#i was absolutely entranced by her this entire scene. what a stunning design.
Photo
THE LADY OF THE FORGE
#gowedit#god of war ragnarok#god of war#gow ragnarok#gow ragnarok spoilers#harper.gif#*gowr#userwolfkissed#arcandoria#userophe#i was absolutely entranced by her this entire scene. what a stunning design.
4K notes
·
View notes
Text
Whumpay Day 25 -
Goodbye | Amnesia | Alt. Prompt: Not believed
This was inspired by this post by @spookyboywhump ! (Idk if you’re okay with lady whump, so please lmk if you want the tag removed) Another one I got attached to, so you can expect more of it sometime in the future.
I was having a hard time deciding if I covered everything that needed to be tagged, so please let me know if I missed any!
.
Fandom: Original work
Warnings: lady whumpee with male whumper, captivity whump, referenced stress positions, referenced noncon suspension, noncon touch (non-sexual), implied torture, mild alcohol consumption, mild dissociation
.
.
It’s exactly like a scene from a movie. Light glitters off of champagne glasses and diamond jewelry, servers weave expertly through the mingling crowd with silver trays of hors d'oeuvres. All the men are dressed sharply in tuxes, the ladies shimmering in designer gowns.
Her own gown probably costs more than she’s made in her entire life, and it’s completely stunning. Midnight blue, mermaid cut. More revealing than she would have liked with its plunging neckline, especially in the present company.
If she had been here by choice, she would have been in total awe. As it is, she’s barely breathing, and the bright lights and overwhelming cloud of perfume and cologne are making the room spin. The hand on her back never leaves, burning through the fabric and into her skin.
He wants her to smile. He wants her to act like she’s enjoying herself, to make small talk with all of these filthy rich patrons and sip her champagne and act the part that he’s created for her.
But she can’t. Every time she moves, her dress chafes across the scrapes and cuts marring her skin, and her quivering muscles make it difficult to continue standing around, walking a few steps, and standing some more without stumbling.
Besides the fact that she wants to shrink into the floor, away from all of the stares, and never be seen by anyone again.
It’s her that everyone is here to see. Her portraits, that is. The ones that line the walls of the gallery, that she can’t seem to get away from, no matter which way she turns. There’s one looming over the shoulder of the older gentleman speaking to them, and she can’t stop staring at the way pain is twisting her features.
Can’t they see it? Can’t anyone in this room see that she’s not modeling, she’s being tortured?
Sure, the Photoshop job is phenomenal. There’s no trace of the bruises that were painting her cheekbone and jaw at the time, just like you can’t see the one around her eye now, thanks to the magic of makeup.
But she thought, surely, someone would look at all these photos of her in various, sometimes excruciating stress positions, and at the very least stop and consider the possibility that she doesn’t want this.
People only see what they want to see, her Mama once said. The thought of Mama brings tears to her eyes, and she looks away quickly, trying to hide them before he can see. She can’t think about how much she misses her parents, not right now.
Instead, she focuses on yet another photo. She’s suspended in this one, hanging upside down with her wrists tied to her ankles so that her back arches unnaturally, ribbons of blood red fabric wrapped just so around her body, standing out starkly against her skin and the white background. One strip encircles her throat, like a collar, then winds upwards to become an elegant gag.
It’s artistically stunning. She hates that it’s true. The patrons here might have questionable taste in photography subjects, but they do know talent when they see it.
“Hello.”
She had become so entranced with the photo that she missed the young man who had approached her. She also, somehow, missed the moment when Whumper’s hand finally left her back.
“Sorry if I’m being too forward by approaching you. You’ve been surrounded by adoring fans all evening, and I didn’t want to miss my chance to say how much I admire your work. You are absolutely gorgeous.”
She glances over her shoulder. Whumper is only a few feet away, but it’s the most alone she’s been and probably will be.
Turning back to the young man, she takes a small step closer. “Please, he’s holding me against my will.”
“So I’ve noticed.” He chuckles, swirling the golden liquid in his glass. “He hasn’t let you leave his side the whole night. A little possessive, isn’t he?”
Closing her eyes, she inhales deeply. This man is both rich and dense. “Yes, but...that’s not what I mean. I need help. I don’t work for Whumper, I’m his prisoner! None of these photos were taken by my consent. Please.”
The look that comes over his face is at first shocked, and she holds her breath, not wanting to feel relieved quite yet. That doesn’t stop her from despairing when it morphs into amusement, his lips parting in a cocky smile.
“I’m not sure what game you’re trying to play here, but Whumper and my family go back a long way. I know exactly what kind of man he is, so you’re not going to fool me.”
She can’t give up yet, this may be her only chance. “No, please, I -”
A firm hand plants itself on her back once again, fingers wrapping her waist just so in order to dig into the bruise hiding there. She winces involuntarily, gritting her teeth against the tears that sting her eyes. She was so close. So close to getting help.
“What’s going on over here?”
The stupid rich man laughs again, raising his glass. “I believe your model here may have had a bit too much to drink. She’s got some odd ideas in her head.”
“Is that so?” The fingers dig in harder. “Well, then, darling, perhaps we should cut you off for tonight.”
She doesn’t fight as the glass is slipped out of her hand. She hasn’t been drinking it, anyway, and her body and mind have gone numb, the rest of the conversation happening around her without her hearing it. She’ll pay for the risk she took later, she knows.
So much pain awaiting her, and nothing to even show for it.
#whumpay2021#whump#whump writing#lady whump#lady whumpee#stress position tw#suspension#nonconsensual touching tw#implied torture tw#alcohol tw#dissociation tw#captivity whump#whump photography#fancy party#whump fic#original fiction#drabble
20 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Violet Gala
In collaboration with @the-siren-saga and @penthepoet
Ah, the Violet Gala. The social event of the year, many said. The rarest of occasions, when the doors of House Aversen were opened to any and all-- well, so long as they had the means to pay. Of course, not everyone bought the official PR. It was well known, in certain circles, what the true purpose of this “celebration” was, and there were those who wanted nothing more than to undermine it in the most glorious ways possible.
Among those were the famous information dealer, Moirah Averil, and her assistant, Uvall. Their purpose? Espionage, mostly, and support for Laen Adaire, who had come looking for his sister.
“Moirah, you look absolutely ridiculous,” Uvall said, looking at his boss’s Gala attire, a deep blue silk sari held together by a pin in the shape of a diamond encrusted scarab. “Beautiful, but ridiculous. I think I’m just surprised to see you in a dress.”
“That’s the point, though, isn’t it?” Moirah asked. “They see me… like this, they won’t know it’s me. It’s like, um…” She searched for an example. “How no one knows Clark Kent is Superman until he takes the glasses off. Yeah, that's exactly it.”
Uvall was a bit confused by this remark, not being quite as well-versed in human pop culture. “...Come again?” he asked.
“Oh, never mind. Here, put this on, it’ll let us stay in contact more easily.” She handed him a small circular patch, which he then stuck under his ear. It quickly changed color to match his skin tone, becoming completely invisible. “Wireless invisible communicators. U.M.E.E.C. tech. How’s it working?”
Uvall jumped in surprise as Moirah’s voice came out in his ear. “It’ll take some getting used to, but I think we’re good. You should go see how Leo and Laen are holding up.”
Leo Burton and Laen Adaire were in another room of the apartment, talking amongst themselves about how terrible of an idea this was.
“I give it an hour, maximum, before one of them figures out who we are,” Laen was muttering, voice entirely deadpan and not at all hopeful despite the way he was already reaching his mind out as if ‘feeling’ for his sister would be any easier in such a messy-minded place. The only thing it was accomplishing was making his headache worse. “Even less time for my brainwashed sister to raise the alarms when she realises I’m here. Remind me why I agreed to this...”
"Because the hour it'll take for someone to figure out who we are is more than enough time to get in, reestablish a link with your sister, and get out?" Leo asked, ever the strategist. "No one is going to suspect a thing, I promise you. Your cover story is that you're here as a reporter for the society column of some newspaper in Mistria. Go around asking people banal questions about who designed their gowns and shit until you find her, it'll be fine."
“Empty promises followed by banal questions.” Laen sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “My two favourite things.” Glancing up at the sound of movement outside, he breathed a relieved sigh as Uvall came into view. “Are we ready? Can we get this over with yet?”
"Yeah, I think we're ready," Uvall said. "Moirah told me to give you these. Just stick them below your ears so we can all hear each other." He handed each of them a communication patch. It was clear he was worried about this after his last encounter with Marchosias at the re-education facility, though he hid it well. "I also feel like we need to lay down some ground rules. Rule number one, don't talk to Marchosias. Don't approach him. If he approaches you, make up an excuse, pretend you see your date across the room, whatever. Just do anything you can to minimize contact with him as much as possible. Rule number two, do not draw attention to yourselves. Everyone here is trying to catch his eye. Only be as ostentatious as you need to be in order to fit in. Rule number three, this should be obvious, but do not break cover. As far as anyone knows, you're Aliya Friel and Lochlann Kenzou, society columnists."
Leo pouted. "I had a different cover story."
"You did, but it was a bad one."
“Got it.” Laen nodded sharply, obedient despite himself, and quickly applied the communication patch, trying not to actively wince at the thought of yet more voices in his head that weren’t his sister’s. “If that’s all, let’s get this done.”
Leo applied her patch as well, though she was grateful for the ability to stay in contact with the others. "Yeah, let's. I'll be right here if you need anything, Laen." She gestured to her comm patch, in a somewhat inelegant way. "Don't go disappearing on me," she said, trying her hardest not to reveal how terrified she secretly was of something happening to him.
“I won’t if you don’t,” he hummed, just barely a joke.
The three of them walked out to meet Moirah, who was waiting by the entrance. "Uvall, did you give them the patches?"
"Yeah. We're all set," he answered, offering his arm to Moirah, which she took. You know, the most insane thing about this whole plan is how anyone's gonna buy that we're straight.
Tell me about it, Moirah thought back at him, cracking a smile. "Let's go on in, then."
Laen had never seen anything so grand in his life, and for a moment he could see why Laurien was so taken by it all. A huge ballroom, bustling with activity; people from all walks of life dressed lavishly in the nicest silks and lace. Purple drapery and beautiful music… His sister had always been fascinated with the more indulgent things in life and this looked like what he imagined her paradise would be.
The more indulgent things in life made Laen sick to the stomach. And to know how this came about, and the purpose behind it all, only solidified that feeling. Just about suppressing a grimace, he was glad -- and not for the first time -- that he at least would have Leo’s more-.. positive attitude to lean on.
There were other well-known Dekn Masters there, too. Pruflas, for example - the Dekn Master of Quarrels and Shapeshifting - was standing tall with a drink in his hand. Or, rather, his paw - he did have on a glamour that made it look as if he were a humanoid lion. By his side was the most anxious-looking assistant imaginable - Juniper Azure Ancarra, already being spoken of in the Courts as a person of great potential.
“Juniper, my fellow, cheer up!” Pruflas’ voice boomed, making Juniper’s eyes widen. Pruflas handed Juniper a glass, urging them to “drink, please - it will help you loosen up.”
The lion-headed Dekn Master paused, looking around before lowering his voice. “Look, I hate this as much as you. But you have to at least appear as if it’s the finest night of your life. We can slip out after Aversen makes his important announcement, I won’t be indulging his foolishness any longer.”
Leo was either the most convincing actress in the Lathrym, or genuinely enjoying the decadent scene that lay spread out before her. "I wasn't expecting it to be this beautiful," she breathed, dragging Laen by the hand to a buffet where several Dekn delicacies were available for sampling. Laen briefly wondered if it was like the human legends of the Fae, and one bite of these strange and appetizing dishes would cause him to lose his appetite for anything else. "It's like walking into a dream. I can understand why so many people get a taste of this world, and just… disappear into it."
"It seems so superfluous to me," Laen said with a visible cringe, wisely choosing to abstain from any kind of intoxicating beverages for the time being and giving his companion a disbelieving look when she began to pour herself a flute of champagne. "What were you expecting, if not this? Don't drink that, by the way. We need our wits about us tonight."
Leo shrugged her shoulders in response. "I dunno," she confessed. "I guess I was expecting a little less Pride and Prejudice and a little more Eyes Wide Shut."
Laen briefly glared at Leo, then walked off to "interview" the most un-Purple Rose-like person he could find, a vibrant, intimidating woman with striking auburn hair. If he was going to waste his time suffering through the Violet Gala as a society columnist of all things, he was at least going to waste it on someone with something between their ears.
"Ma'am? Excuse me ma'am?" He called, putting on his best 'annoying but curious' voice and trying not to outwardly grimace at himself. "Lochlann Kenzou, society columnist. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"
She’d been talking to an up-and-coming actor in the Dekn theatre and opera scene - Ariarathes, a youth of incredible musical prowess who was dressed in a peacock-hued, flamboyant robe complete with actual peacock feathers. “I.. I really admire you, Morgaine, I think your work is stunning and I really look up to that series of photos you did..”
The intimidating Dekn woman swiftly turned to face Laen, her sharp eyes looking at him– into him– in a somewhat invasive manner. "You're looking for someone else," she simply stated, lowering her voice so as to not be overheard by prying ears. "It's written all over you. And I know it's not our gracious host you're looking for." Her voice seemed laced with sarcasm, as if she didn't want to be there any more than he did.
Laen deflated a bit. Less than ten minutes into the evening and he'd already gotten himself discovered. He was terrible at this. "Who is this person?" he whispered.
The voice of Moirah Averil echoed through his earpatch. "That's Morgaine Cyprien," she muttered. "One of the biggest names in the avant-garde art scene right now. Marchosias hates her… I wonder why she's here?"
Morgaine cleared her throat in a more conspicuous manner. "Why, yes, I would be honored to be interviewed for such a prestigious publication," she said more loudly this time, in a manner that made abundantly sure that those around could hear her, as she firmly grabbed Laen's upper arm. "I'm sure that by the grace of the Master of Beguilement, a room has been left open for more… private activities?"
Laen gave Morgaine an indignant look. "An interview," he clarified to those present, "she means an interview."
Of course I mean an interview, Morgaine's voice sighed in his mind. Everyone here has a highly specific image of me in mind, and I've learned quickly that the best way to avoid suspicion is to give them exactly what they're expecting.
That was fair, he supposed, brushing off the deep crawling under his skin that telepathy with anyone but Laurien gave him. Just about managing not to glance around at the eyes he knew must be burning into his back right now, he offered her a gracious nod and what he hoped was a knowing-but-not-suspicious smile, he followed where she led him.
Where she led him turned out to be a sitting room with an easel and canvas set up. "You can stop pretending to be a society columnist now," she said once the door was shut and locked. "I can plainly see that you couldn't care less about what goes on here. If you did care, I wouldn't have let you near me." She led him to an armchair and crouched in front of him, then did that thing again, fixing her eyes upon him in a way that made him feel like his soul was being laid bare before her.
