Monday, December 5, 2016

Persona

Alma pours herself into Elizabet with words, which frees up space to draw in Elizabet's demeanor, reputation and all that Alma can only speculate on, but at what cost? 

Elizabet receives Alma in, as a study, but slowly, imperceptibly Alma's living seeps into places that have been shut down and Elizabet is forced to face all that's been locked away. 

The melding of lives both pollutes and purifies, but isn't that both the price and the prize of "not seeming, but being?"

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Forbidden Games

That face.

This is acting before being told what acting is. Brigitte Fossey's innocence is so real that everyone around her stops pretending and starts responding to this little girl's wonderment and are as much in awe of her as the audience. That goes doubly for her rescuer, Michel. She wants a fairyland pet resting place? So be it. Her wish is his command, because she only knows sincerity and Michel is acutely aware of it. Nothing will stop him from protecting and preserving what innocence he can. Protecting innocence. That is a tall order, but how can we turn our backs on it? The ways this movie begins and ends are so difficult, that I know it's affecting me and will continue to do so--just the way the director, René Clément, would have it.


The idea of exploring morbidity, in the face of it, sounds like the best kind of therapy possible. I remember an old, beautiful cemetery that my friend and I would visit on the way home from grade school. We'd read the headstones and think about the people's lives, as we cleared away the overgrown plants and grass. Little did I know I was creating my own therapy. My favorite moment in the film is the panning shot of Paulette and Michel's healing creation.