I highly recommend this movie. Watch it sometime.
Henry Foole blows into town one day, clothing and manner both of some indeterminate era. He could have come from any place, any age. He has been bad. The director of the movie chose to make his offense a sex crime perhaps as a means of quickly and efficiently defining Henry's social offense. The crime chosen by the film's director is accessible and easily grasped by the audience, though the Fool's crimes could be of any nature, and most likely will be philosophical or aesthetic transgressions against the prevailing norms. (That is, let's not sniff around for parallels that do not exist.)
Henry meets Simon on the street. Henry is presumptuous and self-centered. He simply decides that he's going to rent Simon's mother's basement apartment, even though he has no money.
Simon is a garbage man. He is the least among society. Indeed, his station is so low that he traffics in the refuse itself of the society to which he aspires.
Upon Henry's two-fingered caress of Simon's breast, Simon becomes imbued with the spirit of the fool. "How did you know my name?" Simon goes on to shame the wise and lower the mighty. He proceeds to become one of the world's most celebrated poets.
The film is an interesting if not comprehensive treatment of the Fool archetype, an archetype which appears across all human cultures.
The honest man is always in trouble. No truer statement has ever been spoken in this world. Not only does the society in which the fool accidentally finds himself not clearly articulate its own laws, it does not follow them.
...So nor does the fool.
...It's just that he's honest about it.
...And that's his true crime, isn't it?
