Summary
In a Manhattan flat humming with Charleston riffs and bootleg gin, six flappers choreograph their own disintegration: Grace Merrill, sardonic high priestess of ennui, baptizes the youngest, Elsie, in nihilism, declaring the male species a spent coin. When Elsie’s heart—already cracked by Frank Norwood’s casual cruelty—shatters outright, she turns the party’s cacophony into a funeral dirge with a single pistol flash. Into this mausoleum of confetti and regrets glides Elsie’s mother, a widow carved from quiet granite; her mere presence strips the gilt from their revels, revealing the rot beneath. Grace, who had bartered her name and virtue to become Bruce Wellington’s paid co-respondent in a sordid divorce, feels the woman’s wordless indictment like a chisel against her soul. Repudiating the blood-money pact, she follows the grieving matron homeward, trading confetti for contrition, jazz for silence, and the narcotic now for an uncharted dawn.
Synopsis
Grace Merrill, one of six young girls who idle their lives away staging jazz parties in a New York apartment, advises the youngest, Elsie, who is disillusioned by Frank Norwood, that men are worthless creatures. In a round of revelry Elsie takes her own life. Her mother, a quiet, strong woman, visits the girls, and her fine character impresses them all during her short visit. As a result, Grace perceives the emptiness of her life of selfish pleasure and determines to better herself. Having previously agreed to be Bruce Wellington's corespondent for a sum of money, she declines her part and is welcomed into Elsie's mother's home.
Director
Cast