When Morgaine next spoke, she seemed entranced. "You're a strange one. Such depths of caring and protectiveness, but something's standing in the way. And that power… beautiful. An inheritance, passed down through generations and finally finding its way to the two of you." She swept a stray strand of hair out of his face, her hand brushing against his cheek in a way that would've seemed like a maternal caress if he had known her for more than five minutes. "Twin souls, united across the great divide. Would you indulge me by sitting for a portrait?"
A portrait? Laen quirked a brow at that, blinking a few times as her touch startled him. Quite without thinking, he shuffled to sit; staring at her with a mix of curiosity and disdain. “How do you know so much about me? And could you, perhaps, stop?”
"I see into people," Morgaine stated simply. "I see their light and shadow and all that lies between. To stop myself from seeing it would be like giving up the ability to perceive color." She began to work on the portrait, murmuring softly to herself. "Marchosias himself once volunteered as one of my subjects," she divulged as she worked, "and I thank the Hethe every day that he wasn't yet powerful enough to do anything but throw a tantrum when my work showed him as he truly was rather than how he aimed to be seen."
“So what are you doing here?” he wondered, frowning just a little, “I doubt Marchosias would be too happy to see you at his Gala. Or are you one he has a sick fascination with -- I’ve heard he likes to keep lists of people he thinks he’ll have eventually.”
Morgaine seemed more focused on her work than on him, but still, she answered. "I doubt I intrigue or threaten him enough to get a spot on his little list," she said coolly. Laen couldn't decide how to read her tone. "But year after year, the bastard invites me, and year after year, I've declined."
"So what makes this year different?"
"Intuition told me that there was going to be something different about this one." Morgaine closed her eyes for a moment, pausing her work. "Laurien Adaire. That's her name, correct? The other half of your soul?"
“The other half--” Laen’s throat went dry at the thought of that. It was what they’d called each other for years, no? But somehow, now, in the midst of all this trouble, the thought of that actually being a truth and not some child’s fantasy was-.. Painful to think about. “...yes. That’s my twin sister.”
Morgaine opened her eyes, looking to Laen with… sympathy? Pity? Whatever it was, he couldn't decide if he cared for it or not. "There is an invisible thread connecting you. It grows thinner by the day. If you can get to her tonight, if you can reach her for long enough to strengthen the link… you will sustain her, even if only for long enough to bring her home."
“And how do I do that?” Laen couldn’t help the urgency in his voice as he leaned forward; the desperation and impatience that seemed to permeate almost everything he said these days, “How do I even get close to her here, without her raising the alarm?”
"Most are not so perceptive as I. I only saw you because I was looking for you. You have a gift– you can slip into the crowd unnoticed and emerge from it untouched." It was then that Morgaine ceased her work, looking deeply into Laen's eyes once again. "Use this gift to your advantage."
★
Outside in the main ballroom, Leonora Burton was enjoying the gala as if she were any other attendee, partaking of various delicacies, dancing with other guests– "don't worry, my date for the night said I could feel free to enjoy myself!" she would say with a rather convincing girlish giggle– and, of course, keeping a sharp eye on the Purple Rose members and their admirers who stood clustered around the central stairwell.
It took her a little while to be certain, but she finally realized what she'd suspected all along. The one standing on the far left of the platform was the one they were looking for.
Oh, fuck, oh fuck, do NOT make me go up there, I don't want this, I'm supposed to stay away from him, this won't end well–
She took a deep breath and made her way up the stairs to the platform where Marchosias was holding court with his many admirers and worshippers. With every step, she found it harder to think, harder to look away from him. It would be so easy to disappear into all of this. She refused. She had a mission, and she intended to complete it.
"Are you Moss Rose?" she asked, coming to stand next to Laurien. "I'm Aliya Friel, my boyfriend's a society columnist from Mistria. We're both very interested in the life of an Arkn member of the Society of the Purple Rose. Would you be so gracious as to grant us an interview?"
Laurien had to admit, she’d been so enthralled by watching the people dance and all the lovely decorations that she hadn’t even noticed the stranger approach before she’d started talking. With a start and a wide grin, she offered ‘Aliya’ a welcoming nod; frantically trying to remember her etiquette while in such esteemed company. “Yes, that’s me! It’s so lovely to meet you -- I’m happy to answer any and all questions you might have.” Glancing around again, she frowned as if she’d only just truly noticed where she was. Tucking a carefully-curled strand of hair behind her ear, she gave a startled giggle, unnerving in its innocence. “Oh! It’s so noisy here, though: perhaps we should head further into the hall? I know there are some quiet spaces somewhere here, for discussion and such -- our Lord’s graces permitting, of course~”
Damn it, she needs his permission. "Well, then, I see no reason why we shouldn't ask," Leo giggled, still playing the part of the giggly, somewhat ditzy socialite as she made her way to the spot on the platform where the fog was densest. Every step seemed a constant fight not just to maintain control, but to seem as if she wasn't trying at all.
Malistrade and Montezuma, two other members of the Society, appeared to be gathered at a cocktail table nearby, Malistrade keeping an eye on Laurien before he turned towards Montezuma. “Montezuma, I see you looking at Tea. Please, I’d advise you to ensure our Master doesn’t see you.” Montezuma couldn’t help but sigh as he turned away, missing Leo walking up to Marchosias, with Laurien trailing just behind.
"Master of Beguilement," Leo said with a respectful nod as she approached the center of the platform, Laurien following closely. "It's an honor and a pleasure to be here tonight. I'm Aliya Friel, I'm here with Lochlann Kenzou. May I please have permission to take Moss Rose for an interview?"
Marchosias gave a charming smile, reaching out to stroke Laurien's cheek as casually as one would pet a cat. "Of course you may," he answered. "Just take care to bring her back soon. My little Moss Rose gets somewhat upset when she's away from me for too long." Right at Marchosias’ arm was Tea, who seemed to be wearing what looked like an incredibly intricate torque-collar and leash. “Yeah,” Tea chimed in, “please bring her back to us safe and sound! She’s like a sister to me.”
Leo tried not to think about how wrong the entire scene felt to her as she got away from Tea and Marchosias.
Leo. Leo, what are you doing? Uvall's voice crackled through the earpatch. I saw you talking to him.
"Hey, I didn't expect to have to ask permission to take her off of the stairwell, okay? And I'm fine."
Laurien, meanwhile, was deeply engrossed in how romantic this all was. So many people gathered, dancing and talking and drinking and laughing and they were all so beautiful. A pretty woman wanted to take her from her Lord’s side just to speak with her, about her, and her Lord had allowed it! She felt beautiful. She felt admired. She felt like the jewel in a crown, so shining and decorative in such valuable surroundings, and as she led her new friend through the crowd she beamed at all who passed; being sure to show the joy and grace her Lord had taught her -- practiced and poised, but a little clumsy, just to show she was still His child and could never outshine Him.
"Do you like my dress? My Lord Himself picked it out for me!" She gave a little spin, giggling gleefully as she led Leo into a quiet side room and closed the door. Her wings, constantly manifested as a show of how very special she was to be an Arkn here among her Lord's court, shimmered and shook with her glee; shining pink to match her pastel purple dress. "Isn't all this so wonderful!"
"You look beautiful indeed," Leo agreed with an enthusiastic laugh. Gods, she was not prepared for this, not prepared to sit across from a woman who was once so full of life and who now looked like a porcelain doll. Disguising her motion by tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she reached to turn on recording– and also, to allow the others connected through the earpatch network to hear what Laurien was saying. "So, to start… A lot of the inner workings of the Society of the Purple Rose are shrouded in mystery. Most don't really know its true purpose, but when you see a crowd of beautiful people who seem to have been hand-picked by the Dekn Master of Beguilement and Debauchery, it does get the mind going. Is there any insight you can provide into this mysterious, intriguing world that so few are ever privileged enough to see?"
"Oh! Well, the Society is many, many things to different people," Lauri hummed, her posture growing practiced and poised even with the childish grin that accompanied her words, "To me it's a refuge from the people who would hurt me and make me something I'm not -- my Lord has given me an environment where I can truly be myself without judgement, and I fit in here in my own way without having to change who I am for someone else."
"Bastard." Laen's voice muttered through the network, listening intently to his sister as she spoke (though indirectly) to him for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
"But as a whole we are a refuge, home, and a movement really! There are so many terrible people across all of the realms and my Lord wants to change that -- to unite everyone, Dekn and Arkn-" She gave a proud shimmy of her wings at that, "-and maybe even humans someday soon! All He asks is our love and devotion, and in return he will shape and love us all as we are, not as the other powers think we should be."
"About humans," Leo said. "There are… well, there are reports that SEEKER has gotten involved in Purple Rose activities in the past? I'm sure these are just rumors, but if your Lord has been meddling in the Seeds… You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but is it true? That SEEKER has investigated you."
The mention of SEEKER had Laurien paling, her gaze lowering to the floor for a moment as her mind travelled back over the events before the Gala. "SEEKER have no business with my Lord," she said, her voice almost a whisper, and left it at that.
Even Laen remained silent, the guilt and fury he felt almost tangible even through the network.
Leo tried to hide the fact that her heart was breaking. "Well," she said briskly, changing the subject. "On a different note. Do you think you can tell me a bit about what your life is like in the Society, day to day? I know that a lot is probably meant to stay private, but my readers want to know." She gave another girlish laugh, finding it almost disconcerting how easily she slipped into the role of happy-go-lucky society columnist.
Taking in a deep breath, the speed at which Laurien's darker thoughts were shoved aside was practically visible in her eyes as she plastered on another smile, her already heavily-blushed cheeks darkening with the question. "Well I couldn't possibly tell you everything, but… well, most of my days I wake up, say my thanks to my Lord for the blessings I'm given, then go about my devotions. He lets us do what we like, so it's different every day! Sometimes I work on my poise and appearance, sometimes I help other Society members with their troubles, sometimes when I'm particularly lucky or upset I just enjoy His company and His Divine energy. It's-- not so easy to explain, really! My days are so different and wonderful, it's like whole weeks go by in seconds~"
"So… the Society of the Purple Rose has quite a high opinion of Baelbaurith Aversen," Leo said, taking great pains to refer to him only in mortal terms, rather than making any indication that she could possibly be persuaded to see him as some kind of deity. "Calling him 'my Lord' and such. Does it bother you that people outside of the Society might consider this all to be… you know…" A cult? she wanted to ask. "A bit over the top. After all, he is known for his ego, among other things."
"My Lord Elucidis is prideful it's true, but not to the point of losing humility and charity," Lauri insisted, a little defensive despite her carefully welcoming tone. "I can understand from the outside why our Society would seem strange -- I thought it suspicious myself, when I was misguided and naïve." The bitterness in her voice was audible, but the smile on her lips remained gentle and excited, "All I can say to those who are suspicious of us is to come and see for yourself. It can be hard to understand real, positive change until you experience it firsthand."
"This goes without saying, but don't listen to her," Moirah said coldly through the earpatch.
"I'm aware," Leo muttered. "Yes, that's very good advice, I'll be sure to put that in my write-up on the Society! Anyway, I think it's about time for my partner to come in– he's doing the profile on you specifically, I'm just researching the Society as a whole." It was amazing how well the lies flowed from her lips. "Lochlann, we're ready for you," she said through the earpiece.
Laen didn't hesitate. With scarcely a gracious goodbye to his current company, he hurried (as inconspicuously as possible) to join Leo and Lauri in their room, hesitating for a moment outside the door. Their family relic, tucked safely in his inside pocket, was buzzing with energy the closer he got to her, and not for the first time he was terrified to see her again. He knew how much she'd have changed, and to see her that way…
Clenching his jaw, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
His heart all but shattered with how long it took her to recognise him. He watched her gaze shine from curious welcome, to dull shock, to silent outrage, and for a moment he panicked -- unsure now he was here what he should do.
"Laen. You--" Laurien glanced between Laen and Leo, putting two and two together with the blistering speed he was used to seeing. "Moirah put you up to this, didn't she? Your friend is SEEKER too isn't she! Oh, I should have known, wait until my Lord hears about-"
Moving on sheer instinct, Laen shot forward, tugging their relic from his pocket and holding it towards her. In an instant, Laurien fell sharply silent, swallowing heavily as she gazed upon the strange little thing, littered with runes and tied as it was to the rope they used to take it in turns to throw around themselves. They made it quite the fashion accessory as children, didn't they…
Laen took her hand, pressing the artefact between their palms.
'You still feel me, don't you," he murmured, breathing out the breath he held as she nodded. "Do you still hear me?"
"I do."
"This is who we are, sister." Laen glanced at Leo as they communicated, offering her a nod to show it was working, before returning his attention to Lauri, "Whatever he made you is a lie. Through everything, this is us. We are together for all time. You know that as well as I."
"I'm happy here."
"You're living somebody else's lie."
"I chose this."
"You can choose to walk away."
"I don't need you."
"I know. But I need you."
The twins stared at each other for what felt like days, identical eyes burning into each other with the kind of silent understanding that only came with time. Laurien's eyes watered and overflowed with the force of her brother's emotions, and his with her's. For a time, all that existed was them.
But just as it always had, it came to an end. The muffled music outside changed to a gentle, mesmerising tune, and Laurien glanced towards the door with a shaken gasp.
"You two should leave," she murmured, sullen and dejected as she forced her hands from his, avoiding eye contact with either of them. "If He finds out who you all are and that you're here…"
She blinked and shivered, sucking in a breath as she put on the practiced poise once more. "Just go. All of you. If I find out Moirah is here I won't hesitate to tell my Lord."
For the first time, that felt more like a warning than a threat.
This didn't go unnoticed by Leo, who looked furtively towards Laen. "We should, um… we should go. Now."
Laen watched his sister leave the room with a clenched jaw and a dark snarl, lifting a hand automatically to his patch to speak with the others. "We're pulling out. I got what I came for. I'd rather not see what comes next."
But Marchosias’ voice stopped them before they could, as well as the crowd of people going up towards the front of the room to hear his announcement. “Ladies and gentlefolk, I have a wonderful announcement to make.”
He was up at the front, dressed in the finest attire of the evening - a traditional, incredibly-formal black Dekn suit with gold accents. His smile was like a lion baring its fangs: both incredibly beautiful and incredibly terrifying to see. His hands were clasped, his eyes trained out at the crowd.
“Here in the Society of the Purple Rose, we have.. rituals, one might say, that help us determine the finest amongst Lathrymites to crown as Esteemed - those from whom we can learn and grow. The highest of the high, after all, can climb ever higher in the heart of our little family.” He walked up to where a huge curtain was obscuring something.
"Can I set his suit on fire?" Leo hissed. "Please?"
Laen grunted in response, but the message was clear. Don't do anything that could draw attention.
“You see, during one of these rituals, my Consort came upon a most talented youth - a boy who knew more about fine Lathrymite literature than any other on Ersis, a boy of such talent that he endured eternities worth of torture and came back having carved out his captor’s hand and eye! What resilience! What a fire.” His eyes seemed to have a rather covetous, amused glint to them as he continued.
