#prizzi’s honor | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ms-m-astrologer · 6 months

Text

Transiting Venus enters Libra

Wednesday, November 8 - Monday, December 4

The good news is, Venus rules Libra, and she’s very happy to be home for a while. The bad news is, she’ll have a lot of challenges. Style over substance, “going along to get along” and refusing to take a stand when it’s necessary, being manipulative - things like that. And the hopeful news is that, if we can remember and adhere to Libra’s higher ground, we can spend this time making real progress.

How this could manifest in Venus’ various areas:

Art - as any music lover will tell you, “popular” doesn’t necessarily equate to “good.” If it did? As an example, Bruce Springsteen has never had a #1 hit song in the US - granted, he was competing against Prince in 1984, but what about the rest of the years?

Beauty - I remember reading a review of “Prizzi’s Honor” which described it as a conflict between “pretty” (Kathleen Turner) and “beautiful” (Angelica Huston). If we tend toward pretty, we’re missing out on depth of character.

Love - seeking personal validation through having a particular spouse (like wanting to date the most popular kid in high school), rather than a true partner. And then doing whatever it takes to acquire that “validating” spouse.

Money - blowing it all on makeup and disposable fashion. Or, we buy something because it’s impressive and not because it has any particular meaning for us.

These are the non-lunar aspects Venus will make. Give them a day or so on either side.

Wednesday, November 8 - Venus/Libra inconjunct Saturn/Pisces, 0°31’. Right off the bat, we have a difficult adjustment to make. Remember that Saturn is exalted in Libra - we’re being asked about our standards of justice and fairness.

Monday, November 13 - Venus/Libra (6°03’) sesquiquad Uranus Rx/Taurus (21°03’). Frustrations; “all that glisters is not gold” springs to mind.

Tuesday, November 14 - Venus/Libra square Vesta Rx/Cancer, 7°00’. We may turn ourselves off, sexually, if we think it will get us something we want.

Wednesday, November 15 - Venus/Libra inconjunct Jupiter Rx/Taurus, 8°45’. More “all that glisters;” with perhaps a little of “your eyes were bigger than your stomach.” Taking on toi much, or realizing it’s a much bigger and more difficult task than we anticipated.

Friday, November 17 - Venus/Libra (10°06’) semi-square Mars/Scorpio (25°06’). People in sexual relationships may feel this especially acutely. One partner may (as with the Vesta square) “turn off” or, conversely, be more demanding.

A “two-fer” with minor aspects from Lady Asteroids, on Sunday, November 19:

Venus/Libra semi-sextile Juno/Virgo, 12°11’

Venus/Libra (12°40’) semi-square Ceres/Scorpio (27°40’)

We’re trying to coordinate between demands of our partners (Juno) and our families (Ceres).

Another two-fer on Wednesday, November 22:

Venus/Libra (15°48’) sesquiquad Saturn/Pisces (0°48’)

Venus/Libra oppose Chiron Rx/Aries, 15°58’

These are rather more serious than what we’ve experiences so far - as are the remaining aspects. Even if we’ve been as tactful and graceful as we can manage, it isn’t enough. It’s important to really listen to what other people have to say. They get to have free will, too.

Sunday, November 26 - Venus/Libra inconjunct Uranus Rx/Taurus, 20°32’. A difficult adjustment. If we overindulged, it’s coming back to bite us in the butt.

Tuesday, November 27 - Venus/Libra opposite North Node/Aries, conjunct South Node/Libra, 22°39’. An opportunity to examine (at least) those Libra ways we mess ourselves up.

Wednesday, November 28 - Venus/Libra opposite Eris Rx/Aries, 24°19’. What did I say? Other people get to have free will, too. And if the shoe is on the other foot, and we find we’ve been manipulated, this is the day we could fight back.

Thursday, November 29 - Venus/Libra inconjunct Neptune Rx/Pisces, 24°54’. Taking those rose-colored glasses off, or having them removed for us.

