....And other little weaknesses of the human soul. While I kind of adore everything that has something to do with the 40s-50s, I feel like I have to say something about three movies I saw recently.
Married Life (2007) is something I saw accidentally on a lazy Saturday morning. It's a 1940-set story, so the first thing that I liked about it was Rachel McAdams' great (too blondie, though) hairstyle and outfits.
The story itself is really catchy: husband meets a young, beautiful girl, plots to leave the wife...but as the story unfolds, he realizes that she, the wife would be devastated by the pain. (On the other hand she has a secret lover as well). You can sense a slight comic note when the husband finally decides to kill his wife in order to safe her from shame, pain, whatever..."I don't want to hurt you" shit... it's kind of funny and painful at the same time...well, you can understand it in a way, but come on! The other good thing about this movie is that you would expect a dramatic ending, but then (and not at the end) you get the answer: one cannot build happiness upon the unhappiness of someone else. Babumm. There you go. I like that the story unfolds in a 1940-manner and the answer is put in such a simple way (Like: I love you, but I'm not in love with you anymore, I can't see you suffer, so I'll kill you). It's either black or white. And still...the director can surprise you with an even more simple ending as that. It's a pity that we don't have that anymore. You just constantly receive confusing signals from the outside world and you can't decide how you should answer that. This is a helluva fckd up world (sorryz for the bad language).
The other movie I saw upon this subject is based on a Somerset Maugham novel, it is
The Painted Veil (2006). Here you can see more interesting clothes of the era. Though a bit boring, it's a beautiful story of love fulfilled too late. Again..jealousy, betrayal, revenge...but all along with that you can actually gain something. Something good. It is like you have to put up with all that sh*t in order to learn how open up for another person...and not to hurt...be hurt. And the clothes are adorable :)
And then it was
The Cat's Meow (2001) with the beautiful Kirsten Dunst (yeah, yeah, I'm still such a huge Marie Antoinette fan because of her...and of Sofia Coppola, of course). This is a movie presenting the Hollywood stars of the 1920s. I didn't really like the story itself, but Kirsten's acting made it okay. It's jealousy for the third time. Along with the ragtime and the elegant dresses of the era. It was good to see it, though.
So, here's the thing: somebody always pisses you off, because life's ironic, let me call it faith, if you want, but because of the selfishness of the other person you don't have to feel bad about yourself and you don't have to do silly things to hurt that person. I don't really care anymore.
Pics: from here and there