“We here at the Society of the Purple Rose can all learn from his tenacity and keen cunning. Therefore, I am beyond delighted to present to you our symbol of the canonization, and our announcement, of our newest Saint..”
He pulled down the purple curtain, his grin growing even wider as it dropped.
What was underneath was a gleaming stained-glass window of a cloaked figure, wrapped in thorns and holding what appeared to be a falling star.
“The Scholar!”
"Oh, he's going to love this," Moirah muttered to her disbelieving assistant.
Leo smiled innocently at her companion. Just as Marchosias was reveling in his triumph, his suit just so happened to catch fire.
A perfect ending to a perfect evening.
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
To preface: Avengers: Endgame shook me to my core and I needed to find a constructive, healthy way to talk about what I am feeling and this seemed as good a way as any. This is an endeavor seeking emotional intelligence. So I’m here to talk about how media can affect us, honest-to-goodness grief, and yeah sure, my opinions and most importantly, Natasha Romanoff. There will be spoilers, obviously. You’ve been warned.
It’s late afternoon on Friday, May 7th, 2010. I’m a super-soon-to-be-college-graduate, and I’ve just missed my bus home. There are few places grimmer than where I currently found myself: the Inter-City Bus Terminal in Reading, Pennsylvania. The good news was that buses from Reading to New York ran roughly every two or three hours most of the day, I was going to be fine. I was going to be late, but I was going to be fine. At the risk of sounding dramatic, I didn’t know it but I had a date with destiny that evening. Since I couldn’t imagine sitting around and waiting in a bleak af bus terminal, I sought refuge a mere block-and-a-half away at the R/C Reading Movies 11 & IMAX. Lucky for me, I was able to schlep my suitcase and (always) large purse over right in time for a showing of Iron Man 2. I remembered Iron Man (2008) to be a whole lot of fun so I sprung for a movie ticket to be able to watch most of Iron Man 2 before I had to catch my bus. I knew nothing about this film going in and I was having a good time up until the moment Scarlett Johansson came on screen as Natalie Rushman (who even me, a noob S.H.I.E.L.D./espionage sector of Marvel, knew was actually Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow). Once she made her entrance into Tony Stark’s personal fitness center, I wasn’t having a good time, I was having a great time…and also a weird time. I was in complete awe of her; I hung on her every word, her every move. Everything about her radiated a sense of intelligence, purpose, intention, and most alluring to me, confidence. Looking back I realize I was seeing the kind of woman I wanted to be; not only did she have every trait I wanted as a person, she seemed to be this unattainable personified perfection. At the time, I wrote off my fascination with her pretty quickly as the voice in my head said “but you’ll never be like that, you know that, right? You’ll never have those things.” I had to leave to catch my bus just as Rhodey showed up to Justin Hammer’s Stark Expo presentation and at the time that was pretty much that.
Let’s skip ahead. It’s the evening of Wednesday, April 24th, 2019. Thanks to the kindness of my best friend/basically sister, I was able to see Avengers: Endgame a day early. I’m a mess. I’m soaking wet from the collar bone up and my eye makeup is every place on my face with the exception of my eyes. I’ve been sitting for over three hours and somehow I’m out of breath, my sweat is cold. My status of Full Blown Mess was credited to the fact that I had to watch Natasha Romanoff die violently, fiercely, and courageously. The shock I felt that night was all-consuming. I kept saying to my friend through hard sobs, “I just thought she’d be safe. I really thought she’d be safe.” So many people I know at this event found me after the fact to check in with me. Am I okay? Do I need anything? The only answer I came up with on the fly was “I will be, it hurts now. But I’m just…so proud of her.” More on that later, but basically, people were so kind and if I had to be a mess, at least I was among people who also cared and understood where I was coming from. While my friend engaged in a last bit of work for the day, I sat waiting, attempting to calm down by staring at costume designer Jany Temime’s recent Instagram post where she selfied with Scarlett expressing excitement about working on the upcoming Black Widow film. I reminded myself that this night was not goodbye, just a very jarring “see ya later.” Of course the present is not necessarily made easier to bear just because more (and potentially the best) is yet to come.
What a difference nine years made. I’d gone from casual move-going fan who’d only read Spider-Man comics when I had time to being a hardcore, ride-or-die fan of Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My library had grown exponentially, along with my knowledge of these characters, and let’s not overlook my closet’s growth after falling into the deep pit of cosplay. I can’t exactly put my finger on the “when” of it, but at some point I stopped stifling the portion of my heart that belonged to superheroes and let them take over with complete abandon. I’d always had a heavy habit of trying to be what other people wanted me to be. Though I may have lived very independently, in retrospect my choices and interests were so often chosen for the satisfaction of other people (I am not assigning blame to anyone but myself on this one). Superheroes serve as a perfect example of a passion of mine I chose to shut down for so long. Once I leaned into that passion, I felt so much more complete. It’s no surprise that Natasha Romanoff was the character I ended up being most passionate about.
Natasha is a strong woman who spent a lot of her life in the service of others across moral and political spectrums. She followed their orders always and has plenty of regrets about her past. Maybe I was self-projecting, but throughout my dedicated years as an MCU viewer and Black Widow comic reader, I always saw Natasha’s arc as two parts:
1) a woman coming to terms with what she’s been and what she’s done seeking to move forward in a more universally beneficial direction.
2) a woman learning who she is, what she wants and choosing to act of her own volition.
Obviously the two are deeply connected. While her past experiences may have made her moral compass more grey than that of her peers, she’s a woman who wants the Right Thing To Do to be the choice she makes of her own agency. There’s a beautiful deleted scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier where Nat speaks to Nick Fury for the first time in confidence after discovering he faked his death and did not include in on the secret. “I needed to keep the circle small. You would have done the same thing,” he says. “I know,” she replies, “that’s a problem.” A scene she has with Steve Rogers discussing trust that made the final cut achieves a similar idea. In past appearances in the MCU, Natasha had expressed a desire to make amends for her past and seemingly had started to do so through her work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and her participation the Battle of New York. These moments in Cap2, as the fandom frequently refers to it fondly, are less about her outward actions and more about her inward struggles. What she seems to learn by the end of the film is that letting people in is a key part of her goal of a truer sense of self. By the time we meet her in Captain America: Civil War, within the first hour of the film she delivers one of my favorite quotes as the family around her begins to split apart, “Staying together is more important than how we stay together.” Nat’s journey continued to be one of finding self-possession, self worth and using that greater sense of self to give back to others, both the found family around her and the innocent she can protect.
With all of this in mind, Avengers: Endgame is my favorite MCU film and features my favorite Natasha Romanoff content we’ve seen so far. From the moment the film begins, she is a woman hell-bent on remedying the greatest tragedy in the history of the world. Long gone is the woman we met in her first two films who did the bidding of an organization and/or focused mainly on giving back to those she felt she owed. In Endgame, Natasha aims to save the world, to bring back everyone lost, to restore families. We first see this when she agrees to find Thanos with the team and reverse the snap. When that mission fails, we skip ahead five years and that’s when I personally really lost it. In five years, Natasha has never stopped trying to fix the world. Let’s be clear, every other member of the original six Avengers most definitely has stopped trying to find an antidote to The Thanos Problem. Sure, Steve is trying to fix things in a different, more practical way, but there’s still an acceptance of the circumstances in his actions. The sight of her alone broke my heart and filled me with a sense of honor. This is a woman we have always seen in control and put together and when we find her she is a noble, beautiful wreck. She’s abandoned most self care, wearing only her depression clothes, and surviving off hope and peanut butter sandwiches desperately communicating with allies around the universe. These people make time for her but are clearly losing patience with her and her insistence that not only can this be fixed, but that it is all of their responsibility to do so. And in case it wasn’t obvious enough how much she’s changed, this scene gives us what I believe will be (for now at least) Nat’s most iconic moment on screen. “I used to have nothing, and then I got this…this job, this family. And I was better because of it. And even though they’re gone…I’m still trying to be better.” Nat sums up her entire character arc in this one delicate and stunning moment showing just how strong allowing herself to be vulnerable has made her. Loving has only made her braver, caring has only made her more tenacious, and giving has made her unstoppable. She is, in this moment, the woman she always wanted to become.
Remembering the aforementioned scene is absolutely necessary when absorbing Natasha’s choice later in the movie to sacrifice her life so that her team can get the soul stone. ��Her entire life has lead her to this moment. Yes, killing off the only female from your original team is a bold move with a LOT of weight attached to it, and one that can definitely be seen as shortchanging her, but I just can’t see it that way. Natasha Romanoff made the ultimate heroic choice, one that the rest of the film hinges on. My brain can’t navigate the concept that fans have been robbed of her unnecessarily without also hearing a diminishing of the selfless choice she made and the course she followed in the time we’ve known her and beyond. It’s only when I think of the alternate concept of Clint dying for the soul stone that I feel completely, hypothetically swindled (though while we’re talking about him let’s also not forget how excellent it was to see a man and a woman with no blood relation platonically love one another unconditionally). Please don’t misunderstand, if you are angry, I respect that, we all deal with stuff different ways, this is just my take. Natasha Romanoff earned that moment. Is it devastating to watch? One thousand percent yes, but what I felt even more deeply than the devastation was pride. I am so proud of this character that in no way can I bring myself to see this choice as abuse or mistreatment of her character. In that moment, she was magnificent. Natasha Romanoff died valiantly, unafraid, and of her own free will so that everyone else could live. Natasha is a hero of the highest standard, full stop.
Entertainment Weekly recently featured a half-hour interview with the original six Avengers to promote Endgame. I was more than moved to hear Scarlett speak about Nat’s arc and confirm what I’d been absorbing as an audience member for years. “She’s come into her own as a woman saying ‘who am I and what do I want and what do I need out of my relationships and also out of my own self’ and she’s someone who is understanding her own self worth.” Without going into deep detail, watching Scarlett’s performance as Natasha has affected me in a way I can only describe as profound. Every MCU film she appeared in had at least one moment that hit a nerve inside me in ways equally gentle and harsh, but still every nerve was hit with the reassurance of knowing that if she could change, I could too. Catalysts for personal growth can come from anywhere and at my most lost somehow I remembered that moment sitting in a theatre watching Iron Man 2. Something in my brain told me to follow that feeling I had watching her, not in an effort to emulate her completely, but to see an example of someone one who is “my own woman–first, last and always.” Natasha taught me that self love, self worth and opening yourself to others are traits more powerful than lightning, stronger than a suit of armor and they’d protect me more than a shield. In the years I’ve watched and read this character, my life has changed for the better in every way. She’s been a gift to me and the gratitude I feel is overwhelming. I may have saved myself, but Natasha taught me how. As fans I think we all love having more media to look forward to, especially when that media features an inspirational figure for us. Before Endgame I’d frequently have passing thoughts reminding me that someday the time of Scarlett’s particular incarnation of Natasha will be over. Who would I be without this character? After Endgame, I’m less afraid of that future. No matter what form of this character I will have in my life, I will always follow her example and I will try to be better.
19 notes
·
View notes
Photo
Franco Zeffirelli: Film and opera director who revelled in the lavish and theatrical
The last of Italy’s post-war cinema giants, Zeffirelli worked with many of the greatest stars of the 20th century
Tom Vallance - Saturday 15 June 2019
Franco Zeffirelli, who described his style as “lavish in scale and unashamedly theatrical”, was one of the most influential, flamboyant and controversial designer-directors of the 20th century. His Florentine background and love of the Renaissance permeated his diverse work, which encompassed theatre, cinema and his greatest love, opera.
Initially an actor, then designer of sets and costumes, Zeffirelli – who has died aged 96 – confounded his mentor and lover Luchino Visconti by successfully becoming a prolific director who triumphed at La Scala, Milan, with his first operatic production, then stunned Covent Garden with his vivid staging of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. His Shakespearean productions at the Old Vic included a legendary version of Romeo and Juliet with Judi Dench, and a rapturously received Much Ado About Nothing with Maggie Smith, Albert Finney and Robert Stephens.
His best films were either Shakespearean or operatic ones, and included The Taming of the Shrew with Taylor and Burton, a Romeo and Juliet with two teenage unknowns, and Hamlet with Mel Gibson – plus a sumptuous film of La Traviata and a sweepingly dramatic, though drastically reshaped and cut, version of Verdi’s Otello with Placido Domingo. The treasured Covent Garden productions of Lucia di Lammermoor with Joan Sutherland and Tosca with Maria Callas were his work, and he created one of the most lavish opera productions ever seen with his Turandot at the Metropolitan.
On television his epic production Jesus of Nazareth has become a worldwide staple. He worked with both Olivier and Gielgud, and he gathered together an all-star cast for his film Tea With Mussolini, loosely based on his own childhood memories of the expatriate British ladies in Italy who helped raise him just before the Second World War. He also fought with the Italian resistance during the conflict, found God when he was nearly killed in a car accident with Gina Lollobrigida, and since 1960 had been heavily involved in right-wing politics, eventually becoming a member of the Italian senate, representing the Forza Italia party in 1996.
Born out of wedlock in Florence, Italy in 1923, his surname was the result of an accident. Since his father would not acknowledge him, and his mother was married, he had to be given an invented name and his mother chose Zeffiretti, after the “little breezes” of an aria in Cosi Fan Tutte, but it was misspelt in the register as Zeffirelli. He was raised by a peasant woman for two years, then after his mother was widowed she took him into her family, but her death when Zeffirelli was six years old resulted in his being passed to his father’s cousin, Aunt Lide.
His initial ambition was to be an architect, but Lide’s lover Gustavo was an amateur baritone, and he introduced the boy to opera and the cinema, both of which were to be life-long passions. He later described his reaction to his first opera, Die Walkure, as “hardly a refined appreciation, more like a child of today gawping at Star Wars”.
He had his first real taste of theatre when, while fighting with the partisans in the Second World War, he met the music and ballet expert Richard Buckle and helped him stage a troop show. Seeing Olivier’s film of Henry V chrystallised Zeffirelli’s ambition. He recalled: “I knew then what I was going to do. Architecture was not for me; it had to be the stage. I wanted to do something like the production I was witnessing.”
After the war, he was working as an assistant scenic painter when he met the man he described as “probably the single most important person I have ever known”, the director Luchino Visconti. On their first meeting backstage he told Visconti that he was an actor, to which Visconti replied: “So you should be, with your looks.”
Visconti gave the youth small parts in his stage productions of Crime and Punishment (1946) and Eurydice (1947), and he made his screen debut in Luigi Zampa’s L’Onorevole Angelina (1947) starring Anna Magnani, after which Visconti used Zeffirelli and Francesco Rosi as his assistants on his film La Terra Trema (1948), filmed on location with a cast of Sicilian fishermen, and distinguished by its superb photography. Said Zeffirelli: “This is my main debt to Luchino in filmmaking: his passionate attention to detail. Everything was always researched to a point far beyond the needs of the actual scene. You immersed yourself in the period, the place, its culture, so that even though the audience might not take in every detail they would be absolutely convinced of its essential ‘rightness’.”
