Discussion Post: Cat People
Cat People is filled with mystery and concluded in a way I would not have guessed, which i find compelling; however, there are several loose ends that it did not make clear to me. First of all, who was the woman who addressed Irena as "sister"? Part of me thinks that it was just a fellow cat woman, but part of me thinks it was the panther in the cage. I suppose that sounds illogical considering the panther was locked up, but Irena was drawn to the panther and yet seemingly frightened of it, just as she was terrified of the woman, but could not look away from her.
Another thing I am curious about is why the panther backed away from Irena with its teeth barred. I can understand that smaller animals would react the way they did, but isn't Irena supposed to be emulating the panther's image, or actually becoming a panther herself? Why should the locked up panther be frightened by Irena, especially if she is in a human form?
I was also intrigued by the psychiatrist's role in the movie. They hired him to help Irena, but he seemed somewhat manipulative when mentioning to Irena about her kissing him or Oliver leaving Irena. This brings me to the thought that maybe Irena wouldn't have killed Oliver because she actually loved him. She killed the doctor when he kissed her, but I thought the curse mentioned the cat woman would kill her husband who she loves, and the doctor was neither. Maybe this suggests that Irena's cat form appears when angered or threatened, not necessarily under the terms of the curse.
Another interesting point is that the sequel is called Curse of the Cat People (1944), but apparently it has nothing to do with cat people at all; Irena just appears as a ghost to Oliver and Alice's daughter, Amy. Overall, 1940s horror is definitely ambiguous.