Finding Forgiveness, or Something Like It, in David Mamet’s House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner and State and Main

Abstract

When we speak about confidence games, we consider them almost entirely in terms of their artfulness, the cleverness with which their perpetrators succeed in the act of deception. We speak about con artistry as being “choreographed,” as something to be admired, as being the product of deft timing and intellectual skill. In his screenplays, David Mamet functions as the auteur behind many of contemporary cinema’s most intricately staged confidence games. Mamet asks his audience to revel in the well-timed sleight of hand, to set aside their ethical preconceptions to enjoy the mastery of his textual masquerade. In short, Mamet’s dramaturgy tempts us to lose ourselves in his films, to become conned along with his characters. As viewers of Mamet’s films ponder the implications of his con games—pulling back the veil, examining how the cloth was hung so deftly—the gravity of where these lies and deception take both his characters and audiences becomes clarified in terms of Mamet’s ethical intentions. Rather than being reduced to a simplistic moral code, Mamet’s ethical imperatives find their embodiment in his enduring interest in the mysterious nature of human relationships.¹

I think that Movies, with few exceptions, have always been trash. I would like to aver that this trash has, historically, been better spirited but, on reflection, I cannot.

David Mamet, Make-Believe Town