Sunday, December 3 - Venus/Libra square Pluto/Capricorn, 28°33’. We’re aware that we haven’t done Venus or Libra very well (not just this transit, but in our past). We’ve seen that our past machinations were unfair - that our cowardice and complacency haven’t served us well - so, either we resolve to fix it during Venus’ imminent trip through Scorpio; or in Steven Forrest’s words, “we fail to look at ourselves; we imagine the issue to have its sole origin in the other person’s intransigence.”

Painful, I know. The higher Libra traits include justice and fairness; valuing other people; tact and diplomacy. We just need to be more consistent about expressing them - and we need to use them to reach out for the higher Aries traits, as represented by the North Node.

#Astrology #Transiting Venus enters Libra #Ms M astrologer

24 notes · View notes

sunpoweredog · 11 months

Text

My journey of self-discovery as a therian was quite a fun ride. I've described it several times to my friends but I guess it would be nice to document everything into one long post.

My very first ?sona? (not as a fursona, but as an image of myself??) was a dark blue dragon with yellow wings and belly scales. I don't have many pictures of this form left, and don't feel connected to it anymore. It was some kind of a night+stars+water dragon, I guess.

I will add a picture here once I find my childhood drawings of this dragon form

Next one was a cat, but it felt forced and emerged more as a result of my Warrior Cats obsession in middle school. It was a diluted tortoiseshell longhair cat. I was clinging to this form for a long time, though, but it was nothing more than roleplaying.

At the same time I was obsessed with wolves, howling and growling at my peers, googling "How To Become A Werewolf Real Working Spell", etc. But a wolf identity never felt quite fitting either. Some interactions with wolf therians and their experiences made me realise That's Not Me. So I started searching.

Some other animals that I have considered to be connected to were:

otters (legs waaay too short and I'm not That Much of a water person)

smilodons (i do sometimes get mild shifts of being a Big Beast though, but my claws are DEFINITELY not retractable)

cheetahs (their body is quite similar to what I feel but the vocalisations feel WRONG)

I was searching for both physical and behavioural characteristics that I felt, such as:

Height. I feel that my point of view shouldn't be much higher than 1m off the ground

Limbs should be LONG and lanky

Claws are non-retractable, I feel them clicking on the ground as I walk

Ears aren't big and pointy, they are either rounded or floppy/drooping

I have a mane??? Weird?? Maybe not a mane but some kind of long and/or thick fur on my neck

No small spots or stripes on my pelt, colors blend in quite smoothly

No real preference for a certain terrain. I like forests, plains, rivers, hills, swamps, steppes and even deserts, but not the seashore, not the mountains, and not the tundra.

Definitely not a solitary but neither a big pack animal, lives in a small family group?? Also tolerates humans and human environment well.

I bark.

It was a bit frustrating for me to realise that I wasn't some Cool Beast like a sabretooth cat, or a reindeer, or a dragon, but... Just some dog.

But what kind of dog?

My first choice was a Caucasian Shepherd Dog. The mane, the colors, the size felt quite right, but not the bulkiness and the thick fur. My human body isn't very strong and sturdy, and I considered it wishful thinking to think of myself as of such a beast.

Next pick was a sighthound, a borzoi or a saluki. But I've never seen a borzoi that has the right pelt color, and they are way too tall and social for me. And salukis don't have the mane, though the overall body shape was similar to what I felt myself, and the "grizzle" color feels almost right.

So for a while, I presented as a weird mutt, a pariah mixed breed dog looking somewhat like this:

Being a mutt felt like a permission to go wild and add whatever features felt right, so I experimented a lot. And then I stumbled upon a photo of a silken windhound. That was like a revelation. The colors were off, but the shape felt So Correct that I felt euphoric just by looking at pictures of this breed.

So this is the form I'm content with, and feel comfortable enough. The only weird features are that I feel still a bit bulkier than average windhound, and have an additional toe on hind paws!

(The dog on my profile picture is named Tangaloor Prizzi's Honor, by the way!)

