Have you no consideration for my nerves?
Jun. 21st, 2006 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonQuote of the day:
"If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity."
—Bill Vaughan
Sharing of the day: Since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kmkibble75 is always so generous in sharing his earworms, this one, buddy, is for you:
Brandy, you're a fine girl.
What a good wife you would be,
but my life, my love, and my lady
is the sea...
I made a hair appointment today. My stylist is named Brandy. Sometimes that's all it takes.
Movieness of the day:
I know the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice wasn't to everyone's taste—these things are all so personal—but I liked it on a purely escapist level. And the more I see it, the more I appreciate the supporting performances.
I think Brenda Blethyn is one of the best Mrs. Bennett's I've seen. All the usual things are there—her inappropriate and self-centered behavior, her avariciousness, but because Ms. Blethyn is such a fine and versatile actress, she brings other dimensions to the role—subtle, but definitely there.
For one thing, her Mrs. Bennett has a joie de vivre that I haven't seen much of in previous portrayals of that character. She's inappropriate for the society Mr. Darcy's used to, certainly, but I get a sense from watching her in those ballroom scenes that she'd be enormous fun under the right circumstances—certainly something I've never thought for a moment of any previous Mrs. Bennett. How can you not love her when she's dancing happily through the assembly eating a sweet and flinging her hands about to the music, only to drench some poor gentleman's jacket? And sitting on the chair dangling and swinging her feet, beaming such a happy smile? The genuine humor she shows in some of the final scenes is lovely: "We must have been wrong/Wouldn't be the first time, will it?" to Jane and the sweet bedroom chat with Mr. Bennett. Again, this is a Mrs. Bennett I've not seen before. I could actually understand why Mr. Bennett became charmed enough to marry her. (In the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth P&P it was implied that it was purely lust on the part of Mr. B, and I will say the Mrs. Bennett from that production was one of the most irritating on record. It couldn't have been anything but lust. Brenda Blethyn's Mrs. Bennett may indeed be trying, but there's also a genuine human being underneath thanks to her performance.)
On the other side of the scale, she gives us a glimpse here and there of the genuine terror behind the silly facade. She turns to Elizabeth and delivers her line, "When you have five daughters, Lizzie, tell me what else will occupy your thoughts, and then perhaps you will understand," with such steel beneath the frou-frou. Here's a woman who has a good possibility of being left destitute when her husband dies, dispossessed of house and home because she has five daughters and no sons. With absolutely no means of supporting herself let alone her brood because the genteel women couldn't work, she would have been reduced to throwing herself on the unpredictable mercy of her relations, or falling off the social register completely. Her only recourse is to marry off those daughters, and if one or more of them marries well enough, when Mr. Bennett dies she might at least have a place for herself and whatever daughters don't manage to bag a man.
Talulah Riley, who plays Mary Bennett, has a wonderful moment when Elizabeth is in the process of routing Mr. Collins. She looks on him so wistfully. He would have been perfect for Mary, but he never saw her amidst the dazzle of the two older girls. And how many other opportunities is poor Mary likely to get? Tom Hollander's Mr. Collins is hilarious and credibly buffoonish, Donald Sutherland has some fine moments as Mr. Bennett, and Judi Dench as Lady Catherine is amazingly cracked. There's great depth to this cast throughout, holding up the Byronic leads. It's a pleasure to watch them all.
As to An Assembly Such as This, I got tired of it about halfway through and gave it up. You know, Mr. Darcy's transformation really is better happening "off screen," as Jane Austen originally wrote it.
"If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity."
—Bill Vaughan
Sharing of the day: Since
kmkibble75 is always so generous in sharing his earworms, this one, buddy, is for you:Brandy, you're a fine girl.
What a good wife you would be,
but my life, my love, and my lady
is the sea...
I made a hair appointment today. My stylist is named Brandy. Sometimes that's all it takes.
Movieness of the day:
I know the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice wasn't to everyone's taste—these things are all so personal—but I liked it on a purely escapist level. And the more I see it, the more I appreciate the supporting performances.
I think Brenda Blethyn is one of the best Mrs. Bennett's I've seen. All the usual things are there—her inappropriate and self-centered behavior, her avariciousness, but because Ms. Blethyn is such a fine and versatile actress, she brings other dimensions to the role—subtle, but definitely there.
For one thing, her Mrs. Bennett has a joie de vivre that I haven't seen much of in previous portrayals of that character. She's inappropriate for the society Mr. Darcy's used to, certainly, but I get a sense from watching her in those ballroom scenes that she'd be enormous fun under the right circumstances—certainly something I've never thought for a moment of any previous Mrs. Bennett. How can you not love her when she's dancing happily through the assembly eating a sweet and flinging her hands about to the music, only to drench some poor gentleman's jacket? And sitting on the chair dangling and swinging her feet, beaming such a happy smile? The genuine humor she shows in some of the final scenes is lovely: "We must have been wrong/Wouldn't be the first time, will it?" to Jane and the sweet bedroom chat with Mr. Bennett. Again, this is a Mrs. Bennett I've not seen before. I could actually understand why Mr. Bennett became charmed enough to marry her. (In the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth P&P it was implied that it was purely lust on the part of Mr. B, and I will say the Mrs. Bennett from that production was one of the most irritating on record. It couldn't have been anything but lust. Brenda Blethyn's Mrs. Bennett may indeed be trying, but there's also a genuine human being underneath thanks to her performance.)
On the other side of the scale, she gives us a glimpse here and there of the genuine terror behind the silly facade. She turns to Elizabeth and delivers her line, "When you have five daughters, Lizzie, tell me what else will occupy your thoughts, and then perhaps you will understand," with such steel beneath the frou-frou. Here's a woman who has a good possibility of being left destitute when her husband dies, dispossessed of house and home because she has five daughters and no sons. With absolutely no means of supporting herself let alone her brood because the genteel women couldn't work, she would have been reduced to throwing herself on the unpredictable mercy of her relations, or falling off the social register completely. Her only recourse is to marry off those daughters, and if one or more of them marries well enough, when Mr. Bennett dies she might at least have a place for herself and whatever daughters don't manage to bag a man.
Talulah Riley, who plays Mary Bennett, has a wonderful moment when Elizabeth is in the process of routing Mr. Collins. She looks on him so wistfully. He would have been perfect for Mary, but he never saw her amidst the dazzle of the two older girls. And how many other opportunities is poor Mary likely to get? Tom Hollander's Mr. Collins is hilarious and credibly buffoonish, Donald Sutherland has some fine moments as Mr. Bennett, and Judi Dench as Lady Catherine is amazingly cracked. There's great depth to this cast throughout, holding up the Byronic leads. It's a pleasure to watch them all.
As to An Assembly Such as This, I got tired of it about halfway through and gave it up. You know, Mr. Darcy's transformation really is better happening "off screen," as Jane Austen originally wrote it.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-21 08:40 pm (UTC)That is one of the most powerful earworms of all time! It infected me on May 15th, actually. Now it's firmly back in mind... *narrows eyes at you*
no subject
Date: 2006-06-21 08:58 pm (UTC)Because my brain is suffused with brandy.
Now it's firmly back in mind... *narrows eyes at you*
Hehehe. Payback is a fine girl.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-22 12:49 am (UTC)...We had joy, we had fun,
We had seasons in the sun ...
no subject
Date: 2006-06-22 04:46 pm (UTC)I write the songs that make the whole world sing
I write the songs of love and special things
I write the songs that make the young girls cry
I write the songs, I write the songs