For a production of As You Like It (1948) Visconti hired Salvador Dali as designer but, when the surrealist’s plans proved impractical, Visconti asked Zeffirelli to help out. He then gave Zeffirelli the first work for which he was independently credited, as designer of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1949).
Visconti and Zeffirelli were now living together in Rome, but worked separately for a spell before reuniting for the film Bellissima (1951) starring Anna Magnani, on which Zeffirelli again served as an assistant. After working briefly with Rossellini and Antonioni, he designed one of Visconti’s greatest theatrical triumphs, a production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters (1952), and worked as his assistant on the film Senso (1954), but the often stormy relationship of the two men was coming to an end.
When Zeffirelli was asked to design a production of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri at La Scala, he saw it as an opportunity to break with the world of Roman theatre. With its cast clad mainly in light blues and whites, the sunny production of 1953 was rapturously received and the manager of La Scala, Antonio Ghiringhelli, decided to follow it with La Cenerentola (1954) with the same creative team.
But director Corrado Pavolini had fallen ill, and Zeffirelli, with the backing of Simionato, asked if he could be both director and designer. The result was another great success, and the director’s first experience of handling a large chorus.
Zeffirelli was immediately asked to direct two productions the following season, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore and Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia (both 1955). He was also told that Maria Callas wanted to sing Donna Fiorilla in the Rossini and had specifically asked that he should direct it.
Zeffirelli had first met Callas when As You Like It had been running in Rome at the same time as Parsifal, in which Callas sang the role of Kundry. Tullio Serafin, who was a major influence on Zeffirelli, introduced both him and Visconti to “this very plump Greek-American girl with a terrible New York whine allied to a rather prim, matronly manner. She sounded awful and looked worse.” Then she had sung, and Zefirelli had been entranced. “I followed her to Florence to see her Traviata and hung around her dressing room like a lovesick boy,” he recalled.
Zeffirelli would shortly realise his longstanding ambition to direct a film. Camping (1957) was a modest, sentimental story of two young lovers on a motorcycle, but the public liked it. He was then called back to Dallas, Texas, to stage La Traviata for Callas, and succeeded in eclipsing Visconti’s previous staging with an audaciously cinematic production, using multiple sets and dispensing entirely with the interval between the second and third acts.
At the end of 1959 Zeffirelli was invited back to Covent Garden to create new productions of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, which were to prompt the Old Vic to ask him to direct Romeo and Juliet, with the particular request that he reproduce the Mediterranean feeling of his opera productions. For this Zeffirelli was determined to use a truly youthful leading pair and cast two young players starting out, Judi Dench and John Stride. “Judi was small and doll-like and looked even younger than her age, just the way I’d always imagined Juliet should be,” he said. The production, so different from all previous accounts of Shakespeare’s tragedy – the director even replaced the balcony with battlements – was loathed by London’s theatre critics next day, who condemned the acting, the sets and the direction. But the following Sunday London’s most respected critic, Kenneth Tynan, called it “a revelation, even perhaps a revolution ... The Vic has done nothing better for a decade.” Romeo and Juliet immediately became a sell-out and extended the length of its season.
The following year, 1961, Zeffirelli directed Fastaff at Covent Garden, then made his debut at Glyndebourne with L’Elisir d’amore. In Dallas, he staged a controversial Don Giovanni with Joan Sutherland and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, setting the opera in the burnt-out aftermath of a catastrophe, then returned to England to create an Othello for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford. It turned out disastrously. Wanting an elegant, cultured Othello, he cast John Gielgud, with young Ian Bannen as Iago. “Whatever chemistry makes a director and his actors work was missing with us three ... Gielgud and Bannen were like oil and water and somehow Gielgud and I never seemed to react together.” A few months later the Old Vic Romeo and Juliet opened in New York and was a critical and commercial triumph, with Zeffirelli receiving a special Tony Award for design and direction.
In 1967 he directed his first major film, The Taming of the Shrew (1967), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and described by one critic as “a mixture of classical Shakespeare, the Marx brothers and a Renaissance painting”. It was a great success, and Zeffirelli followed it with Romeo and Juliet (1968), starring newcomers Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. Writer Bruce Robinson, who played Benvolio in the film, later claimed that Zeffirelli tried to seduce him, and that he was the model for the lecherous Uncle Monty in Robinson’s 1987 film Withnail and I.
Given a small budget by Paramount, Romeo and Juliet made $50m – the highest ratio of investment to earnings in the history of the studio. “The effect on me was stunning,” he said. “It made me a lot of money, transforming me from someone who’d always lived at the limits of his income to someone who could be described as rich, and it elevated me from being a European celebrity to someone who was famous internationally.”
A few months later Zefferelli was critically injured when the car he was in, driven by Gina Lollobrigida, skidded and smashed into a barrier, sending him through the windscreen. Months of facial surgery preceded his return to work with a triumphant staging of Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana at the Metropolitan. His accident had delayed his plans to film the life of Francis of Assissi, which he thought relevant to the “peace and love” movement of the Sixties. Titled Brother Sun, Sister Moon, the film appeared in 1972 and was criticised as simplistic and naive.
In 1975 Zeffirelli embarked on a project that would take two years to complete – an ambitious television miniseries based on the life of Christ, titled Jesus of Nazareth. Featuring a starry cast supporting Robert Powell as Jesus and Olivia Hussey as Mary, the series was screened worldwide over Easter and was given the exceptional accolade of a mention by the Pope in his Psalm Sunday message.
Zeffirelli next staged Alfred de Musset’s Lorenzaccio for the Comedie Francaise, and a triumphant Otello at La Scala (both 1976). Starring Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni and Piero Cappuccilli, with Carlos Kleiber conducting, Otello was the first La Scala premiere to be televised live.
A second de Filippo play, Filumena, was another hit for the National, after which Zeffirelli went to Hollywood. Though his films The Champ (1979) and Endless Love (1981) attracted audiences, they were decried by critics.
Returning to La Scala in 1981 to stage Cavelleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, both starring Domingo, Zeffirelli filmed both productions, partly in the opera house and partly on location in Sicily. When shown on television in the US, Pagliaci won both a Grammy and Emmy. Teresa Stratas, the film’s soprano, then starred in La Boheme for Zeffirelli at the Metropolitan, and he realised he had the perfect star for a filmed version of La Traviata. When Jose Carreras declined to play Alfredo, Domingo accepted the role.
Visually entrancing, and extremely moving, La Traviata is one of the finest opera films. The film version of Otello is comparable in its power and spectacle, though marred for purists by some drastic cutting.
In 1985 Zeffirelli designed his first ballet, Swan Lake, for La Scala, his revolutionary approach – particularly his replacement of tutus with calf-length dresses for the ballerinas – causing Mikhail Baryshnikov to withdraw from the production. He then made a film his detractors seized on – a ludicrous account of Toscanini’s early years, Young Toscanini (1988). The director was happier with an impressive Hamlet (1990) starring Mel Gibson, and a television film of Don Carlos (1992). But a version of Jane Eyre (1996) suffered from the mismatching of its leads, Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt.
The cast of Tea With Mussolini (1999) was high-powered, including Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Lily Tomlin and Cher, and made Zeffirelli’s labour of love watchable if unsatisfying.
His last films were Callas Forever (2002), a dramatisation of the singer’s last years, and Tre Fratelli (2005). In 2003 he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his set designs for Absolutely! (Perhaps), and in November 2004 he was given an honorary knighthood.
In 2009, he was awarded the inaugural Premio Colesseo, which is given to those who have enhanced Rome’s reputation.
Franco Zeffirelli, film and opera director, born 12 February 1923, died 15 June 2019
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/franco-zeffirelli-obituary-film-theatre-director-italy-romeo-and-juliet-tosca-maria-callas-a8959971.html
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
fruits basket (2019) thoughts #1
So, I watched the first episode with my beloved wife and I have some things to say. Instead of live commentating and spamming your dashboards, I tossed these down in my notes upon my second viewing and I’d like to keep a record like this for each episode. I have grandiose dreams of doing an episode by episode recap, comparing both the manga AND the Studio Deen adaption (up until the plot diviated), but let’s be real- ya girl loves Fruits Basket, but ya girl is lazy. I’m positive this entire post is incoherent nonsense, but I said what I said.
フルーツバスケット
The newly animated story of God and the banquet is absolutely gorgeous- I know we got a little taste of it in the original teaser and official trailer, but I got chills the second it started. It’s literally SURREAL to see my childhood love back and FINALLY well animated. The scenery in particular is what’s so breathtaking. I have to gush, the backgrounds are STUNNING, the animation is so beautiful, fuck me up TMS Entertainment. And the dynamic lighting is truly stunning. The designs of the sets and the shadows are INCREDIBLE. The sunset scene near Yuki’s locker literally took my breath away. All the budget was funneled directly into the lighting fund, bet.
Laura Bailey really perfected the Tohru voice and she sounds much more confident in retrospect in her return. This isn’t her first rodeo as the riceball, but I already prefer the quieter, mature angle she’s taken this time around.
Shigure’s entrance made me cry. Ugly cry. He’s so handsome and SO TALL. Shigure’s voice is also much more mature, and deep and gravelly. Scruffy. Love it. Much more fitting for the bad boi he’s yet to be revealed to be. Love the updated, correct pronunciation for his name as well. 10/10, John will always have my heart.
Love Eric Vale, as always. Angelic and little deeper than before, like the previously mentioned two. The cast is exuding confidence this time around and I’m just anxious to get to the new material that the last anime travesty didn’t cover. I want to hear these voices in action during the more adult scenes of Fruits Basket. Ugh.
The Yuki fan club. God help us all. I wonder if we’ll get a filler episode for them again, at least the others that aren’t Makoto. She’s bae. She can stay. The filler episodes can go, though.
I’m absolutely in love with Uo and Hanajima. Love that they were incredible cooks during class and already had that shit covered, and Hanajima was just chowing down on the rice. Actual Mom(s) to Tohru Honda. Precious and perfect and pure, #tohruprotectionsquad2k19.
YUKI “PRINCELY SCUTTLING” AWAY WAS REDONE TO PERFECTION, YELLING. It’s all but identical to the original, and ballet Yuki is my jush. All of my jush. Once again, thank you Yoshihide Ibata. A man after my own heart.
I genuinely yelled at Yuki to grab that leaf from Tohru’s hair. YELLED. I’m so ready for Tohru to mom the fuck out of him, but I’m also just itching to get Machi in here. I’m also so greedy to get Kakeru because he’s a constant mood; give me my aloof brother and sister power duo, please.
I can’t believe we won’t get Rin or Kureno until season two, UGH.
The blood was so graphic for Kyoko’s death, I wonder how Hatori’s “eye incident” is going to look. Will it be a glass vase and insanely bloody scene like Studio Deen? Or will it be clean and no blood like the manga? I’m waiting for the carnage, TMS...
SHIGURE JUST WALKING THROUGH THE FOREST, BITCHING ABOUT BEING HUNGRY. A MOOD. I love that Yuki disses Shigure’s cooking. Confirmed, he is an awful cook and would burn the house down trying to boil water. Fight me. “We could really stand to have a woman around.” Shigure, you asshole.
Love the mention of the land being rented by the Sohma estate, thus why it’s so suspect to them that she mentions living nearby. I wonder if Shigure’s house is the only one on the land. Are there other Sohma(s) who aren’t cursed who live in the area? Interesting.
Shigure laughed at her. Once again, perfectly animated from the Studio Deen travesty. Shigure is such a prick. Y’all who didn’t read the manga are about to meet the number one asshole in the family, so enjoy this little taste while he’s considered redeemable. I love him. You can pry his cynical, snarky ass from my cold, dead hands, America.
LOVE YUKI’S SASS AT SHIGURE. MY FAVORITE. “Oh, you’re done laughing?”
Wow, his house is still brimming with garbage. Lovely. It’s confirmed, they can talk to their retrospective zodiac animals. “I like to call it my animal instinct!”AKA, a wolf howled outside and my dog senses are tingling.
Tohru scrambling for her mother’s photo once again has me undone. Though, Shigure’s hand holding and conforming Tohru was a nice reveal into the more empathetic side of the mutt. Love when he’s showing interesting in Tohru’s history that led her to the tent. He is clearly moved. So am I, bitch, I’m in tears. What the fuck. Tohru’s selfless nature is iconic, but ya’ll know Saki or Arisa would be DELIGHTED to host Tohru. And this girl bought a tent. On sale. I’m still pissed, GIRL PLEASE ??
Kyoko leaving school mid-middle school is true to the manga, but I can sense some rumblings in the SJW community that won’t appreciate the glorification in the lack of education. Nor that Kyoko will get with Katsuya, her teacher, later on. Only one of the many topics that is going to cause controversy in 2019, I think. I’m prepping my battlements.There are some elements that won’t translate well in today’s post-woke society, but I think a healthy dose of realizing the canon material is incredibly dated + giving it some slack for being fictional will help ease us through it. I’d hate to see it ripped apart for dated concepts and ignored for it’s groundbreaking storytelling and portrayal of eerily common toxic family values, with a dash of untreated mental illness. It has too much to share and learn from to be penalized for 90′s social stigmas.
Once again, Creepy Yuki with glowing eyes. Perfect. That was a LOT of rats, though, why the fuck is there thousands of rats on the property, Shigure? Is it because the house is nasty? Why are these three men so nasty? Was Shigure raised in a barn? More at 11.
“All of the bedrooms have locks on them, if you’re worried.” Yuki, ever the gentleman. My hero. He realizes the dangers and unease she might feel living with three boys, yet Tohru is blissfully ignorant of Yuki’s cause for concern. You ever see something so pure?
Shigure is given A SECOND OUTFIT. FOR ANIMATED SERIES, YA’LL THIS IS HUGE. Shigure wore a green yukata in his first appearance, and now blue. I hope to see more textures and colors like he’s donning in the manga. Shigure busts in trying to find a maid by asking Tohru if she could cook and clean. We’re back to selfish Shigure. Thank God; Yuki and Kyo deserve to not live in a pigsty. He’s so fucking handsome. I can’t breathe.
The shot of Shigure with his fan made me cry. 2019 FB has kept the silliness and seeing my boy fanning himself with that expression is what I’m here for. God.
The background music and themes fit perfectly as well. Ambient. It caught my attention during a few scenes, and it’s composed so beautifully. It feels just as artistic and whimsical as the animation does. Something akin to what Studio Ghibli inspires in me, is how I’d like to describe it. 10/10.
Once again, Kyo comes in through the roof in an attempt to sneak attack Yuki. This is an iconic moment, and both Takamatsu and I were YELLING on the call when orange top made his entrance. His beads are correctly colored this time. Red and white instead of black/dark blue and white. Lit. Side-note: Shigure peeking in to inquire with his overly long sleeves- adorable and silly, kill me.
Their POOF! smoke is now colored and not just white (thanks, Deen). Shigure is green (I expected Hatori or Kagura to get green, but okay), Yuki is periwinkle, and Kyo was orange. What a lovely touch. I’m weirdly interested in seeing everyone’s colors- did you see the effects on it as well? What the fuck? Stupid pretty.
