Sunday, July 02, 2006

Betty Blue, Leila and the Secretary

Three films.. three women.. three continents...in one weekend...
I didn't do it on purpose but I did end up watching three movies this weekend with women as the protagonists...



Betty Blue...
Country of Origin: France
Director's cut (unrated version)
first of all very long movie... but maybe the original cut may have been different.
I thought the acting was great.. I knew french people are very comfortable with nudity but I really didn't expect to see sooo much in one movie... To me it's the nudity that may have taken over the story...
The story is simple, the only thing that's complex is Betty's character... The movie, in brief, revolves around electrifying Betty and her beau Zorg. Impulsive, stubborn and with a mind of her own, she stumbles across a novel that Zorg had written.. She starts the quest to getting it published.. To save Zorg from a life of nothingness... when in fact she will need saving more than him by the end of the movie..
I really believe that this movie could've been alot more aggressively effective.. without all the nudity.. sure it did play an important part in highlighting Betty's character and personality.. I felt this especially at the end when she completely lost it.. The scene with her make-up all smudged sitting by the table was very powerful and touching, but it didn't balance out with the other scenes... I'm not sure what was going through the director's brain... He must have wanted the story to mesmorise... maybe he thought that he had to expose her beauty with the nudity and then expose her 'imperfection'... I thought that they had chosen the right betty... Because.. she was very vibrant and pretty, but her looks weren't perfect... when she smiles her teeth really stick out... so in a way I thought she was perfect for the role... she looked the part and acted the part very well..
verdict... I don't think I would've nominated it for an oscar or a bafta(which it was)... the story was good but the string of events could've been a lot more better.... for comparison's sake if you have watched 'Of mice and men'(John Malcovich, Gary Sinise) you can understand what I'm trying to say... these were 2 men and I cried.. in betty blue they were lovers... and I wasn't moved as much...

Moving on to the next female..



Leila
Country of Origin: Iran
Very very touching and poignant.. this story revolves around a newly wed couple... Leila cannot conceive... and this isn't her only problem.. he mother in law is selfishly influencing her to make her husband marry a second wife so that he can get kids.. Since he's her only son... She keeps on telling Leila that her son has always loved kids and it would a sin for him not to have any... Reza (the husband)loves leila and insists that they do not need to have kids... His mother on the other hand has other intensions... and so she convinces Leila to agree that Reza marry another to get a child.. but Leila has to approve.. and so the quest begins... her tormented soul numbs.. the acting was superb... What was even more interesting was the way the film was shot... The start and end of the movie start with the same ceremony... Since (I'm assuming) the director cannot reveal the women's hair, all the scenes were shot with the women wearing their 'chadar' scarves.. the scene that would expose Leila's hair was very dim.. her face was hidden by the shadow...
Throughout the film, the director would focus on Leila's face.. refecting her tormented soul... her muted scream...the suppressed tears.. she was absolutely brilliant at it..
excellent film, excellent story.. and gives you an idea of how life may be like in Tehran...
very interesting...

and finally....

Secretary
Country of Origin: America
A very young Maggie Gyllenhaal takes on this challenging role and may I add her first starring role as Lee Holloway.. The movie starts with her release from a mental hospital. Lee is naive, gentle, vunerable and suffers from the lowest self esteem.. her relief?.. self-mutilation(yup.. insertion of sharp objects.. pain...etc..)...She starts working as a secretary for lawyer Edward Grey notoriously played by James Spader...
He perfected sexual torment to a fine degree, and delivered a rather interesting performance.. a sadist who is ashamed of his dark urges.. but Lee is so submissive that he couldn't help exploiting his position as the employer leading to the most bizarre sado-masochistic relationship ever..
The story is very interesting...I think what really made this story stand out is that there was very little talk between the two... you have to read their minds and understand what is going on... just like life itself..
as weird as the relationship was.. I must admit... I was still thinking about it days after I saw it...

there you have it...

and that's a wrap!!

8 comments:

BuJ said...

i liked the iranian movie.. sounds so interesting.. about a story so familiar to us.. but yet it's one of those situations where u think it will never happen to me.

dhaheri said...

I am not going to comment on this...all that I will do is to SMS a friend of mine with this link ...

I hope that he will checked within 2 days

=S

...

i will agree with what ever he says.

Cosmic girl said...

hey D.. sms it to a 'friend'... WHO????

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Hmm quite a movie fest. Leila definitely seems like a must see. There's no official website for it or so?

Cosmic girl said...

SS...
Check out either amazon @ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6305835357/qid=1152098702/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0502596-8291812?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130
or IMDB @ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116851/

enjoy!!

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Cheers! Will do :)

phaedrus said...

i loved the secretary, it's one of my favorite movies. it's such a strange wonderful love story.

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work
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