Andy.
And here is the important part, the essence of Tennant's power.
Tennant continued, "If I hadn't come back that chapter might never have been finished. She might have gone on for years cherishing a romantic dream. But I did come back. It killed all the romance for her; all the glamor. It's you she loves Andy. She knows that now."
I must pause because I want these words to sink in. I want you to understand EXACTLY what Tennant is saying.
Let me translate.
"I was a blessing to your pitiful marriage. She was pining for me and you didn't even know it. You could never live up to the lasting impression I left upon her.
"So, I had to come back and make love to her so that she could get it out of her system and realize that I was just a romantic idea, not a true lasting thing like you are Andy. Sure, I may be handsome, suave, and know how to charm the pants off a woman, but you're husband material and I made her realize that."
Well excuse me. Allow me to show my deepest gratitude oh wise one. And here it is I thought you screwed my wife for your own pleasure. Pardon me good sir.
Tennant. Do me a favor and don't do me any favors. What a line of garbage. And Andy stood there listening to it like it was Gospel. He ate that stuff up. The movie ended with Andy and Norah side-by-side watching Tennant being taken away. Tennant was arrested for a heroic yet illegal stunt, but it was almost like the scene in "The Green Mile" where Michael Clark Duncan had accomplished what he was sent there for and it was time for him to go.
Tennant, with his magical penis, had fixed Andy and Norah's marriage, now he could go somewhere else and fix another struggling marriage.
Sorry, I don't know any marriage that needs to be fixed with cheating. That's some marriage counseling I want no part of.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
The movie takes place in Ireland circa 1920. British soldiers are everywhere and they are clamping down on Irish rebels aka freedom fighters. A man named Captain Andrew 'Andy' Kerr (Colin Clive) was a British spy. He spent many nights hunting for Britain's most wanted: an Irishman named Peadar Conlan (Donald Crisp). He was committed to his job much to the consternation of his wife Norah (Edna Best), and this would become a serious problem later on.
Also in the King's army was Captain Bill Tennant (William Powell), a rather carefree gentleman who seemed like he should've been enjoying parties, not serving in the military. Tennant was relocated to Ireland to help tamp any kind of Irish uprising. He rented a flat in a building right below Andy and Norah. It turned out that he knew both Andy and Norah, but not as a couple. He had a romantic fling with Norah years ago. Andy wasn't aware of it and the two wanted to keep it that way.
At this point I could see the scandal on the horizon. Norah's old flame was back in the picture plus Andy wasn't a romantic; it was easy math.
As anyone could predict, Tennant and Norah hooked up. They happened to hook up the same night Andy caught Conlan (Britain's most wanted), and they didn't even have the decency to part ways before Andy got home. He left the two together, thinking nothing of it (he still didn't know they knew each other), then came back hours later that night to find Tennant still at his home with his wife. Norah looked guilty, Tennant looked a bit smug, and Andy was crushed.
It was such an awkward scene I thought they planned it that way. I couldn't believe that they were so caught up in passion that time and caution gave them the slip. What I thought was that Norah re-fell in love with Tennant and fell out of love with Andy, and their plan was to tell him.
Norah did tell Andy what happened.
Well, no she didn't because 1934 social mores don't permit such things to be said on film, but all the context clues were there to convey that she and Tennant had sex.
What was she supposed to do at home alone with her old flame? She had begged Andy not to go out to work that night. Andy didn't know that her plea was for her protection, not his. As Norah put it when she tried to explain to Andy what happened:
"It was like a fire that I thought had gone out, but suddenly it flared up again."
She was talking like she had hemorrhoids.
Andy did what most guys would've done in that situation and left the house. He was devastated. Then Norah was devastated, because it was when Andy left that she realized how much she loved him. But! She had to have sex with Tennant to truly realize that she didn't really love Tennant and that she really loved Andy.
"She merely thought she was in love with me once perhaps. But she knows different now... Norah's been in love with a memory. Glamorous memory. For three years she was struggling to kill it. It's the thing that's always stood between you two.
"I came into her life and went out. I became a sort of unfinished chapter," Tennant carefully explained to Andy.
And here is the important part, the essence of Tennant's power.
Tennant continued, "If I hadn't come back that chapter might never have been finished. She might have gone on for years cherishing a romantic dream. But I did come back. It killed all the romance for her; all the glamor. It's you she loves Andy. She knows that now."
I must pause because I want these words to sink in. I want you to understand EXACTLY what Tennant is saying.
Let me translate.
"I was a blessing to your pitiful marriage. She was pining for me and you didn't even know it. You could never live up to the lasting impression I left upon her.
"So, I had to come back and make love to her so that she could get it out of her system and realize that I was just a romantic idea, not a true lasting thing like you are Andy. Sure, I may be handsome, suave, and know how to charm the pants off a woman, but you're husband material and I made her realize that."
Well excuse me. Allow me to show my deepest gratitude oh wise one. And here it is I thought you screwed my wife for your own pleasure. Pardon me good sir.
Tennant. Do me a favor and don't do me any favors. What a line of garbage. And Andy stood there listening to it like it was Gospel. He ate that stuff up. The movie ended with Andy and Norah side-by-side watching Tennant being taken away. Tennant was arrested for a heroic yet illegal stunt, but it was almost like the scene in "The Green Mile" where Michael Clark Duncan had accomplished what he was sent there for and it was time for him to go.
Tennant, with his magical penis, had fixed Andy and Norah's marriage, now he could go somewhere else and fix another struggling marriage.
Sorry, I don't know any marriage that needs to be fixed with cheating. That's some marriage counseling I want no part of.
Free on Odnoklassniki.