The very first shot of the ending is Hatori- sleeping, just as he does at the summer home in front of Tohru. Such an interesting call back, as that was a defining moment for not only Hatori’s character development, but Tohru as well. It’s the dichotomy to how Hatori had been presented as so uptight and straight-laced until then. So, of course the fact that he’s first has me reeling, that I get to indulge in my favorite boy being the 1st ONE, no less, but the fact that he’s the first shown sleeping is ironic and adorable.
HATORI IS IN A SCARF THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM !!
@shiguresxhma made the point that Tohru is the only one awake in the ending credits and it’s as if she’s looking over the rest of the zodiacs, as she truly does in the manga as The Resident Sohma Mom. This is a PERFECT observation and I’m not crying, you are.
I loved it. Truly. I’m ready for more. GOD. It’s the perfect mixture of new art, not in Natauki’s self-admittedly dated style, yet has elements from the first anime- regardless of Studio Deen, I was so happy to see the silliness and expressions still animated into the story. It’s vibrant. And nostalgic. Wow, dudes. I want to say I’m speechless, but I wrote a novel, so...
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
Shoot Your Shot [SoccerCal!AU]
Part 4! thanks for reading and feel free to send me your thoughts
“Okay, so the party is tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is also when Cassidy gets back. That is not good.” Cal was sitting on the couch in Bia’s house next to Ash, typing away on his computer and muttering to himself. Cal knew that Cassidy was expecting him to pick her up from the airport, but he wasn't about to miss his best friend’s birthday party, the party he planned nonetheless. Cassidy would understand, though. She always did. Cal was excited nonetheless. Everything had come together beautifully, especially on the somewhat short notice. All of Bia’s friends had RSVPd, the cake was amazing, and best of all, all the decorations were completely set up already. Cal had swung by earlier in the day to look, and he was not disappointed. The gallery was absolutely flawless. The walls were completely white with intricate and perfectly executed works of art (of course, it being an art gallery). There were fairy lights strung all over the gallery, providing the perfect amount of lighting softly filtering down onto the standing tables with white cloths to go with the gallery. Cal and Sophie had even picked out a caterer to serve hors d'oeuvres and champagne (Cal still wasn’t exactly sure how hors d’oeuvres was pronounced, but nobody need to know that). The only thing that Cal was a little disappointed about was that Cassidy had pushed her flight to the night of the party instead of getting back today like she had originally planned. Cal had really wanted Cassidy and Bia to go dress shopping together, but Bia’s birthday would be perfect anyways.
“You’re damn right that’s not good. You better not be thinking of leaving Bia’s party to go pick up Cassidy from the airport.” While Ash was well aware of all the drama going down, he still wasn’t about to let Cal bail on his best friends’ twenty-first birthday party that he planed to pick up a girlfriend nobody liked.
“Look, I don’t like it either, but she’s my girlfriend. I think I kind of have to.” Cal shook his head and ran a hand through his tangled curls.
“Cal, you can’t even fucking drive. Just tell her you’re busy or something.” Ashton kept his stare pointed at his phone. Honestly, he didn’t feel like look at his friend at the moment. He wish he could tell Cal, warn him to savor every moment her got with Bia. Because, before Cal knew it, his friendship with her would be over.
“Hey, guys.” Bia entered the room digging through her purse. She couldn’t find her keys, misplacing them due to everything on her mind. She then realized they had been in her hand the entire time she had been searching for them. Bia sighed internally, kicking herself for letting her life go to shit so fast. “So, listen, for tomorrow I was thinking we could just do something small. Maybe lunch with everyone?”
“Small? Who are you?” Ashton threw a confused glance at her. If there was one thing Bia loved more than partying, it was birthdays. Especially her birthday.
“Really? All you want is lunch for your birthday?” Cal figured she’d at least want to go for drinks. Still, if all they did was lunch, it would be easier to keep her party a secret.
“Yeah, I guess I just don’t feel like celebrating this year.” Bia inhaled deeply. She had realized last night that tomorrow would be her last birthday with Calum. It was funny, she thought, how much they took their past birthdays together for granted. Bia guessed she had thought they would have their whole lives together, and yet here she was, about to be alone at twenty-one. So, no, she didn’t really feel like celebrating.
“Twenty-one years old and already tired of birthdays?” Cal wasn’t too worried about her lack of enthusiasm. When Bia saw his party, she would love birthdays once more. “That’s a little sad.”
Bia just mumbled “whatever” and stalked out the door. They were going to meet up with Sophie, Luke, and Michael at Sophie’s. It was a movie night, Luke’s pick. Bia was fine with that, though, she was always down to watch Mean Girls. When she, Ash, and Cal arrived, the other three members of their friend group were already building a pillow fort.
“Some tomfoolery is happening. I can feel it.” Bia called out while dropping her bag on the ground, a smile broad on her face. She rushed over to Sophie already laughing and helping to building on the fort.
Cal couldn’t help but smile, too. He hadn't seen her this happy in days, and he wondered why. Still, he pushed the thought from his mind. He and the group had planned this movie night to be a little different. Instead of just watching the movie and going their separate ways, the group would be spending the night at Sophie's, in order to start celebrating Bia’s birthday exactly when it began. Everyone had brought her favorite snacks and drinks, extra blankets and pillows. They were going to start her birthday off right.
Everyone settled down into the fort and started watching the movie, Mean Girls, just like Bia predicted. She cherished being surrounded by all the people she adored. Bia loved hearing Luke quote the movie during his favorite scenes, her and Michael trying and succeeding at throwing pieces of popcorn into each other’s mouths, Sophie crying at the end of the movie per usual, her and Ashton doing shots together to keep the night fun, but most of all, Bia loved hearing Calum giggle and smile at all their stupid shenanigans. This was all she had ever wanted, this was her happiness all together and in the same room. She closed her eyes and let the night imprint itself in her brain, painfully aware that soon it would come to an end. Still, she chose to let herself be happy, to let herself have one last day with her best friend. Ultimately, it would be more painful for both her and Cal in the end, but Bia allowed herself this one selfish act. So, she laid her head in his lap and closed her eyes. She couldn’t imagine a better start to her birthday. ||
The next morning, the group went out for breakfast at a small cafe, one of Bia’s favorites. The breakfast was full of happy talk and smiling faces. They were there for about an hour before Sophie caught Cal’s eye and nodded.
“Hey, Bia. Want to head to the mall? I saw this dress when I was there the other day and I want your opinion,” Sophie offered innocently. She and Bia had gone to the mall for a lot less, so Sophie wasn't surprised with her response.
“Sure. That sounds fun and besides, I could use a new pair of heels. Plus, I need to pick up a new mascara.” Bia ran through her shopping list in her head. A trip to the mall would actually be really convenient. “Anyone else care to join?”
The boys all shook their heads, so Bia and Sophie bid their goodbyes and headed to the mall. They sung and danced to music in the car ride there, the moments passing a little fast for their taste. Still, the mall was kind of their element. They navigated it expertly, wondering in and out of various stores. Bia had already picked up her new pair of heels when Sophie dragged her into a dress shop, known for its elaborate and elegant formalwear. Mainly, evening dresses.
“Here’s the one.” Sophie's fingers skimmed over an emerald tea-length dress with a high collar neckline. The solid fabric of the dress stopped and formed a sweetheart neckline, the high collar made up of the same lace that covered the entire back of the dress. The rest of it was plain satin.
“It’s beautiful.” Bia’s expression softened. She knew her friend would look absolutely gorgeous in the gown, but then again, Sophie looked good in anything.
“Fuck, I know. That’s it. I’m getting it. Now we need to find one for you.” Sophie took the dress off the rack and handed it to the nearest sales associate. Then she linked her arm with Bia’s. They browsed around for a few moments before something caught Bia eyes. towards the back of the store was the most stunning article of clothing she had ever seen. The dress had an a-line silhouette that, when she tried it on, hugged her body perfectly. Its neckline was a deep V, stopping right below the bottom of her breasts. The back was composed solely of the two spaghetti straps that held up the front of her dress. She loved everything about it, from the dusty powder blue shade it was, to the feel of the silk on her skin, even the way a small train formed behind her even with her heels.
“Wow,” Bia breathed, twirling in the mirror. This dress was exquisite, but Bia couldn’t justify buying it. She would never have a place to wear it. Still, it was seemingly made for her.
“Buy it. That dress, it’s just. You.” Sophie smiled, knowing full and well what was happening tonight.
“Well, ok.” Bia smiled. That was all the convincing she needed to buy her dress. She looked sexy as hell in it for fucks sakes. What other reason could she need? So, she splurged on the it, both her and Sophie walking out with designer dresses under their arms. They continued to browse about, until they realized what time it was.
“Shit. Shit! We’re late for lunch!” Bia cursed under her breath, disappointed that she would be late for the one thing she had asked to do to celebrate her birthday.
“Oh, fuck! C’mon. If we hurry, we can maybe make it with out being too, too late.” Sophie grabbed Bia’s arm and sprinted towards the entrance of the mall. Once they got into the car, they started laughing. Partially because of the fact that they were so out of breath and out of shape, and partially just for no reason. One look at each other and they were sent into a fresh round of laughter. This continued on for the majority of the ride to the restaurant. Bia had decided on a quaint Chinese place which was, unfortunately, a good distance from the mall. Bia and Sophie burst through the door of the restaurant half an hour after the time they were supposed to be there, still laughing their hearts out.
“It’s nice to know you two were having fun while you were standing up the rest of us.” Ash smiled. He was happy that Bia was enjoying her birthday. In Ash’s opinion, she could use a bit of happiness in her life.
“Sorry. We lost track of time at the mall.” Bia and Sophie took their seats at the round table, Bia next to Calum and Luke, and Sophie next to Michael and Ashton.
“Did you get anything good?” Cal turned his head to look Bia, the rings on his finger glinting as he stirred his tea.
“I bought a really pretty dress that I’ll probably never wear.” Bia gave the waitress her order and took a sip of her lemon water. She tucked her straightened hair behind her ears and bobbed her head to the music softly playing in the background a little. Bia was glad she had decided to let herself have one more day of happiness with Cal.
“How about tonight?” While Cal was still confused as to why Bia had been acting weird for the past few days, he was thankful that everything was back to normal for today. Still, he knew better than to ask her about her weird behavior on her birthday.
“Why?” As far as Bia knew, nothing was going on tonight. But, Bia was definitely not going to say no to an excuse to wear her fancy new dress.
“There’s a new exhibit at the art gallery downtown and I know you love that place. I figured we could check it out.” Cal hoped to God that Bia didn’t suspect anything. He had worked so hard to make this party perfect, and he did not want her to guess what was going down.
“Actually, yeah. I’ve been meaning to go check that out for a while now. It sounds perfect.” Bia smiled softly. Maybe this birthday wouldn't be so bad after all. The rest of the lunch was went by mostly the same, everyone chatting about nothing. At one point, Bia convinced Luke to let her french braid his hair, and she had to admit, Luke looked really cute with his hair done like that.
After a while, the group decided to go mini golfing to pass the time before the art exhibit. It took them a solid three hours to complete the course, but, to be fair, they got distracted really easily. At one point, Michael challenged Bia to a sword fight. They parried and jabbed until Bia accidentally backed Michael into the small stream running through the course getting him wet. Eventually, Bia won their mini golf tournament, beating Calum by a solid two points. Two points that were absolutely earned fairly and justly.
“All right. We’ll see you at the gallery around eight?” Cal limped alongside Bia. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when they surprised her tonight.
“Yeah. I'm really excited. Are you good hanging at my place alone for a while?” Bia was a little concerned about leaving Cal alone for a solid three hours.
“Yeah. I’m all good hanging at your place for a little while. Ash and Luke will probably keep me company for a while.” At the sight of Bia’s raised eyebrows, he laughed a little. “I know the rules, though Trust me, your apartment will be fine.”||
_______________________________________________________________________
@marshmallowtraver @daniellesimagines @xx-cuddlemecalum-xx
#calum hood#5sos#5sos imagine#calum imagine#calum hood imagine#au#5sos au#calum au#calum hood au#college#college au#college 5sos#college calum#sport#sportau#socer calum#soccer 5sos#sport 5sos#sport calum
14 notes
·
View notes
Text
SO. MOULIN ROUGE BOSTON PRE-BROADWAY RUN PREMIERE. This is going to be massively unorganized, as I simply try to remember as much as I can from the show. And folks, this is a lot of show. This post is MASSIVE and needless to say I’ll be spoiling A LOT about this world premiere pre-Broadway run that may or may not have changes made to it.
(before I speak of the show itself, let me say that is was FUCKING CHAOTIC in the Colonial. Literally all seats but TWO were filled in the balcony, and probably the whole theatre, and they did not have enough people working there for this crowd. I didn’t even get a program because they didn’t have enough ushers)
So like the overall take of this is that it is EXCESSIVE and OVERWHELMING. I mean that as a good thing. I of course have a bunch of nitpicks, and they could very well change things for Broadway, but this was essentially a Broadway-ready show that is set to be a crowdpleaser. Somehow they managed to capture the feeling of the movie itself on the stage with the direction and choreography, even with the numerous changes both necessary in terms of restructuring the story for a musical format, and just stuff used to differentiate the stage show. While a few things added I guess were something of an attempt to ‘deepen’ the story, largely they understand what this is – a big old sparking cupcake of musical and theatrical excess and it is goddamn enjoyable for it. It hooked me, it sure hooked the rest of the audience that hooted and hollered and clapped (I have bruises on my hands now).
DESIGNS ARE IMPECCABLE. The sets are ASTOUNDING (I gasped at a scene transition at one point). The scenery is extended outside of the proscenium with the windmill flanking one side and the elephant flanking another. The apron of the stage extended out and surrounded the front audience seats, who were seated at club tables a’la Cabaret or a much smaller scale Great Comet. The costumes are EXCESSIVE and impressive even if they don’t fully match a few of the film’s iconic looks. The lighting design – my god, was the lighting designer on speed?? Or something?? Honestly don’t see this show if you are prone to seizures it is THAT MUCH. Choreography is on goddamn point.
The cast is pretty much Broadway-ready and I hope they don’t replace a single one of them. Aaron Tveit and Karen Olivo are the perfect Broadway-versions of the Ewan McGregor-Nicole Kidman star power of the movie. I don’t know how the fuck Karen does it but she was at a TEN the entire fucking time, just belting every number like her life depended on it, and she really brought a lot of shading to Satine as a woman who has hardened herself to survive (one thing somewhat different from the movie, I guess with Karen not exactly being a youthful ingénue anymore was this idea of this being Satine’s ‘last chance’ but it melded into her arc pretty seamlessly). Aaron by contrast seemed to be holding back a bit/conserving his energy, especially in act one, but he fucking brings it when he needs to and his vocal command of that shitload of music is impressive, not a hint of strain. Christian is somewhat different from the movie version – he’s not British anymore he’s American (from goddamn LIMA, OHIO. GLEE.), and with act two being played for the tragedy he goes rather darker than movie Christian. Instead of a generic writer he is specifically a composer and the writer of love songs, and he’s somewhat less of the pure naïve innocent of McGregor’s Christian, but I thought it worked.
