![]() Nicholson’s Robert is the embodiment of disaffection and alienation, clearly representing a certain kind of American in the late-1960s (and perhaps even the country itself), discontented with conformism but finding traditional means of rebellion equally empty. He’s left his middle-class, high-cultured origins for a hand-to-mouth, blue-collar existence in a town typified by the pawn shop and porn cinema we see him walking by, only to find he is not at home there either. #Five easy pieces series#He claims to be happy-go-lucky, criticising Catherine for wanting everything to be “grim and serious”, but in truth his life seems to be a series of short-term jobs and relationships he flees once things get difficult. For Robert is, in fact, driven by feeling: he’s always searching for something that will satisfy him and never finding it. It’s also why he’s given up the piano, given up on his family, and seemingly given up caring about anything.īut that would be simplistic. “I didn’t have any,” replies Robert.Ī superficial take on Five Easy Pieces might see that line as summarising the entire film: Robert has no feelings and that’s why he treats his girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black) so badly. “Can’t you understand it was the feeling I was affected by?” she asks. She, a musician like the family, praises his performance… but he disparages it, saying he could play the piece better when he was a child. In one of the key scenes of Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces, classical pianist turned oil-field roustabout Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson), making a half-willing return to the family home after a long absence, plays a piece of Chopin for his brother’s fiancée Catherine (Susan Anspach). ![]()
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