The King of Comedy (1982, Martin Scorsese) (Patreon)

Possibly only my second proper start-to-finish viewing (though this is a film I've watched a lot in bits and pieces over the years), last seen for sure way back in 1995. Back then, De Niro's solipsistic obnoxiousness overwhelmed everything else in my eyes; I still consider this among his very best work, despite the role's single dimension—like any virtuoso, he finds* infinite variations even within a constricted range. Now, though, it's the "straight men" (mostly women here, actually)  to whom I'm drawn: not just Jerry and Rita, but the receptionist at Jerry's office, Bert Thomas' assistant, the security guy, etc. What had once seemed exclusively like a portrait of warped celebrity obsession now plays just as much like an object lesson in the inefficacy of the polite brush-off. Everyone's almost unendingly patient with Rupert, bending over backwards to accommodate him; even when he arguably crosses the line into trespassing, Jerry mostly responds with frosty silence, letting Rupert's increasingly desperate lies tumble into a void. Scorsese expertly controls the tone (in part by restraining himself formally to a degree never seen before or since, as if in solidarity with Jerry Lewis), ensuring that the film, like Rupert's act, has the distinct rhythms of comedy without actually quite being funny. (Though I must say that Rupert's act, while certainly not ready for prime time, has never seemed all that terrible to me. Its Borscht Belt hackiness probably looked worst at that exact moment in history, post-Pryor and -Kaufman; Cathy telling him that his tape shows promise worth developing doesn't seem wholly implausible.) I've always read the epilogue as Rupert's fantasy, mostly because it never once mentions Masha, but there's still a pervasive feeling of impotence in the face of a personality as monomaniacal as Rupert's. Sometimes, diplomacy simply doesn't work. Or maybe that's just generally on my mind right now for some reason.

* Found, I should say, as it's certainly not true anymore.