#canine therian #otherkin #dog therian #therian #alterhuman #otherkinity #therianthropy #therian thoughts

16 notes · View notes

cinemajunkie70 · 2 years

Text

A very happy birthday to Anjelica Huston!

#anjelica huston #the addams family #addams family values #prizzi’s honor #john wick 3 #the royal tenenbaums #the darjeeling limited #the life aquatic with steve zissou #choke #movies #Hollywood

14 notes · View notes

citizenscreen · 11 months

Text

John Huston’s PRIZZI’S HONOR premiered on June 13, 1985.

#jack nicholson #angelica huston #john huston #kathleen turner

35 notes · View notes

tengomilpalabrasparati · 6 months

Text

Cumpleaños 🎂

Leonardo DiCaprio. Actor 49 años

Demi Moore. Actriz 61 años

Calista Flockhart. Actriz 59 años

Stanley Tucci. Actor 63 años

Leonardo Dicaprio está de celebración. Este sábado, el actor, nominado siete veces al gran premio del cine, cumple 49 años.

Nació el 11 de noviembre de 1974 y desde muy jóven, comenzó su carrera en la interpretación.

A día de hoy, se ha convertido en uno de los actores más influyentes de Hollywood, también de los más deseados, y en un gran defensor de la conservación del medio ambiente.

A pesar de no haber formado nunca una familia ni tener hijos, el protagonista de "Titanic", ha tenido muchos noviazgos y romances fugaces. La última chica con la que se le ha relacionado es con Vittoria Ceretti, la espectacular modelo de 25 años, con quien coincidió por primera vez en Francia cuando el actor acudía al Festival de Cannes para presentar su película 'Killers of the Flower Moon'.

Demi Moore cumple unos espectaculares 61 años. La protagonista de “Ghost”, se mantiene como una de las figuras más consagradas de Hollywood. Sin embargo, su camino no fue color de rosas. Tuvo una vida repleta de agresiones, traumas y altibajos profesionales, que convirtieron su historia en oportunidades de lucha y superación.

En su autobiografía, titulada “Inside Out. Mi historia”, Demi Moore revela detalles sobre los momentos más duros de su vida. En el libro, la reconocida actriz explica que su madre la prostituyó por 500 dólares cuando tenía 15. Cuenta que fue abusada en numerosas oportunidades, y habla de sus adicciones al alcohol y la cocaína.

Además, hace referencia a su matrimonio frustrado con Bruce Willis, y a la turbulenta separación con Ashton Kutcher.

Corría 2002 cuando Harrison Ford y Calista Flockhart se conocieron. El encuentro, decididamente feliz, tuvo lugar durante la cena de la noche de los Globos de Oro de aquel año. La actriz se encontraba en el pico de su popularidad, la ultraexitosa serie "Ally McBeal", de la que era protagonista, afrontaba la emisión de sus últimos capítulos en la cadena Fox tras haberse convertido en un emblema de la televisión más rompedora de finales de los 90

Ford tenía entonces 59 y Flockhart sumaba 37 primaveras.

Juntos han criado a Liam, el niño que Calista Flockhart adoptó justo un año antes de conocer al actor –se acaba de graduar en la universidad a sus 22 años y ambos fueron a la ceremonia– y también han decidido mantenerse alejados la mayor parte del tiempo del ojo público.

Calista Kay Flockhart (Freeport, Illinois; 11 de noviembre de 1964) es una actriz Estadounidense, conocida por protagonizar la serie Ally McBeal (1997-2002) y por su papel de Kitty Walker en la serie Cinco hermanos (2006-2011), no tiene mas trabajos

Stanley Tucci celebra hoy su 63 cumpleaños

(Peekskill, Nueva York; 11 de noviembre de 1960) es un actor, director, productor y escritor estadounidense, ganador en dos ocasiones del Premio Emmy, del Globo de Oro y nominado al Óscar. Entre sus trabajos más conocidos están "Lucky Number Slevin", "Camino a la perdición", "La terminal", "The Devil Wears Prada", "The Lovely Bones", "Los juegos del hambre" y "Spotlight".

Tucci nació en Peekskill, Nueva York, hijo de Joan Tropiano, secretaria y escritora, y Stanley Tucci, profesor de arte de secundaria. Sus padres, ambos de origen italiano, tenían ancestros provenientes de Calabria. Es el mayor de tres hermanos; su hermana es la actriz Christine Tucci y su primo es el guionista Joseph Tropiano

Debutó con un pequeño papel en "Prizzi's Honor"

Tucci se casó con la asistente social Kathryn "Kate" Spath en 1995. Tuvieron tres hijos: los mellizos Isabel Concetta y Nicolo Robert (2000), y Camilla ( 2002). Además Kate tenía otros dos hijos de un matrimonio anterior, también criados por el actor.

Entre 2002 y 2004 la pareja estuvo separada, y en ese período Tucci salió con la actriz Edie Falco. En abril de 2009 Kate Spath falleció de cáncer.

En octubre de 2011 Tucci comenzó una relación con la agente literaria inglesa Felicity Blunt, hermana de la actriz Emily Blunt, compañera de reparto en The Devil Wears Prada (El Diablo viste de Prada), quien los presentó. En agosto de 2012 se casaron y en septiembre celebraron formalmente en una boda que tuvo a Emily Blunt como dama de honor

Después de casarse, Tucci abandonó Westchester para vivir junto a Blunt en Londres. El matrimonio tuvo dos hijos: Matteo Oliver ( 25 de enero de 2015) y Emilia Giovanna ( 19 de abril de 2018).

Fue copropietario del restaurante Finch Tavern en Croton Falls, Nueva York.

En 2018 fue distinguido como caballero de la Orden al Mérito de la República Italiana por haber «mantenido fuertes lazos con sus orígenes calabreses de los cuales ha estado siempre orgulloso, y con la cultura italiana en general»

Su de momento último trabajo es "The Electric State" que se estrenará en 2024

#Cumpleaños 🎂#Leonardo DiCaprio.#Demi Moore #Calista Flockhart #Stanley Tucci

5 notes · View notes

classicfilmfan64 · 10 months

Text

Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston, and John Huston in 'Prizzi's Honor' (1985). Jack and Anjelica dated, for many years and John directed the film. Jack and John were also both in 'Chinatown'.

3 notes · View notes

bkdotblog · 1 year

Text

"Trials and Tribulations," S3E14

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 3 Finale Recap

My Title: "Everything's Coming Up [Wild] Roses"

My rating: 4 out of 5 Barbie scissor kicks

Support for Lisa Barlow: Strong

<><><>

The season finale helpfully opens with a full inventory of ongoing plot-lines. They are: Heather's Bad Mormon book and misfit choir, the @shahexposed Instagram account, Jen being insane in San Diego, Heather's Black Eye, Jen's fraud trial.

We've had a very Heather-Jen season, unfortunately for us.

In the opening, Jen's tagline has reverted from "The only thing I'm guilty of is being Shah-mazing!" to "I'm fighting for my life, not your approval," presumably after United States government quoted the former to demonstrate Jen's flippancy about her case. It appears she's finally taking things seriously, only she's a minute late and 16 million dollars short: Last week, she was Jentenced to six and a half years in prizzy.

I sincerely hope that is the last we see of her for some time. Of course, it isn't, because we still gotta watch the finale together (and then the reunion which I am excited about.) Onward!

It's not Heather's book launch party, but Heather's book cover reveal party — OK? The title of the book, Bad Mormon, will be frosted on the windows, and the Salt Lake City skyline will glitter above steam rising off the heated pool. I think the title is. great.

The other ladies and their husbands prepare for the event, which is apparently later that day.

Wait... maybe it's starting immediately? The next scene is Heather, the Bottega Cuntessa, strutting back into the space after a costume change. I was physically unable to suppress the "YAS" that escaped from my throat!

Heather is hoping for no drama. But she says if there is drama, she hopes it will occur in front of her Bad Mormon cover mockup, because she is a PR maven!

Not sure if it's 6 PM or 11 AM, but everybody is now rolling up to the function. Lisa greets Heather warmly and notes that her eye is almost completely healed. "Just like the memory of it, I hope," Heather jokes.

"The memory is never going away, Heather," Lisa not-jokes.

"I wanted it to not be an issue, and now it's the only issue," Heather straight up lies.

Enter Whitney, also wearing a skin-tight black dress. Her and Heather embrace, and all seems briefly well. We also see Bad Angie arrive. And Good Angie, whose entire personality is Greek-American, tells Whitney and Lisa that, in honor of Greek Easter, she is going to confront Jen about some off-camera comments later on.

(If Good Angie isn't lying to seem more Greek, the date must be April 24th, 2022; a week after non-Greek Easter and three months prior to Jen's guilty plea.)

Allegedly, Jen told a man (gay?) (I guess it doesn't matter) that Good Angie was the one who punched Heather. "That's ludicrous," Whitney says. Up until this moment, Jen has conducted herself with the integrity of a house of cards, and the odds are high that this was either a reckless act of comedy — similar to her hilarious bit where she pours champagne on her friends' freshly-pressed hair — or an outright lie. Still, viewers of the show are forced to consider the possibility that Good Angie did whoop Heather in the night, and the idea is shocking. But not quite so shocking as the idea of Jen telling the truth for once in her life! This particular case is not yet closed.

It gets better. Angie ups the ante by suggesting Jen punched Heather after they had sex.

Crucially, Angie does not say they had sex. She says they were doing "Barbie scissor kicks."

Actually she does then immediately say she thinks they "had a sexual relationship, romping and bumping, and giving each other a black eye because somebody wasn't very good in bed in the end, who knows."

Whitney's reactions are truly perfect.

[BK's Take: This is an official and notarized declaration of stanhood for Whitney Wild Rose. 1/12/23. For many reasons that I will have to elucidate in a future post—I simply haven't the time right now.]

Lisa makes a vaguely homophobic comment about not understanding how scissoring works. Lisa... I'm not mad, but I'm not happy!

Good Angie does a little demonstration with her hands, and it's unfortunately audible:

And then Jen walks in!

Immediately Jen and Coach Shah approach Bad Angie and her fat fucking elf on the shelf husband. Aside, Coach Shah asks for an honorable apology from the man who created the @shahexposed finsta. Angie's husband says a couple words — no more than five — before descending into a very soft sob. What an utterly bizarre reaction! Bad Angie takes the wheel.

"It wasn't personal!" Whatever. It all becomes water under the heated pool.

It's time for the choir to perform — all of the ladies participate with the notable exceptions of Whitney and Meredith, who cling to their husbands in the crowd. The song is "Amazing Grace," and it soon becomes clear that the rehearsal we saw but a few episodes ago was in fact the only rehearsal conducted. (Certainly you remember: Heather in the green vest? The Tom of Finlandesque choir director? Lisa asked Heather "Am I your friend?" and Heather said "Is that important to you?")

Clap clap clap clap. Heather takes the mic for her solo and takes her place beside the cover mockup, pre-reveal. She gives a speech about being a good friend — a ride-or-die, even. Interesting, seeing as her book isn't about friendship? Not even the choir is not about friendship, as more than half of it is comprised by musical theatre majors she imported from local universities?

Then she reveals the cover for Bad Mormon. In their confessionals, Good Angie and Lisa issue snarky remarks on the "book cover reveal party" conceit, calling it hollow, where's the actual book?, etc. They don't understand: It's all about the pre-sales, baby. (The book comes out Feb 7 — it's perfect promo!)

When the party continues, Whitney wants to speak with Jen. Not to smooth things over, exactly, but to get an explanation for her recent behavior. This is a popular social miscalculation: The idea that "talking things out" equals communicating effectively, or usually results in some form of understanding. Whitney wants a coherent, nuanced admission of wrongdoing from Jen, something Jen has shown both on-camera and in a court of law that she is unable to produce.

Bad weather. Heather is off-camera somewhere else, but the rest of the housewives seem to gather around Whitney and Jen like a storm. The conflict begins to escalate as Angie begins to thunder with her own anti-Jen talking points, overtaking Whitney completely.

Angie accuses her of spreading the "Angie-punched-Heather" rumor, which Jen categorically denies.

She desperately calls out for her husband to come to her side. Good Angie goes in a very bad direction and begins questioning whether or not Jen survived a suicide attempt. Jen goes ballistic and walks off. Coach Shah assures Angie it was very real.

Jen is all "get the cameras out of my face!" and needs to cool down. Heather takes Greek Angie aside and asks her what her aim is with Jen, which Angie cannot communicate; it seems like she just wanted to lash out at her?

Jen decides to leave. Good idea! Meredith guides her out with the trademark sisterly warmth that has become her custom:

It's clean-up time; we see empty champagne glasses and Heather bidding farewell to guests. And then... what's this?... the episode seems to end, with each housewife getting their little postscript placard. (None of them are good but I'm obsessed with the first half of Meredith's.)

Of course, one housewife is missing from this montage. The screen goes black, and three words sear into view.

THREE MONTHS LATER.

It's a clear, July day in Salt Lake City. Jen and her mother are enjoying the weather on Jen's front porch. Soon she'll go to New York for her trial, which is in a few days. "When I come back, I'll be guilty or innocent," she says wistfully. Her mom says, "You'll be innocent. Right?"

Both start to cry.

A spooky montage plays. We see that day at Beauty Lab and Laser, in the hours before Jen's arrest; we see her asserting her innocence at a restaurant; we see Andy Cohen at the reunion mentioning the New York District Attorney's 95% conviction rate, and Jen's response, "Because people take plea deals,"; we see her "I'M INNOCENT!!!!!!!!!!!" outside the choir auditions.

For those who are wondering how the cinematographers at Bravo decided to frame the final shots of this sequence, when Jen arrives in New York to enter a guilty plea, wonder no more:

"Facing her future." !!

After a commercial break, we're back. My heart is racing. There are 20 minutes left in the episode, and all of them appear to be devoted to the events immediately pre- and post-guilty plea.

Heather and Meredith are revealed to be with Jen for her trial. After privately expressing their worry, they go to Jen's suite, which is the size of Versailles. All of the women are wearing Brooks Marks tracksuits.

In the blonde living room, the Shahs and friends have a solemn but supportive conversation.

The next day (?) Meredith and her husband dine with Heather. (The camera works very hard to make it seem as though they are at a chic riverside bistro, but they are eating at the Brookfield Place mall downtown, by the marina, in case you care.)

They discuss the gravity of the case, before discussing the case itself. Meredith was a lawyer, remember? (I don't know what her husband does but I think it's commerce related??) She points out the case isn't about the scheme itself, which we know happened, but about Jen's knowledge and involvement in it.

Meredith's husband asks: What if guilty?

Meredith says it would be a "huge problem" if she was proclaiming her innocence but turned out to be guilty.

Heather doesn't really answer. She makes a comment about how nice the weather is, and contrasts it with the grave circumstances of their being there to enjoy it. More like Bad Metaphor... am I right, ladies?

Pajama party in Jen's room! Heather brought Sour Patch Kids. Jen continues to maintain her innocence. Talk about ride or die! She brings up her former assistant Stuart, who was also implicated in the scheme but plead guilty early on. Jen seems to suggest that he played her, the unwitting boss. In her confessional, Heather seems to suggest that this was a bridge too far. Blaming Stuart? Something's not right...

Very intuitive, Heather.

The two people I want to discuss this matter most meet to discuss this matter.

Heather has returned from New York mere seconds ago. She is reeling. So is Lisa. Both are horrified, astonished, grieving, angry, heartbroken. The most galling thing, according to Heather? She claimed innocence because she thought she could get away with it.

She goes a few steps further by invoking Coach Shah. "If my husband knew about it and was involved..." she says. "'I'll take care of the boys, see you in 15 years,'? That to me is a whole other tragedy."

