Review: Pygmalion et la vierge d'ivoire

Pygmalion et la vierge d'ivoire by Serge Le Tendre
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pygmalion & the Ivory Virgin, is a graphical retelling of that old & quite well known Greek classic, which then inspired the play Pygmalionby George Bernard Shaw, as well as the theatrical movie 'My fair lady'.

If one would recall, the original premise of the story was that of the sculptor Pygmalion, who in search of the perfect woman, crafted her into an ivory statue, then becoming obsessed over her. Moved by her devotion. the Goddess Aphrodite invoked her blessing, breathing life into stone, and bringing to life Galatea, with whom Pygmalion lived happily ever after.

This retelling, as scripted by Serge Le Tendre, and penciled by Frederic Peynet, attempts to flesh out the backstory of the titular character, while adding new ones who explain his motivations and personality.

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SYNOPSIS (Skip for Spoiler warning; but come on, the story has been out for like a few thousand years)

In the ancient city of Amathus, there lived Pygmalion, the young sculptor in training, son of the merchant Antheos. The infidelity of his mother, as well as growing up with an ornery father had left Pygmalion with an undue distaste towards women at quite a young age. He considers them all to be imperfect, and not up to his standards. He spurns the affection of the women who adore him, especially that of Agape; his neighbor & childhood friend loves him unconditionally.

Following the death of his father in an unfortunate accident, Aphrodite shows him the vision of his perfect woman, Galatea, whom he carves into an Ivory statue after much effort. Having realized his ideal, Pygmalion becomes obsessed with Galatea, spending every waking hour with her. Becoming more unhinged, he even bashes the head in of Copius, his teacher, who attempts to steal her from him, falling into a fever dream.

Agape finds him and nurses him back to health. But, the first thing that Pygmalion does after waking, is to throw Agape to the curb, and go back to his Galatea. Heartbroken, Agape renounces her home and joins the temple of Eris, as a Propoetide, a sacred prostitute. Making a deal with Aphrodite, she commits suicide, to realize her love.

At the same time as Agape breathes her last, Pygmalion finds to his joy & bewilderment that his perfect woman has come to life. He is walking on the clouds in jubilation, and soon the whole city is abuzz with the miraculous news of the stone statue that was brought to life by the Gods. After reveling in each other's company, the lovers decided to get married.

Alas, at the wedding dais, Pygmalion is accused of murder, the body of Copias his teacher, having washed up at shore. Pygmalion is to be taken by the crowds and sentenced for his crime, when Galatea, reveals herself as Agape, witness to his innocence.

Pygmalion is saved, but as a penalty to revealing her secret, Agape will turn back to stone. Being unable to live without her, Pygmalion choses to be with her, sharing her fate, and at sunrise, both lovers turn to stone in each other's embrace, together for all eternity.
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WHAT I LIKED:

The Artstyle:

Peynet's artwork is exquisite, having a pastel like quality, and bringing a buttery oily broad strokes to character faces, skin tones and wide cityscapes. The contrast in skin tone, shadows and clouds add more vibrancy and life to the frames, and the sunny summer palette is very pleasing to the eyes, as well as makes the character's expressions pop out. I fell in love with it from the very first set piece. It also has an added benefit of really enhancing those scenes where Gods and their divine shenanigans are put into focus.
(I would love to share some examples, but have to refrain till a later date.)

WHAT I DIDN'T SO MUCH LIKE:

The story & themes:

Pygmalion's tale is something which can be viewed with wonderment, the first time you read it as a child. But as an adult the lessons which it conveys are....troublesome. The artist who detests women in real life, and sets out to 'make' his own personal perfect woman, doesn't sit well, by any standards. While adaptations like those of George Bernard Shaw, add a lot of levity and character growth for the female, here she is just the final prize for the protagonist.

The graphic novel, scripted by Le Tendre, attempts to flesh out Pygmalion and his motivations. To this effect, he successfully manages to insert a cast of characters who have varying amounts of depth, but are unfortunately underdeveloped and given too brief of a time to be explored.

Ironically, none of this helps the protagonist Pygmalion, who was supposed to be fleshed out and humanized. At the best of times, he comes across as an indifferent, cold hearted, self centered and sort of a chauvinistic swine. He is bratty at the best time, and sociopathic at worst.

The reason for his anathema towards women could be traced back to his childhood, and the infidelity of his mother Bresia. In throes of passion with her illicit lover, Bresia is caught red-handed by her husband, who proceeds to kill the lover, and banish Bresia from their home; all in front of a young Pygmalion.

This might have caused the boy to see all women as creatures who are inherently flawed and not meeting his standards of perfection. He holds a particular dislike towards the Propoetides, the sacred prostitutes, both due to their doctrine, and as this is where his mother took refuge after being thrown out.

In Galatea, he sees his perfect woman, untouched, incorruptible and free from all the inadequacies of this world.

Yet he does come across as sociopathic & uncaring in multiple instances. Waking up after the accident which claimed the life of his father, he doesn't spare a breath for the departed, immediately being obsessed over the woman in his visions.

Afterwards, in his obsession with Galatea, he throws away the love & affection that Agape has for him, ignoring even her kindness to him when he was injured. Even her eventual suicide barely registers in his psyche.

Agape had to literally be reborn into Galatea, into Pygmalion's perfect women, for him to finally start giving her some notice, and eventually realize their 'ahem', 'True' love.

This whole love affair seemed to be something which came out of a Fair & lovely (skin cosmetic) commercial. the guy ignores you first time around, you literally kill yourself to become more appealing to him, and them he deems you worthy of his attention and affection. It seems to send the wrong message in terms of romantic attraction & relationships in general.

Some part of me is not satisfied with the fairy tale ending which Pygmalion got. It was as if, all of his narrow minded behavior became justified and he is gifted with the women of his dreams. Forget all that talk of how love should be mutual. No, love is one sided, where one partner has to bend over backwards to realize the unreasonable standards to the other, and change herself to become a better woman for him. Definitely not the definition of a toxic relationship. After reading this, I wanted to go and reread The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales by Jay Williams to clear my palate.

Frankly, with the way that the story was progressing, I would have been more satisfied with a narrative where, after having come to realize his perfect woman, things go downhill for Pygmalion, as his ideal clashes with reality. An ending where Agape/ Galatea comes to realize that Pygmalion is not the man of her dreams, and she deserves someone better, leaving him as a blubbering puddle of tears would have been the perfect ending.

Speaking of Agape, it's a pity that the writers didn't choose to focus more on her, as she is by far the most interesting of the characters; followed by Bresia, Pygmalion's exiled mother. This tale could have been an allegory as to how the lives of these women were completely dictated by, and revolved around the men in their lives, and how the only release from this self deprecating cycle would have them branded as prostitutes.

A tale of Agape's journey from a heartbroken girl blinded by love, to someone who renounces her life to be an ascetic, before finally arriving at the self realization that she doesn't need someone's love to fill the emptiness in her heart would have been a great story worth reading. Hell, I want to write that story now!
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In summary, great artwork, flawed script. I want to give it a 3 out of 5.

[P.S. Thank you Netgalley & Europe Comics for giving me an ARC of the book. Well wishes.]

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