Macaroons, anyone?
Marie Antoinette did not consciously pry the bread out of working-class hands to pay for powdered wigs and jewels, but she may as well have. She wasn’t intentionally corrupt. She was just making the best out of a not-so-bad situation.
Secluded behind the walls of Versailles, Antoinette has little reason to contemplate the people whose taxes support her hedonistic lifestyle. She either genuinely believes she is entitled to it, or is simply too ignorant to consider the price…
Cry Me a River
Some moments in The Whale aren't awful, but most of it is. Actors sweep into Brendan Fraser's cluttered apartment to spill hot angry tears and cling desperately to his generous proportions like he's a golden statuette.
Deep-seated expressions of wounded resentment fly out of their mouths without any provocation. I had the feeling these people couldn't order a coffee without getting choked up. Not that they are conceivable as people. Real people are sophisticated. They modulate…
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a bit of an anomaly. It's a film that is frightened of its own material.
The reasons are manifold. Capote (who wrote the novella) wanted Marilyn Monroe for the part of Holly Golightly; the weed-smoking alcoholic prostitute who has a casual affair with a gigolo writer. The studio wanted Hepburn, whose image was less sexually overt and more dignified. Audrey’s prostitute needed to be enigmatic, so the more salacious material in the story was dropped. Meanwhile,…
