The Symbolisms of Life Lessons

The Symbolisms of Life Lessons

Martin Scorsese’s Life Lessons is a story about Lionel Dobie desperately trying to finish his painting for his upcoming show in three weeks. He uses his muse, Paulette as his only inspiration. Within the film itself, there are small elements such as the set design, props, or costume choices that are either symbolic or expands on the personality of both characters. These elements are not very obvious but they add just that tiny bit of believability and symbolism to the film. Most will not notice if these props and costumes choices are changed, but to me, they accessorize the main plot of the whole story very gracefully.

The hole in the wall imagery relates to the dynamic between Dobie’s and Paulette’s relationship. By having Dobie gazing into Paulette’s room through a hole in the wall, Scorsese is creating a metaphor for looking into the abyss. Dobie is ultimately trapped in his own sexual temptations. More specifically it creates a Romeo and Juliet imagery, but Juliet does not love Romeo back. The desire is one-sided, which is why we almost never see Paulette gazing outside into Dobie’s studio. There are only two states of the window, open or blocked by her curtains, making the Romeo and Juliet picture incomplete.

The props, in general, is worth exploring as it relates to both Dobie’s and Paulette’s character and personality and there is so much to uncover. From the opening shot of the dirty wine glass to Dobie’s own glasses. Dobie’s wine glass adds to the believability of the film. The glass itself is dirty and covered in paint, the glass becomes almost translucent making the water inside slightly murky. The reason that this particular glass sticks out to me is that Dobie, as a character probably (mistakenly) drank paint water throughout his career, which is a surprisingly common thing that actually happens. Aside from the museum, most paintings we see in the film are Paulette’s and very little of Dobie’s work including his giant painting. The difference between Paulette’s and Dobie’s paintings is that several of hers are always somewhat incomplete or partially complete, with the with canvas still visible, the colors in her paintings are also more prominent. Dobie’s painting, however, is completely filled, with only one painting present in his studio; his painting also includes bright colors but those colors seem so insignificant compared to the earthy grey color. Dobie focuses on one thing like how he only gets inspiration from his one specific muse. After the scene where he had a conversation with Paulette just to then look at pornography, he paints with red, the color of sexuality and passion, still, the painting ends up dark and grim. This is a metaphor for his perpetual cycle of finding a new bright color in his life just to end up sad and depressed again and again. Meanwhile, Paulette is ever changing.

Paulette’s appearance changes from day to day from the way she wears her hair to her earrings and her outfit. She holds on to all her paintings, we do not know which one she is specifically working on. Her paintings try to imitate Dobie’s dark color with more prominent brighter colors. She puts herself into her own painting while Dobie put others into his. On the topic of costumes, Dobie’s glasses are quite clean throughout the film, except the day after Paulette left him. At the museum, we see that his glasses are covered in paint especially around the border. This shows how he cares even less about his appearance after his muses left him.

One motif I found interesting was the fish imagery. Paulette earrings are a pair of fish the first time we see her. We see an image of a fish on Paulette’s bed during the basketball scene. While Dobie looks through and attempts to judge her painting, we see that one of her painting is a silhouette of a human standing next to a fish jumping into/out of the water. During the conversation with Dobie and that one guy, we can see so many fish decorated on the fridge. On the day after the birthday party, she is, once again, wearing fish earrings, although it was a different type of fish this time around. Towards the end of the film, there is a shot of Paulette with a materials shelf in the background; it is decorated with numerous fish postcard and at least one sculpture of a fish that I could see. I am so intrigued by this pattern I wonder what Scorsese wanted it to symbolize. Could it Have just been an inside joke or is it something to do with Paulette’s character, since most of the time she is present when the fish imagery shows up. Fish are a common symbol for fertility and femininity, but I feel like there has to be something more to it. Perhaps it is supposed to show how slippery and hard to catch Paulette is for Dobie? Perhaps Paulette is a fish out of the water, not being where she is meant to be? Perhaps it is supposed to symbolize Dobie’s cycle of being with many different women, like plenty of fish in the sea? I could be reading to much into it. In addition, The new muse also wears a pair of earrings, specifically a translucent, blood orange, spherical earrings that resemble fish eggs. Is this suppose to symbolize Dobie’s cycle of his relationship or is it a mere coincidence?