That's all, folks. I'm looking forward to the upcoming reunion episodes, and am trying to think of different formats for covering them in a way that'll be fresh and funny. As always, if you made it this far, thank you for reading. –BK

<><><>

Discussion question: When Whitney said that "they say every woman is three shots away from being a lesbian," did you think it was a little homophobic? The more I think about it, the more I don't think so — more of a comment on how inebriation can often lead to sexual experimentation. Then again, maybe it was homophobic of me to assume that Jen was speaking to a gay man earlier, even though I know in my heart she probably was. Also, who is the most homophobic SLC housewife? I believe I know the answer but I fear to utter it aloud.

<><><>

Gay Imagery

(Why did Angie look at Jen on the word wretch [sobbing emoji!!!!] She turned to her ON THE WORD. Was anybody else unsettled?)

#rhoslc #real housewives #jen shah #heather gay #meredith marks #lisa barlow #Angie's fat fucking elf on the shelf husband #bravo #The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City #salt lake city #barbie scissor kicks

6 notes · View notes

byneddiedingo · 1 year

Photo

Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996)

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, Jürgen Prochnow, Kevin Whately, Clive Merrison, NIno Castelnuovo. Screenplay: Anthony Minghella, based on a novel by Michael Ondaatje. Cinematography: John Seale. Production design: Stuart Craig. Film editing: Walter Murch. Music: Gabriel Yared.

The "prestige motion picture" is a familiar genre: It's typically a movie derived from a distinguished literary source or a biopic about a distinguished historic figure, with a cast full of major actors, but designed not so much to advance the art of film as to attract critical raves and awards -- particularly Oscars. There are plenty of examples among the best-picture Oscar winners: A Man for All Seasons (Fred Zinnemann, 1966), Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, 1981), Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982), Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984), Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack, 1985), and The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987). (The 1980s seemed to be particularly dominated by prestige-seekers.) The trouble is that once the initial attraction of these films has faded, few people seem to remember them fondly or want to watch them again. I'd rather watch The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) today than sit through A Man for All Seasons, and I would say the same for Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1981), Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982), Starman (John Carpenter, 1984), Prizzi's Honor (John Huston, 1985), and Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987) when put in competition with the prestige best-picture winners of their respective years. So I watched The English Patient last night to test my theory that prestige movies don't hold up over time. It fits the category precisely: It's based on a Booker Prize-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje; it has a distinguished cast, three of whom were nominated for acting Oscars, including Juliette Binoche, who won; it earned raves from The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Roger Ebert; it raked in 12 Oscar nominations and won nine of them -- picture, supporting actress, director Anthony Minghella, cinematographer John Seale, art direction, costumes, sound, film editor Walter Murch (who also shared in the Oscar for sound), and composer Gabriel Yared. And sure enough, there are films from 1996 that I'd rather watch again than The English Patient, including Fargo (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), Lone Star (John Sayles), and Trainspotting (Danny Boyle). But I also have to say that of all the "prestige" best picture winners, The English Patient makes the best case for the genre. It's a good movie, with a mostly well-crafted screenplay by Minghella from a book many thought unfilmable, though it still tries to carry over too much from the novel, such as the character of David Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), whose function in the film, to provoke Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) into uncovering his story, could have been served equally well by Hana (Binoche). But the performances still seem fresh and committed. Binoche, though designated a supporting actress, carries the film by turning Hana into a kind of central consciousness. I was surprised at how much heat is generated by Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine, considering that they are both usually rather icy performers. There are some beautifully staged scenes, like the one in which Kip (Naveen Andrews) "flies" Hana so she can view the frescoes high in a church. And Murch's sound editing gives the film a marvelous sonic texture, starting with the mysterious clinking sounds at the film's beginning, which are then revealed to be the bottles carried by an Arab vendor of potions. Murch's ear and Seale's eye make the film an enduring audiovisual treat.

#The English Patient #Anthony Minghella #Ralph Fiennes #Kristin Scott Thomas

3 notes · View notes