Jefferson in Paris: Sally Meets her Match

By Erin Wildeman

[1] Jefferson in Paris, written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, gives modern audiences a depiction of Thomas Jefferson’s life as Ambassador to France. From upper-class French culture, to the development of the French Revolution and the relationship with the beautiful and esteemed Maria Cosway, to the scandalous pregnancy of his slave girl Sally Hemings, the movie truly tells it all. The movie also highlights Jefferson’s eldest daughter, Patsy, particularly in how she deals with her father’s love life. Patsy spends most of her time in Paris at the convent, so she is not exposed to her father’s day-to-day behavior, but she is intuitive enough to know that something is going on, first between Jefferson and Maria Cosway and then between Jefferson and Sally. On the night that Jefferson is giving Sally the necklace, Patsy notices that Sally is not where she is supposed to be; when she sees the door to her father’s room close, she figures that the two must be together. The knowledge of a potential relationship between her esteemed father and anyone, let alone a slave girl, is enough to drive Patsy insane. As tension builds within the family, Patsy lashes out at Sally as a way to cope with her changing life.

[2] Patsy is a generally unhappy woman. There are several freeze frames throughout the scene (starting at 95:06) and the movie as a whole, in which Patsy appears to be absolutely miserable. Her shrewish looks court no attention from men, and she feels neglected after her family’s recent hardships. She desperately wants attention from her father and finds his refusal to give it to her extremely frustrating. This causes the relationship between Patsy and any other woman in Jefferson’s house to have a very tense dynamic. Patsy enters a sort of competition with the other women, vying for Jefferson’s affections. Patsy and Sally have subconsciously entered this battle; however, in the opinion of my classmate Raquel Santos, “Sally is obviously winning.” Furthermore, in family life, Patsy seems to simply be fading into the background; her existence is hardly ever noted. She also feels that the people around her are being insensitive to her needs. She is at the convent for a majority of the week, and while she is home, she spends her time wishing she could go back. This simply adds to the frustration Patsy is feeling.

[3] When Sally and Patsy are alone for the first time since Patsy figures out her father’s budding relationship, the atmosphere is very tense. Patsy makes it a point to let Sally know that she is not comfortable with the relationship. The entire scene seems to revolve around the new necklace that Sally is wearing; Patsy knows that it is from her father. For almost the entire first half of the scene, there is no dialog exchanged between the two women; however, it is the unspoken that is more powerful in this scene. Patsy simply stares at Sally’s neckline, which makes Sally very uncomfortable, and she tucks the necklace back down into her dress. Polly comes into the room and breaks the tension between the two women. Polly complains about how slow Sally is being; Sally responds with a witty remark about only having two hands. If one was looking at a strict slave-to-mistress relationship, then it could be said that Sally was sassing Polly. Nonetheless, Patsy uses this small excuse to give Sally a sharp slap on her face, literally snapping Sally back into reality. Patsy tells Sally, “that’s to teach you respect for your mistress.”

[4] The “respect” that Patsy talks about has dual meaning. First, Sally should know her place as a slave in a white household and not talk back to her mistresses. However, Patsy also wants Sally to understand that she should respect Patsy and the whole Jefferson family by not engaging in an “unspeakable” relationship. The use of music adds to the cinematic effectiveness to highlight the climactic slap. The underlying music has a very dark and somber tone; it also seems to portray Patsy’s mood. The music builds up until the point of the slap, then the music abruptly stops, and there is no music for the rest of the scene. Ultimately, Patsy does not like the fact that Sally is getting more attention from her father than she is; the slap is clearly a warning for Sally to back off.

[5] Sally is portrayed as rather immature in this scene. Neither she, nor Jefferson for that matter, seems to realize the effect that their potential relationship will have on the family or that the relationship would be “taboo” (my classmate Adam Baker). Sally wears low-cut dresses around the house and constantly touches the necklace that Jefferson gave her. Subconsciously and unknowingly, she is “flaunting the necklace in front of Patsy’s face”; the necklace makes Patsy extremely jealous, causing tension between the two girls (Raquel Santos). By Patsy staring at her, Sally suddenly becomes uncomfortable and puts the necklace away. She begins to realize that by engaging in a relationship with Jefferson, it could be affecting Patsy. However, this realization obviously does not deter Sally for long. Also, the difference in dynamics between Sally and Patsy and Sally and Polly is very interesting. Sally is more of a big sister to Polly than Patsy is, which is another cause of Patsy’s jealously. Sally and Polly’s playfulness simply put Patsy over the edge, causing the slap. Sally simply has more intimacy with members of her family than Patsy cares for.

[6] Clearly, Patsy does not lead an easy life. She is constantly challenged by Sally Hemings as well as by her desire for attention from her father. According to such other representations of their relationship like Barbara Chase-Riboud’s novel Sally Hemings, even in the end Sally still comes out victorious. Patsy takes advantage of the few moments she can as slave master, like the scene depicted here, to beat out Sally in their continuing competition.