http://pics.livejournal.com/glvalentine/pic/0001tx1w
At the very first, things seem too stagey and arty; then it was gripping, a modern-day version of La Princesse de Cleves, as cerebral as it was romantic and passionate. I'm hung up, though, about one thing: at perhaps the crucial moment in the movie, Antoinette swings over from resisting Mariveau to being hopelessly in love with him. The change comes when he forcibly, outrageously, cruelly takes control of her--not raping her, but worse, in a way. His psychology is consistent enough, but why the hell this move on his part shoul make her love him--it seems unrealistic to me. Maybe in the nineteenth century, in Balzac's world, people acted this way? But the movie rests on the heroines's intelligence, pride, dignity, and sense of irony. Having this crucial plot corner-turn being so unsatisfying was unsatisfying. An unusual, brilliant movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment