Angel (2007)

It's finally released in Hong Kong!!!

adapted from Elizabeth Taylor's novel and directed by Francois Ozon, this film is an amazing confection with a slightly melodramatic portrayal of an Edwardian female writer's quest for fame, love and wealth. Many people who watched it say Angel's life is really tragic. but I think her perception of her own life have to be nice, as she decorates the whole Paradise house into somewhat a paradise. the ambiguity Ozon tries to bring out this time is -

whether we're looking at the life she lived or the life she dreamed.

I have to agree with many that Angel Deverell (Romola Garai) is slightly pulled away from the reality as in many scenes. She refuses to grow up when Esme finally takes up the responsibility of a man and goes to war (the story spans the late 19th century and the early 1920s). and the only sad part is she can't catch up with the society when everything changes. It's such a pity that a writer like her experiences a catapult to fame and is suddenly robbed of everything.

the only disappointment in the film is the character of Esme. Michael Fassbender is really good as Angel's husband and the painter. the thing I don't really understand is how Angel can love a man to the extent that she's willing to give up everything for him, and gets nothing in return. maybe true love doesn't ask for anything in return, but it's quite shocking at the end when she finds out abt Esme's past. Sometimes I think Angel isn't ruined by her own ambitions, as Charlotte Rampling's character Hermione says she rather admires Angel for her qualities to get what she wants, Deverell is somehow ruined by her inability to live in the present and her love for Esme. that's why the audience is able to sympathise with Angel when she appears to be a showy person.

quite an oustanding performance from Romola Garai I must admit. She has grown up a lot since I first saw her in I Capture the Castle.

I always feel that this dress is going to create a sensation after Keira Knightley's green biased cut one in Atonement.

a little poetry reading

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/jerocca&article_id=13912749

Jerocca's blog is about films and cultural issues. quite innovative and inspirational. : ) I especially like her entry on Apr 3 about poetry.

"Poetry doesn't belong to those who write it
but those who need it."
- Mario Ruoppolo (Il Postino)

poetry is fashion.
as seen from the recent trend of blooming flowers for summer. this trend does sparkle when accompanied by a line or two of poetry. things don't get as surreal and beautiful without John Keats' La Belle Dame sans Merci

"...I see a lily on thy brow,
with anguish moist and fever dew,

and on thy cheeks a fading rose
fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
full beautiful - a faery's child,
her hair was long, her foot was light,
and her eyes were wild..."

a kind of fish tail mermaid dress from Zac Posen

this Peter Som is amazing.
a combination of effortless grace and modernity.


the flower child theme is always making a come back in the summer. reminds me of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

watched it today, the one with Sophie Marceau, Rupert Everett, Christian Bale, Calista Flockhart, Michelle Pheiffer and Stanley Tucci.

it's dreamy and poetic. it's my favourite Shakespearean play (Romeo & Juliet is classic, but this one wins my heart whenever I read it or watch the film). with all those faeries and Titannia and the dreamy Oberon. sigh.

just love these two. they're comical in there.

having a pre-summer madness right now. it's still not midsummer thank god, or else it will be steaming hot in here. exam's not done, but since I've finished two subjects, so I'd better come here and write a bit of a blog. just can't resist it. anyway have to get on with my studies. big challenge ahead. argh. starting to get restless again.

bonne nuit.