Although
everyone wants to be successful in life, success may not be as beneficial as
people hope it will be. In the French film, Le Diner de Cons, Michel is a
successful man who invites a so-called “idiot” to a dinner for idiots, and
finds out that despite all his success, he is the idiot after all. The Greek
myth of Arachne and Minerva also embodies this idea as Arachne uses her skills
in weaving to show she’s better than Minerva, yet suffers the consequences.
This is often the case seen for people who have had much success in their life,
but suffer because of it.
Michel, the
main character in Le Diner de Cons, is a book publisher living in Paris with a
beautiful apartment and wife. He is very well-off, and takes advantage of his
success, especially by having an affair with one of his clients. Michel invites
a man, Francois Pignon, that he thinks is very foolish to a dinner for idiots
to be the entertainment for the night. The two never make it to the dinner, and
instead embark on a quest to find Michel’s wife who had just left him because
she found out he was cheating on her. Pignon is not a very smart man, yet he
shows Michel that despite all his success in business, he has not been
successful in life because he allowed it all to get the better of him, causing
him many personal problems, and he is in fact the “idiot.”
Similar to
Michel, Arachne has had a lot of success in her life, being called the best
weaver in the world. She believes it also and is very hubristic because of it,
mocking the goddess Minerva saying she is better than her at weaving. Minerva
challenges the girl to a weaving contest and sees that Arachne is the better
weaver after all, however because of the girl’s hubris, Minerva turns her into
a spider as punishment for her crime. Arachne may have been a skilled weaver
and gained renown for her talents, but the success she found wound up having
terrible consequences in the end as she let herself be consumed by it.
Both Michel
and Arachne were very successful people with a lot going for them, however the
success they had caused them more grief than anything else. Michel’s personal
problems stem from his talents as a publisher and cause him to lose his wife
and face other consequences, similar to how Arachne, after becoming known for
her excellent weaving skills was turned into a spider for bragging about them.
Everyone wishes to be successful in life, but sometimes the consequences of
achieving great things are not worth it.
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