Danny Burstein absolutely nails it as Zidler, perfectly introducing the audience to the show and the tone. ZIdler is explicitly gay now in the stage show and largely it just fits the character that’s already there rather than making him ‘stereotypical’ (or rather not anymoreso than he already is). Honestly this is mostly a great change (I have a slight criticism for a plot point in act two), and it really helps his relationship with Satine and him becoming something less of a controlling sleazeball. This is especially needed because stage Satine’s goal is less to “fly away” and become a real actress, but rather to save the people of the Moulin Rouge, who she regards as a family. Thus Zidler is far less controlling over her, rather they feel much more like peers. Notably (AND A GOOD CHANGE) Zidler does not find out Satine is sick when she’s unconscious and withholds it from her, Zidler finds out she’s sick in act two and immediately tells her it’s consumption (which killed his first love, ANATOLE). Also he does not order her to break Christian’s heart to save him from the Duke’s wrath, that’s a decision Satine makes entirely on her own, so the plot changes to Zidler also strengthens Satine’s character and gives her a lot more agency.
By far the biggest change from the movie is everything about how they play the Duke. The Duke is not a foppish pathetic nebbish of a man who’s clearly no competition for Christian. Played by Tam Mutu, this Duke is sexy, threatening, controlling, and dominating (emphasis intended). Heck we’re introduced to him BEFORE CHRISTIAN (kinda nuts???). The love triangle is very much that, with the Duke being a very real villain who offers Satine everything she wants in terms of money but is also a controlling asshole (and extends that to the Moulin Rouge and the show within a show as well). He is not clueless and bumbling, Satine IS sleeping with him the whole time, and there’s no giant manservant, he makes his violent threats directly and you believe it (however they, WISELY I feel, cut the attempted rape during El Tango Roxanne, which is in the show but VERY recontextualized, even with act two being played more for tragedy it was wise to not go THAT dark with it). It will then not surprise you that one of the big movie numbers that’s cut is “Like a Virgin” as this would not fit this decidedly non-comic version of the Duke.
Sahr Ngaujah plays Lautrec, and he is a REVELATION as I was unfamiliar with him before. He is a FORCE OF NATURE. He is not a little person, nor is that played in this Lautrec (aside from like two lines of the Duke calling him “little man” which honestly read awkwardly). Rather he has a cane and a limp, and there’s now a really strong racial undercurrent to his devotion to Bohemian ideals as he is a Black man. He is charismatic and has a great voice. Since the bohemians in the stage version are really pared down (wisely, conservation of character) to just Lautrec and the Argentinian, Lautrec’s role is beefed up a lot, although it doesn’t always make entire sense. Lautrec is now the director and the book writer for the show-within-a-show, and his bohemian ideals are MUCH stronger as the show-within-a-show is dramatically changed. While there are jokes in act one about him going on about putting ‘proletariat’ ideals in his work, in act two he very explicitly stands against the Duke trying to change the show, so “freedom, beauty, truth and love” feels like it really means something to him rather than in the movie where they just seems a bunch of horny artists. On the stage, Lautrec is an old friend of Satine’s having met her when she was thirteen and dumps a lot of backstory onto Christian for us. He also says he was in love with Satine but never told her. This honestly leads to some character inconsistency – in one scene he’s telling Christian to “not make his mistake” and go for love, and in another he’s telling Christian to “forget about her, she’s made her choice”???? Also did we really need another dude in love with Satine with the central love triangle?
Let’s talk music – a lot of the music from the movie is still in there, though a few notable numbers have been cut, like the aforementioned “Like a Virgin.” They also added A LOT MORE MUSIC, including into mashups with other existing songs. MOST of these slot in amazingly into great numbers. In my mind there are two new numbers that really don’t live up to what they are replacing, but generally the new music sounds GREAT. Orchestrations and ensemble vocal arrangements are STUNNING on a few numbers, particularly the act two opener. There is, however, a SLIGHT tonal problem with some of the new music and the audience. A lot of new songs provoked laughter from the audience as they recognized them. For most songs this was not a problem, especially in the frothy frivolity of act one, but for the more dramatic numbers is kind of was (especially, again, in tragic act two). Please know that I will SO be getting the inevitable cast recording because everyone’s voices on these numbers are amazing.
NOW FOR THE NITTY-GRITTY. So there was ZERO pre-show announcement because THE SHOW TRANSITIONED INTO STARTING NEAR-SEEMLESSLY. About ten minutes before “start” actors slowly came onto stage, dancing, cavorting, entertaining the audience. Two of the very attractive women did a SWORD-SWALLOWING ACT right in front of the big Moulin Rouge sign. Then Christian comes onstage, observing off to the side, then hits the lights (there was a massive prop switch on one side of the stage that was used throughout the show for ‘the lights’), so the show can “start.” It begins right at the Moulin Rouge with “Lady Marmalade,” then Zidler’s entrance truly playing the crowd, including setting off THE CONFETTI CANON THAT IS CONCEALED IN HIS CANE, then into the Can-Can. Then the Duke enters with some contemporary song that honestly I SHOULD know but do not, and he sits in the booth on stage right. Then Christian enters with Lautrec and the Argentinian and they seat on stage left (the three of them also harmonize A BUNCH throughout the show and it sounds great).
It is only when Zidler begins to introduce Satine that the spotlight hits Christian and he begins “narrating” the story about the woman he loved. Christian has no typewriter like in the movie. Essentially what I got from the finale is that the show itself is him telling the story? He is a songwriter now after all? Anyway, at that point it transitions back in time to earlier that day when he arrives in Paris. This was the set change that floored me, immediately the stage transforms from the opulent Moulin Rouge to the streets on Montmarte in PERFECT GREYSCALE (one of the smaller but stunning pieces of stagecraft in the show is when Christian sings “the hills are alive with the sound of music” – when the spotlight hits him the backdrop goes from greyscale to full color in the light, then back again). So he meets up with Lautrec and the Argentinian, and they hit it off together to “Royals” (THIS ACTUALLY WORKS ASTOUNDINGLY WELL). They quickly hatch the scheme to pitch the show (which Lautrec wants to name “Bohemian Rhapsody”) to Satine, and we return back to the scene we left in the Moulin Rouge for Satine’s entrance.
SHE ENTERS DOWN FROM THE SWING. In a red feathered dress that later does an amazing quick change/reveal to a black diamond-studded lingerie number (Karen Olivo spends A LOT of this musical in fancy lingerie). On the swing she sings bits of “Diamonds are Forever” and then it goes into “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” For the “Material Girl” bit the female ensemble comes out in matching top hats that they all take off to reveal Madonna wigs. Then we have “Single Ladies” mashed up into it. Satine does not get back onto the swing to fall off dramatically, she simply has a moment in the song where she nearly faints, but she recovers to dance on top of a giant diamond platform.
Then her and Zidler have the mix-up of who is the Duke while the dancers dance to “Rhythm of the Night”, and then when Satine and Christian meet and dance it is set to a mashup of “Shut Up and Dance With Me” and “Raise Your Glass” (MUCH LIKE ROYALS, THIS SHOULDN’T WORK, AND YET IT ABSOLUTELY DOES???). Lautrec and the Argentinian also distract Zidler with some song and I think “We Are Young” is somewhere in all of this as well (HONESTLY I DO NOT REMEMBER EVERY SINGLE NEW SONG BECAUSE THERE WAS *A LOT* OF MUSIC IN THIS SHOW, “WE ARE YOUNG” WAS IN THERE AT SOME POINT).
Afterwards we get a backstage scene of Satine talking with Zidler and the main “Lady Marmalade” girls talking about needing the Duke’s money in order for the Moulin Rouge to survive and keep everyone off the streets. So here Satine’s motivation is much less “become a real actress and escape the Moulin Rouge” but instead “the people of Moulin Rouge are my family and I need to singlehandedly keep this place going.” Satine KNOWS she’s sick and is keeping it from everyone/doesn’t think it’s that big a deal.
-Now I should mention here as a slight tangent that one of the Lady Marmalade girls is um, well, she’s played as a transwoman. Mmm. I have. Thoughts. On this. For one thing, I can’t tell you the gender identity of the performer as I did not get a playbill. For another thing, while yes most of the characters are sex workers, and yes I appreciate putting a wider display of gender and sexuality onstage (which only fits the world of early-20th-century artist-bohemian Paris), do we really need more of the hoary old trope of the sexworker transwoman? It’s a small part of the show but still. CONCERN over that choice.
So obviously we don’t have “One Day I’ll Fly Away.” Instead we have . . . “Firework.” Number I don’t feel entirely works number 1. Now Karen SELLS THE GODDAMN SHIT out of it, but like. “Firework.” Not as a good of a number as “One Day I’ll Fly Away.” Also even though they obviously avoid the line about feeling “like a plastic bag” they do keep the line about FOURTH OF JULY in Paris, France. Even with Moulin Rouge being as over-the-top and fantastical as it is, boy does that stick out as WEIRD.
Then we go into the elephant set (it’s a garish room surrounded by an elephant proscenium, there are so many layers to this set), and “Your Song” remains in its glory, although we do not do the ‘dancing in the stars’ bit (NOT YET).
Now “Spectacular, Spectacular” is dramatically rewritten to reflect the show-within-a-show being VERY different as it is no longer set in India. Instead, Lautrec is playing into the actual revolutionary theatre style of the early 20th century of extreme realism (HONESTLY I FEEL LIKE I APPRECIATE THIS MUCH MORE THAN MOST AS A FORMER THEATRE SCHOLAR). Thus the play more resembles the actual La Boheme, or the “social dramas” of the time which is WHAT PARISIAN BOHEMIANS WOULD BE WRITING AND PERFORMING – Lautrec says plainly in act two that he wants to ‘hold up a mirror to Paris.’ So the show-within-a-show is set in Paris and is about the love triangle between a prostitute, a romantic sailor, and a rich gangster. Largely I think it’s a good thing to steer the hell away from the massive cultural appropriation of the movie’s Indian version, although this dramatically changes the climax of the show, as it now becomes a more intimate scene between Christian and Satine than the triumphant LOVE ABOVE ALL ELSE in the movie (more on that later). And my one BIG costume regret is that Satine is then in a dingy black dress for the climax (which is actually a plot point in act two with the Duke arguing against this), rather than the beautiful iconic white gown from the movie. Ah well.
So after Satine gets everyone out of the room but the Duke, they actually DO THE DO, after the Duke sings a mashup of “Sympathy for the Devil” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
After this we get a scene between Lautrec and Christian on the street writing the show, where Lautrec gives his and Satine’s backstory to Christian and sings “Nature Boy” gorgeously, eventually convincing Christian to go after her. The next scene is the Duke “negotiating” with Zidler, with Zidler’s male lover in there at the start (put a pin in that, we’re coming back to that in act two). By that I mean the Duke taking ownership of literally everything and agreeing to produce Lautrec’s show simply as “an amusement.”
We then go back to the elephant, and Christian is persuading Satine to have an affair with him behind the Duke’s back, and we have a revamped “Elephant Love Medley” with WAY MORE SONGS IN IT including “Take on Me”, “What’s Love Got to Do With It”, “Don’t Speak” and like LOTS MORE I AM PROBABLY FORGETTING. This morphs into the giant act one ender as HERE, once we hit “heroes” the stage transforms into the Paris skyline with all the stars out and the dancers wheel on the Eiffel Tower for Christian and Satine to dance on and EVERY SINGLE LIGHT IN THE THEATRE IS PROJECTING STARS and they quick-change into their starry blue costumes IT WAS ALL VERY OPULENT AND ROMANTIC.
So act one is very much a frothy delight of THEATRE!!!! MUSIC!!! LOVE!!!! BIG OLD PRODUCTION NUMBERS!!! And not to say that act two lacks those things but there is a NOTABLE tonal shift in act two to THE TRAGEDY of it all.
So act two opens with Christian narrating for the audience to think back to their first love affair, so that they can understand how he is driven to madness. He also introduces the “other” backstage love affair with the Argentinian and Nini, who are dancing erotically on the stage before rehearsal for the show starts. We begin the NUTSO act two opening number, starting as a duet of the two of them on motherfucking “Bad Romance.” It is AMAZING, particularly in the Argentinian’s growl. Then the other dancers enter, it becomes a group number which is then mashed up into “TOXIC” and “SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS” and eventually Christian and Satine join in with the whole group. The choreography for this whole number is NUTS the vocal arrangement OFF THE HOOK and it absolutely stopped the show.
So then we have rehearsals, including some prop comedy with Zidler that absolutely killed, and in a welcome change, instead of Nini divulging the affair to the Duke like in the movie (where it seemingly came out of nowhere), she instead WARNS Satine that the Duke is a dangerous man to mess with, telling about how another woman who cheated him ended up with her lover murdered in the river and the woman disfigured (this adds the legitimate threat to Christian and motivates Satine on her own). And the Duke gets the picture pretty clearly when Christian pulls the whole “SHE DOESN’T LOVE YOU” line in the rehearsal.
So after rehearsal goes shitty and Satine is conflicted about what to do with these two men, we get a scene of Zidler and the Lady Marmalade girls talking about how things are looking dire for the theatre. So essentially replacing “The Show Must Go On” from the movie we instead have Florence + the Machine’s “Shake It Off.” Number I have a problem with number two. Now this is a song that on its own I LOVE. But it honestly feels . . . out of place and unneeded. Again, the cast gives it their all but like . . . it just doesn’t fit in the way that “The Show Must Go On” did. I mean, I would see this as the number most likely to be cut or changed for Broadway, but honestly who the fuck knows.
The next scene is Satine going to Christian’s apartment. Here we have a full duet of “Come What May” (which is not a song in the show-within-a-show but just then straight-up singing about their love for each other).
Then the next scene is waaaaaay new as we have Satine with the Duke on a rich-ass boulevard with everyone in these extravagant rich-ass costumes that looks like Sunday in the Park with George was vomited on by Revolutionary Girl Utena and pastels (I’ll be real, the Duke is in the lavender suit with giant coat and tophat and I fucking wanted to wear the entire thing). The Duke shows Satine a house that he has bought for her and tells her all of the things he will provide for her – if she gives him “everything” including her heart, and she stops performing shortly after the show opens, as having his mistress parade herself onstage would be unbecoming to a man of his status. Satine, in her Sunday best but clearly on as “in fashion” as everyone else onstage, points out she doesn’t really fit his status. She then gets this . . . oddly sadomasochistic (?) makeover with the Duke singing a BIZARRE version of Rihanna’s “Only Girl in the World” (it does work, but I think it is purposefully bizarre in the scene) and Satine sings a dark reprise of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” while she is put into this Eliza Dolittle monstrosity.
With another rehearsal scene and Lautrec talking back to the Duke and Christian ready to lose his shit over the Duke treating Satine, and everyone else, as his possession, we then transition to Christian’s apartment the night before the show. He’s going mad with jealousy, threatening to kill himself, and the Argentinian and Lautrec are trying to talk him down. Eventually they tell him he needs to purge himself of Satine with absinthe. They take absinthe while singing Sia’s “Chandeleer” (their three-part harmony on this is STUNNING) and as Christian goes into a haze he hallucinates first Satine as the green fairy (COMING DOWN ON THE SWING AGAIN) and then eventually a whole sequence of different green fairies, dancing with men. Still enraged and jealous, Christian takes to the streets.
EL TANGO ROXANNE. It is still here but it is MASSIVELY recontextualized. It’s a much less literal number now, no longer set in the Moulin Rouge, almost more of a dream ballet (??) as Christian wanders the streets. We being with ZIDLER being the one giving the opening speech explaining the dance while the Argentinian and Nini do the dance to the side. Then the lights go out and come back on with the spotlight on Christian center stage and with tango couples around him. It begins with him singing the “his eyes upon your hand” bridge, and then the actual Roxanne part is sung BY CHRISTIAN. I was massively thrown off by this at first, I was looking forward to hearing this Argentinian sing this version, but it fits more with Christian here as motivating his actions rather than as the beset-upon innocent, and Tveit fucking GIVE S IT HIS ALL. We also have Christian seeing a vision of Satine and you know the red dress she’s wearing in all the promo pics? She’s wearing it here.
So then the scene in the Duke’s tower is hugely different from the movie. At the start Satine enters the room and the Duke is talking with the man who we saw before as Zidler’s lover. Apparently the Duke has been paying him to be “his eyes” at the Moulin Rouge (so my pin – the evil gay? C’mon guys. At least Zidler’s sexuality largely isn’t demonized but like c’mon), so he is VERY aware of Satine and Christian’s extracurricular activities. He then gives Satine the ultimatum – be mine or Christian will end up a corpse with his throat slit ear to ear. Christian, drunk and high, enters and sadly attempts to fight the Duke and professes his love for Satine. Satine coldly turns him down to save his life and breaks down crying when the men leave.
We now have Christian broken and alone on the street and he begins singing “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkely, which then transitions into “Rolling in the Deep” (this was probably the most awkward part of the show where the audience laughed at recognizing a song). “Rolling” continues on to everyone getting ready for the show at the Moulin Rouge, to Satine singing as well, then we see Christian off to the side LOADING A GUN, and the number climaxes with Christian and Satine singing on either side with the dancers in the middle performing the start of the show within a show.
Then we have the BIG CLIMAX of the show with the show-within-a-show, which is now a much darker affair since it is not a glorious wedding in ~exotic India~. Christian crashes the scene, coming up from the actual theatre’s aisles as we are now fully the audience of the Moulin Rouge. Here Christian doesn’t slutshame Satine and claim to “pay his whore” instead he pulls out the loaded gun (as a part of the written scene) but then turns into to his own chest.
To bring him back with the confession of true love, Satine sings “Your Song.” Then after their big kiss Satine VERY QUICKLY falls into his arms and starts dying (hence how it’s less of a triumph into eventually tragedy, but rather a personal scene with Christian and Satine that takes a VERY QUICK TURN). And after asking Christian to “tell her story” Satine of course dies in his arms.
After this, Christian gives a very brief epilogue explaining how he started writing again, and now he starts to sing “Come What May”, eventually joined by everyone else in the Moulin Rouge, sans the dead Satine. They keep these poses after blackout for the first round of applause.
THEN the curtain call asks you to forget about all that tragedy and SING AND CLAP A FUCKLOAD with a giant dance number/singalong of Lady Marmalade, the Can Can, and EVEN “HEY YA.” I should note that during this part the male ensemble comes out in the iconic movie look of the tuxedo on top and tutu and tights on the bottom. At one point the choreo has the female ensemble riding these men, and rest assured I yelled “IT’S EQUALITY.” THEN after that was the full cast bows, with Karen and Aaron last and together and then the men pull out cane which are ALL confetti canons that shoot out confetti and streamers so high it almost reached the balcony.
SO THERE IS THE EXPERIENCE OF SEEING “MOULIN ROUGE” ONSTAGE. It is indeed a RAVISHMENT OF THE SENSES and honestly there were probably a lot of bits of new music in there that I forgot, but folks, it looks great, it sounds great, the cast is phenominal, IT IS INDEED, EVERYTHING.
169 notes
·
View notes
Text
83) And the winner almost certainly isn’t .....
In about three hours - as I write - the 2018 Oscars will be announced. And having made a determined effort to see all nine of the ‘outstanding motion picture nominees’, I feel the necessity to get my retaliation in first, and give my verdict on which should win and which most certainly should not.
But before I get to the films, a brief note.
Woody Allen famously refused to be present at the ceremony to collect his Oscar for ‘Annie Hall’, preferring to play clarinet in his jazz band in New York, and by so doing, showing his contempt for the whole Oscar farrago.
He was dead right. The Oscars and all such awards, from the Nobel Prize for Literature onwards and down, are always, inevitably, a committee vote, and, as we all know, committees very, very rarely vote for the best and the bravest. The members of the Academy, the people who vote for the Oscars, are, effectively, just a very large committee.
Moreover, any award for something which can not be objectively measured - like a running race or a football match - involves comparing apples with pears, oranges, cauliflower and kale, and is self evidently meaningless in any sense beyond its commercial value.
All that said, I still can’t bring myself to ignore the Oscars - I might even stay up to watch - and I shall be extremely miffed if my choices don’t turn out to be the names in the envelopes. Bricks might - probably will - be metaphorically chucked at my telly.
But why should I care? Pathetically, I suppose, it’s just my insecurity. It comforts me if my opinions are endorsed by others who are supposed to know what they are talking about even if I rarely agree with professional critics, and by the awarding of Oscars even if, as I have said, I hold the whole system in contempt. In my private battle between insecurity and reason, it seems reason loses.
So to the nominees:
‘Darkest Hour’.
A Brexiteer’s wet dream. A nostalgic look back at good old Winnie’s finest hour. Lots of risible dialogue and one utterly ludicrously improbable (and entirely fictitious) scene of the Conservative (but ex-Liberal and almost leader of the Kings Party) Prime Minister taking a trip on the Tube where he met some luvverly, salt of the earth types who knuckled their proletarian foreheads in appropriate awe of the great man. Gary Oldman’s make-up and prosthetics were seamless though and Kazuhiro Tsuji ,who was responsible, thoroughly deserves to win the Make Up prize.
‘Phantom Thread’.
I hated previous Paul Thomas Anderson films, ‘There Will Be Blood’ (about an oil tycoon) and ‘The Master’ (about the leader of a fanatical religious movement) which both seemed to me to be wildly over ‘actored’ and just risible attempts to remake ‘Citizen Kane’ ( about a press baron, as you may recall.) From the blurb I had read, I thought ‘Phantom Thread’ would be another of these - this time about a great fashion designer. But I was wrong. It is a very unusual, exquisitely made love story about a man who makes exquisite clothes.
‘Dunkirk’.
Another thrill-a-minute joyride for Brexiteers; a look back at the heroic retreat across the channel in 1940 with Mark Rylance reprising his barely-moving-a-muscle, never-raising-his-voice performance as Thomas Cromwell in ‘Wolf Hall’ but this time playing a stoic civilian with the misfortune to own a small boat which he then feels obliged to take to Dunkirk as part of the rescue fleet. The stiffness of his upper lip is something to behold, and the lower quivers almost as infrequently.
Meanwhile Kenneth Branagh gives a passable imitation of Kenneth More as a high ranking naval officer striding up and down a jetty in a French port for a reason I can’t remember, and saying things like ‘I say!’ and ‘Good show!’ (Or maybe not exactly those words but they might just as well have been.)
‘Get Out’
This is a kind of horror film with a message which I’ve now forgotten because it’s so long since I saw it. But in a nutshell it’s a kind of ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner’ with a horror twist - or several of them. I remember thinking it was quite brave and very different. but at the time I certainly didn’t think it was Oscar nominee material. Which just goes to show how wrong I can be.
‘Ladybird’
A rite of passage movie about a teenage girl who hails - in her own words, and as it turns out, literally - from the wrong side of the tracks in Sacramento. (I never thought Sacramento sounded like the kind of place that had a wrong side of the tracks, but it seems California is not always as sunny as I’d imagined.)
The heroine, Christine, or Ladybird as she has retitled herself, cannot wait to escape from her hyper critical and unforgiving mother and go to college as far away as she can get. It is apparently the sort-of-life story of Greta Gerwig, the writer director and has the delightful Saoirse (pronounced Sorsha I think) Ronan in the title role complete with make-up-free teenage skin blemishes which she apparently got for the first time in her life in the year before shooting - despite, in real life, being twenty three.
Apart from the rather feeble end, Ladybird makes for a very pleasant couple of hours in the cinema. But is ‘very pleasant’ enough to deserve an Oscar?
‘The Post’
Owing to the fact that I hate trailers - because they give so much away - I always try to time my entrance into the cinema just before the main feature. Unfortunately I cocked it up in the case of ‘The Post’, was about ten minutes late, and can’t discount the possibility that I missed something crucial.
Even so I got the general drift and wasn’t excited enough by the remainder to pay good money to see the bit I missed.
‘The Post’ is a piece of safe, solid Spielberg film making about the pre-Watergate scandal involving the stealing of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg - a cause celebre at the time. The film centres on the dilemma of the Post’s woman owner, Katherine Graham, as to whether she should publish and be damned or follow the cautious advice she receives from her male flunkies. The theme is certainly au courant in that it is all about a woman being determined to exercise her power in a man’s world, but, paradoxically, the movie felt a tad old fashioned to me.
‘Call Me By Your Name’
…is a story of a New Yorker in his late twenties (a guess) who, in the summer of ’83 comes to assist an American professor of antiquities (or something like that) at his idyllic home in Italy where he lives with his wife and seventeen year old musical prodigy son. The visitor and the son (both of whom are Jewish though this seems entirely incidental to the story) then embark on a gay affair with the apparent encouragement of the uber-liberal parents. The certificate at the front says it contains ‘strong sex’ but apart from a scene in which the boy attempts to fornicate with a peach, not much seemed to go on. I fell asleep two or three times and didn’t seem to miss much. Timothee Chalamet who plays the boy is astonishingly good and certainly deserves something for his troubles. The peach might pick up an award too if they decide to give a special Oscar for best supporting piece of fruit.
‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri’
Having already swept the board at the BAFTAS and receiving so much publicity, there can barely be a person alive who doesn’t know that Frances McDormand gives a bravura performance as the mother of a daughter who was raped and murdered and is so crazed with grief that she will stop at nothing to force the police to do their jobs and find the culprit. Doesn’t sound like a comedy does it? And that was my problem. The film doesn’t have a consistent tone of voice - one minute it is the bleakest tragedy, the next it is played for laughs - and although I found much to admire in it, I just didn’t quite understand what the director was trying to say.
And so to ‘The Shape of Water’. And if that isn’t the name in the winner’s envelope, I shall be screaming “Fix!” (and a lot worse) at the telly.
I absolutely loved this film. It’s basically an old fashioned B movie sci-fi story about a mute girl who falls in love with a creature from the deep, which asks you to believe, in the face of all probability, that, for its two hours in on the screen, such a world is possible. And it is so captivatingly done, that you do. Or at least, I did. For me ‘The Shape of Water’ is pure movie magic - stunning performances, sumptuous styling, luscious music, and a truly moving love story.
And on top of all that, the best narrator’s voice - Richard Jenkins - that I can ever remember hearing. If you want an American V/O for a commercial, he’s your man.
0 notes
Text
New Post has been published on Geniuszone
New Post has been published on https://geniuszone.biz/the-most-beautiful-woman-within-the-world-award/
The Most Beautiful Woman within the World Award
My adoration for women is sincerely an instead innocent one if I am allowed to decide myself. I could be extra than happy to define my criteria that outline my personal judgment because it’s now not righteous to be one’s, own judge. But, I assume I will permit my effects to communicate for themselves.
The maximum stunning girl inside the world, for maximum exotic splendor, is going to Jennifer Connelly. I cannot get her hair out my head from the movie Blood Diamond. Of course, she’s inside the timber in West Africa following the story of struggle diamonds and does not have time to setup an appointment with a hairdresser. But when a person may be that excellent even under those circumstances, that is what drives me wild. Forget the reality that I’ve been in love along with her given that I first saw her in Labyrinth and I’ve observed her profession all through a number of my maximum preferred movies together with House of Sand and Fog, Dark Water, and He’s Just Not That Into You. Jennifer Connelly steals away with the most beautiful girl inside the international for most distinguished splendor.
The most beautiful female within the global, for being a surprising hottie, goes to Jenna Fischer. I started out looking The Office whilst it first came out in 2005 and I observed the cute receptionist in the back of the desk. I cherished the way she flirted with Jim and dealt with Michael. I was really rooting for Jim and now he ultimately is along with her, with a child and the entire nine yards. But then, I saw her on the cover of Shape in November 2009. It critically turned into one of those Wow moments. Who in the world is that? The most up to date little hottie to grace the quilt of Shape, and I had no concept that the cool, adorable receptionist from The Office became that excellent. Jenna Fischer takes with the aid of a landslide the most lovely girl in the world for being a sudden hottie.
The maximum stunning lady within the global, for absolute adorability, goes to Jennifer Aniston. Bursting onto the scene in Friends, she caught every person’s interest along with her wealthy-girl innocence and her superb splendor. The Rachel hairdo became a country-wide hit. Millions of girls tuned in each week simply to look what she become wearing. Even although she could not pass over irrespective of what she wore, she had some of the most well-known outfits including the green dress in TOW No One’s Ready, the yellow get dressed in TOW All The Kissing, and the black dress in TOW Monica’s Thunder. Rachel Green owned that show and Jennifer Aniston went directly to star in such favorites as Office Space, Along Came Polly, and The Break-Up. Jennifer Aniston sweeps the votes for the maximum lovely female in the global for absolute adorability.
beautiful
The maximum beautiful lady in the global, for natural loveliness, is going to Angela Kinsey. Another surprising splendor comes from The Office within the form of Angela Martin. She plays the immediately-laced accountant who cannot stand irrelevant behavior, excessive indulgence or frivolous sports. However, she is going on to have an affair with each Dwight and Andy at the same time displaying us that she too is human and now not above temptation. But then, I noticed Angela Kinsey sport a turquoise shirt with black shorts, excessive heels and directly blonde hair. That’s after I found out how perfectly fabulous she honestly became. That become just the first of many enjoyable other-thanThe Office sightings including the crimson bikini pinnacle and reduce off shorts on a day on the beach along with her daughter, the blue dress on the gold standard of “Meskada” after birthday party, and a slew of red carpet outfits that knock me dead every time I see her. Angel Kinsey blasts the opposition away for the most lovely lady within the world for natural loveliness.
