Who was Gina?
Gina was an “incredibly beautiful gypsy girl” in Borovnia. This description is a clever allusion to real-life comments made about the real Pauline Parker (see 3.2.6). Gina was Pauline’s preferred incarnation in her visions of Borovnia. As Gina, Pauline wore long, red velvet gowns and was very popular and an excellent dancer. Diello seemed to be devoted to Gina, violently looking out for her interests in several scenes. By Christmas 1953, Pauline preferred being called Gina, though her mother wouldn’t use the name. And, in her final Borovnian vision of the film, Pauline imagines that the flesh-and-blood Gina has, at last, turned into a Borovnian plasticine figure. Gina gradually crosses over from the ugly real world to bright Borovnia, in Pauline’s fantasies.
