You'd have to know your history....
Today's movie viewing was Marie Antoinette....and I have to say it was quite one of the oddest historical films I have ever seen...
The costumes and the setting were magnificent, even down to the detail of the food on the table as the Dauphin and Dauphine later King and Queen sat down to their farcical meals. The protocol of the court was also well covered...the scene of Marie Antoinette's 'first' morning at the French court was amusing.
The script (what there was of it), the music, the reference to what was going on outside the gates of Versailles and the ending were all quite odd.....not bad, just odd...
One of my favourite parts of the movie was the first dinner party shown, when much is made of the King's mistress, for some reason it reminded me of the dinner party in Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse', for a while at school I struggled with the whole 'stream of consciousness' concept, which was (according to my English teacher at the time) highlighted at the dinner party.....strange the things that spring to mind in a darkened cinema, 20 years after the event!
What I did like about the movie was the fact that Marie Antoinette was actually shown as being someone who had circumstances allowed could have been a good queen, unfortunately the environment in which she lived at Versailles was such that she really did take on the tendancies of a blonde air-head - not really characteristics required of a good queen.
It seems I was not the only one bemused by the film's ending...the general buzz of conversation as I left the cinema was the audience questioning the end!
However, when all's said and done, I will probably go and see it again...even if just for the costumes...
And just a comment on Filipino movie audiences, something I have become used to, but my friend (a very infrequent visitor to Manila) yesterday commented on and so reminded me, is the tendancy for the audience to laugh at the strangest things...yesterday's moment of amusement was as the Dauhpin and Dauphine were being 'bedded' after their marriage...as is normal (well at least in historical context!) the 'bedding ceremony' is conducted with the majority of the court in the bedroom and the final part is a blessing from the priest....as the priest stepped forward to bless the marriage bed, the entire audience dissolved into laughter....
The costumes and the setting were magnificent, even down to the detail of the food on the table as the Dauphin and Dauphine later King and Queen sat down to their farcical meals. The protocol of the court was also well covered...the scene of Marie Antoinette's 'first' morning at the French court was amusing.
The script (what there was of it), the music, the reference to what was going on outside the gates of Versailles and the ending were all quite odd.....not bad, just odd...
One of my favourite parts of the movie was the first dinner party shown, when much is made of the King's mistress, for some reason it reminded me of the dinner party in Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse', for a while at school I struggled with the whole 'stream of consciousness' concept, which was (according to my English teacher at the time) highlighted at the dinner party.....strange the things that spring to mind in a darkened cinema, 20 years after the event!
What I did like about the movie was the fact that Marie Antoinette was actually shown as being someone who had circumstances allowed could have been a good queen, unfortunately the environment in which she lived at Versailles was such that she really did take on the tendancies of a blonde air-head - not really characteristics required of a good queen.
It seems I was not the only one bemused by the film's ending...the general buzz of conversation as I left the cinema was the audience questioning the end!
However, when all's said and done, I will probably go and see it again...even if just for the costumes...
And just a comment on Filipino movie audiences, something I have become used to, but my friend (a very infrequent visitor to Manila) yesterday commented on and so reminded me, is the tendancy for the audience to laugh at the strangest things...yesterday's moment of amusement was as the Dauhpin and Dauphine were being 'bedded' after their marriage...as is normal (well at least in historical context!) the 'bedding ceremony' is conducted with the majority of the court in the bedroom and the final part is a blessing from the priest....as the priest stepped forward to bless the marriage bed, the entire audience dissolved into laughter....
posted by Madame Chiang at 9:20 pm
5 Comments:
in schindler's list, at the point where the kid hiding in a piano struck the strings by accident, the audience craced up.
but my favorite reaction was this. when the rich jewish couple were evicted from their home and the husband pried off that thingy they have on their lintels and kissed it, a husband solemnly turned to his puzzled wife and explained, "that is the crucifix of the jews."
Glad to hear it's not just me that thinks that the amusment factor in cinema's here is slightly different to other places!
I remember that scene wher Di Caprio got shot in The Departed. There were giggles from women. A good day.
I don't know. I find all of the above rather funny too.
Except for the kid in the piano part.
On a similar note: Odd part where Filipinos always laugh when watching the musical Miss Saigon.
The scene where Kim comes into the hotel room and meets Elaine for the first time. After the lines:
Elaine: Don't turn the bed yet.
Kim: I'm not the maid.
Uproarous laughter. Odd odd odd.
This will not really work, I think like this.
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