The maximum beautiful girl inside the global, for the stunning angel, is going to Emily Procter. Of course, I first noticed her as Calleigh Duquesne in CSI: Miami, a beautiful detective who turned into nice to every body, however stern at instances when the scenario referred to as for it. The first episode I watched become when a brand new officer was being delivered to the pressure and certainly one of his first obligations turned into as an observer of the entirety Calleigh became doing. She defined a few matters to get him up to the mark after which she welcomed him to the Miami-Dade Police Department. Her eyes stayed fixed for what seemed like an eternity and she or he flashed that smile that might haunt me for years. Emily Procter triumphs as the maximum stunning lady inside the international for the stunning angel.
The most beautiful female within the global, for sheer beauty, goes to Sasha Alexander. She hit the scene in her first memorable overall performance as Gretchen, Pacey’s older sister, inside the wildly conflicted, overly dramatic, idealistic global of Dawson’s Creek. She and Dawson share a romance that is laden with an excessive amount of questioning and no longer enough spontaneity, even though as soon as in awhile you see sparks of a real courting in there someplace. She right now became one of the actresses who holds the status, “If she is in it, I will watch it.” Hence, my interest grew to become to NCIS once I saw her natural gorgeousness grace the display because of the large sister type to the group. Obviously, I changed into heartbroken whilst she was murdered by Ari. But, Rizzoli & Isles have come to be the balm that soothes all ails. Sasha Alexander gallops away with the maximum lovely lady in the international for sheer elegance.
The most lovely girl within the global, for unmatched brilliance, is going to Beth Riesgraf. Repelling into my lifestyles as Parker in Leverage, she is a chunk naïve about certain records of lifestyles even though she is remarkably skilled in cracking safes, scaling homes and gaining entrance whether or not legally or illegally. It’s the strict appearance that comes throughout her face when she is thinking about something as deep as she will, however, her smile is spell binding. You melt while you see her fifty fabulous expressions. Where has she been all my lifestyles? She pulls off fantastically the rock and roll blonde, the directly hair formal and the runway yellow dress with fashion designer pocketbook to fit. Beth Riesgraf lifts the most beautiful woman in the world for unrivaled brilliance.
The most stunning woman inside the world, for stealing the show, goes to Natalie Portman. Of path, she was in Anywhere But Here and Beautiful Girls at the side of a slew of other large hits. But, I didn’t sit up and word her till a pregnant female with out a shoes is deserted at America’s department keep in Where the Heart Is. Adopted by way of a loopy couple, she grew from an infantile teen into an expert female who eventually learns a way to agree with her coronary heart again. From then on, I have no longer been able to take my eyes off of her. She rocks the harmless appearance in Sesame Street at the same time as dominating sexy in such works as Black Swan and No Strings Attached. Natalie Portman is fingers down the most beautiful lady in the world for stealing the display.
The most beautiful woman in the world, for general whiplash head turner, is going to Katherine Heigl. When you notice her smile from the facet in that infamous “sucker” scene in The Ugly Truth, your heart passionately screams, “I want to be in that guy’s shoes.” She’s down to earth playful, critically red carpet hot or even pulls off the bad hair day with beauty most runway models could die to embody. I think I love her most when she’s facing her personal mortality in Grey’s Anatomy “Good Mourning” or facing someone else’s “Dream a Little Dream.” It’s in those deadly severe moments which you discover her actual splendor glowing from inside. Katherine Heigl rules the most stunning woman inside the global for general whiplash head turner.
woman
The maximum lovely girl in the global, for dripping warm attractive, goes to Charlize Theron. When she stuck my attention in The Devil’s Advocate, I thought to myself that a person could actually be daft to float far from her right into a meaningless marriage. But, that changed into written into the script. Just have a look at how she rocked Mighty Joe Young, Reindeer Games, The Italian Job, and Hancock. She even made a serial killer seem likable in Monster. But to virtually recognize the jaw-dropping, large coronary, stand-there-with-not anything-to-say natural sexiness Charlize exudes, all you have to do is witness her raw amour as she walks down the hallway leaving layers of clothing behind inside the renowned Dior J’Adore industrial. Charlize Theron demands the maximum stunning girl within the world for dripping warm sexy.
The most lovely girl in the world, for pure attraction, goes to Christi Paul. The CNN’s Headline News anchor in addition to for In Session on truTV. She is the ultimate female next door with the prom queen beauty. But, there have been some Miss America aspirations that would have come actually as witnessed via her climb from Miss Mansfield to Miss Greater Cleveland as she labored her manner up to running for Miss Ohio in 1993. WDTV became clever to lease her as broadcast journalism just seems to be in her blood. And now you understand where I get my news spoon fed from ordinary. Christi Paul wears the maximum stunning lady inside the international crown for natural attraction.
Robin Meade in reality stocks the title of pure appeal in conjunction with Christi Paul. With her adorable giggle and the new style she has delivered to the news, I stay on top of what is occurring inside the international today and it is easy to determine out why. Plus, Robin’s tune Welcome Home is a touching tribute to the troops who are preventing remote places and meaning plenty to a veteran like me. But, the reason why I step out of protocol and proportion a identify between these appropriate anchors from CNN is due to the fact their lives are so absolutely comparable. Robin Meade was born in Ohio in 1969. However, she went on to emerge as Miss Ohio in 1992 and became one of the pinnacles ten finalists within the 1993 Miss America Beauty Pageant. They each are married with children and living in Georgia. So, I tap Robin Meade to proportion the most lovely girl in the international for pure attraction with Christi Paul. It’s the maximum stunning girl in the global for crying out loud! I’m sure they don’t have a trouble sharing it.
The maximum beautiful girl within the international, for knocking my socks off absolutely, is going to Scarlett Johansson. With only one exception, the mysterious skip in 2000, Scarlett has not less than brought us some thing new every yr on the grounds that her inception in 1994 with North. Among my favorites are Lost in Translation, The Perfect Score, and In Good Company just to name some. But, it’s whilst she plays the parts in such films as He’s Just Not That Into You that you see her splendid sensuousness. Her extremely good snort, the elegant look over her shoulder, even her capacity to be innocent while entrenched in uncooked passion makes me fall in love with her again and again. Scarlett Johansson epitomizes the maximum lovely female in the world for knocking my socks off totally.
The maximum beautiful girl inside the global, for endearing fascination, is going to Julie Bowen. Catching my interest in Ed, I without delay hung on her every scene. I cursed the director and the other actors who have been stealing our treasured time faraway from me. But then, she became the love interest in Happy Gilmore and Adam Sandler’s daydreams are not anything short of inventive. She is the purpose I have become a fan of Boston Legal just like she’s the reason I watch Modern Family now. Her smooth brown eyes can flash extreme every once in awhile. But, her smile! It’s the form of smile that radiates and it’s miles very contagious. Julie Bowen famous utter greatness of the most lovely lady in the world for endearing fascination.
The most stunning woman in the international, for being drop useless appropriate, is going to Diane Lane. She can not be touched! Since 1979, she has touched my coronary heart and I wasn’t even privy to how deeply then. But, I caught on while she exploded on the display in Streets of Fire. That became the making of history. An all-time favored of mine, I even have enjoyed her in such greats as Chaplin, A Walk on the Moon and Under the Tuscan Sun. But, she brings it home in works like Jack, Judge Dred, and The Perfect Storm wherein she’s no longer the lead however she steals each scene. She’s magnificence and beauty and everything you may say approximately a princess. A proper version of all this is beautiful inside the global, Diane Lane effortlessly exemplifies the maximum stunning female within the international for being drop lifeless fantastic.
world
The most stunning female inside the global, for eternal magnificence, is going to Ashley Judd. So effective in her again tale, she left her mother and sister while they have been nevertheless on the road performing. She went off on her own to do her own factor and what a present she has given us! She’s in a protracted line of favorites to cherish including Double Jeopardy, High Crimes, and Where the Heart Is. She should without problems end up a cult conventional with roles like Eye of the Beholder, Twisted, and Bug. She has the appeal to bring fans from the outskirts into the mainstream due to the fact she may be pleasantly fascinating even if her character might be laid low with alcoholism, is mentally disturbed or grossly psychotic. Her beauty calls for honestly no make-up as she rocks the red carpet in clothes and skirts that she makes look good while trumping the beauty of all the celebrities who flock to take their pics together with her. Ashley Judd certainly is the sector’s maximum lovely lady in the global for everlasting class.
The maximum beautiful female within the world, for redeeming grace, goes to Dana Delany. A habitual Dana photograph shoot can produce such fantastic photographs because of the pink blouse with horny hair in her eyes, the blue get dressed from Desperate Housewives, and the black blouse staring into the digital camera from Kidnapped. Truly exceptional how results easily she makes all of its appearances. I might not mention her age, that is via far the maximum extraordinary characteristic approximately her beauty. My heart skipped a beat when she leaned towards the tree in Tombstone. I’ve watched each ounce I could find of her on account that, catching vintage reruns of China Beach, Wild Palms and Sweet Surrender. Checking out Multiple Touches of Sarcasm, A Beautiful Life or even Route 30. But now, I could be capable of getting my weekly Dana dosage in Body of Proof. I can’t imagine this global without her! Dana Delany merits most lovely lady within the global for redeeming grace.
As you can see, these girls are not ranked from one to 3 as being the maximum lovely woman within the international. They are definitely the maximum beautiful girl inside the global. They can not be installed any sort of order in any respect. Furthermore, it was very tough to slender my alternatives down to just those three. But, I did it! I finally narrowed my selections all the way down to best those whom I truly bear in mind to be the maximum beautiful girl inside the world.
This panel recognizes the reality that there is indeed a very beautiful girl in the international missing from this 12 months’ picks. There are quite a few in truth such as but now not restricted to farmer’s daughters, nuns, librarians, instructors, ex-girlfriends, sisters and my daughter, who are not covered for prison motives concerning my being at the panel, being its handiest panel member and to avoid any allegations of bias. It is only because of a sheer mental meltdown after making my selection that the rest of the maximum beautiful ladies within the world had been no longer covered.
0 notes
Text
Overexposure - The Gallery
(Originally Whumpay Day 25)
Yet another repost of a fic that’s becoming a new series. :)
Warnings: lady whumpee with male whumper, captivity whump, referenced stress positions, referenced noncon suspension, noncon touch (non-sexual), implied torture, mild alcohol consumption, mild dissociation
.
.
It’s exactly like a scene from a movie. Light glitters off of champagne glasses and diamond jewelry, servers weave expertly through the mingling crowd with silver trays of hors d'oeuvres. All the men are dressed sharply in tuxes, the ladies shimmering in designer gowns.
Her own gown probably costs more than she’s made in her entire life, and it’s completely stunning. Midnight blue, mermaid cut. More revealing than she would have liked with its plunging neckline, especially in the present company.
If Ellery had been here by choice, she would have been in total awe. As it is, she’s barely breathing, and the bright lights and overwhelming cloud of perfume and cologne are making the room spin. The hand on her back never leaves, burning through the fabric and into her skin.
He wants her to smile. He wants her to act like she’s enjoying herself, to make small talk with all of these filthy rich patrons and sip her champagne and act the part that he’s created for her.
But she can’t. Every time she moves, her dress chafes across the scrapes and cuts marring her skin, and her quivering muscles make it difficult to continue standing around, walking a few steps, and standing some more without stumbling.
Besides the fact that she wants to shrink into the floor, away from all of the stares, and never be seen by anyone again.
It’s her that everyone is here to see. Her portraits, that is. The ones that line the walls of the gallery, that she can’t seem to get away from, no matter which way she turns. There’s one looming over the shoulder of the older gentleman speaking to them, and she can’t stop staring at the way pain is twisting her features.
Can’t they see it? Can’t anyone in this room see that she’s not modeling, she’s being tortured?
Sure, the Photoshop job is phenomenal. There’s no trace of the bruises that were painting her cheekbone and jaw at the time, just like you can’t see the one around her eye now, thanks to the magic of makeup.
But she thought, surely, someone would look at all these photos of her in various, sometimes excruciating stress positions, and at the very least stop and consider the possibility that she doesn’t want this.
People only see what they want to see, her Mama once said. The thought of Mama brings tears to her eyes, and she looks away quickly, trying to hide them before he can see. She can’t think about how much she misses her parents, not right now.
Instead, she focuses on yet another photo. She’s suspended in this one, ribbons of blood red fabric wrapped just so around her body, standing out starkly against her skin and the white background. One strip encircles her throat, like a collar, then winds upwards to become an elegant gag.
It’s artistically stunning. She hates that it’s true. The patrons here might have questionable taste in photography subjects, but they do know talent when they see it.
“Hello.”
She had become so entranced with the photo that she missed the young man who had approached her. She also, somehow, missed the moment when Lucas’ hand finally left her back.
“Sorry if I’m being too forward by approaching you. You’ve been surrounded by adoring fans all evening, and I didn’t want to miss my chance to say how much I admire your work. You are absolutely gorgeous.”
Ellery glances over her shoulder. Lucas is only a few feet away, but it’s the most alone she’s been and probably will be.
Turning back to the young man, she takes a small step closer. “Please, he’s holding me against my will.”
“So I’ve noticed.” He chuckles, swirling the golden liquid in his glass. “He hasn’t let you leave his side the whole night. A little possessive, isn’t he?”
Closing her eyes, she inhales deeply. This man is both rich and dense. “Yes, but...that’s not what I mean. I need help. I don’t work for Lucas, I’m his prisoner! None of these photos were taken by my consent. Please.”
The look that comes over his face is at first shocked, and she holds her breath, not wanting to feel relieved quite yet. That doesn’t stop her from despairing when it morphs into amusement, his lips parting in a cocky smile.
“I’m not sure what game you’re trying to play here, but Lucas and my family go back a long way. I know exactly what kind of man he is, so you’re not going to fool me.”
She can’t give up yet, this may be her only chance. “No, please, I -”
A firm hand plants itself on her back once again, fingers wrapping her waist just so in order to dig into the bruise hiding there. She winces involuntarily, gritting her teeth against the tears that sting her eyes. She was so close. So close to getting help.
“What’s going on over here?”
The stupid rich man laughs again, raising his glass. “I believe your model here may have had a bit too much to drink. She’s got some odd ideas in her head.”
“Is that so?” The fingers dig in harder. “Well, then, darling, perhaps we should cut you off for tonight.”
She doesn’t fight as the glass is slipped out of her hand. She had hardly touched it, anyway, and her body and mind have gone numb, the rest of the conversation happening around her without her hearing it. She’ll pay for the risk she took later, she knows.
So much pain awaiting her, and nothing to even show for it.
.
Next
#overexposure#ellery the model#whump#whump writing#lady whump#lady whumpee#captivity whump#stress position tw#nonconsensual touching tw#implied torture tw#alcohol tw#dissociation tw#fancy party#whump photography#original fiction
19 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
sopizzakingdom-94de894e
Untitled
lunark-noah
Lunark
caledonnetworkcableinstalla-blog
Network Cabling and Electrical Services
jk1919love
女子高生
ash-and-snow
—a grey girl on a dying horse.