Gorgeous but disappointing films- Marie Antoinette and Girl With a Pearl Earring

Kirsten Dunst as the iconic Marie Antoinette

Scarlett Johansson as Vermeer's iconic Girl With a Pearl Earring

As my regular readers well know, there are few period dramas I don't like (or love!) and even these two have many redeeming qualities, but I have to say that they were both gorgeous disappointments for me. Both Marie Antoinette and Girl With a Pearl Earring are based on books (the former on a biography by Antonia Fraser and the latter a work of fiction by Tracy Chevalier) and both could have been great films. But alas they are not great. More like so-so films with some pretty breathtaking cinematography.

Am I the only one creeped out by Colin Firth's wig?!

As I have recently arrived home from a trip to Paris and Amsterdam/Delft, I was scouring my DVD collection for films with either French or Dutch influences to watch and write about. These two leapt out at me. As we had actually just been to Delft, the quaint historic town where Vermeer spent his entire life, I pulled out Girl With a Pearl Earring first. I mean, how can you miss with Colin Firth, ScarJo, Tom Wilkinson and Judy Parfitt?

Tom Wilkinson and Judy Parfitt as Vermeer's patron and mother-in-law are truly wonderful

The indoor sets and the artistic quality of the lighting were lovely, although the outdoor shots were more like Venice than Delft, largely because they reused a set in Luxembourg where a film set in Venice was shot. Sigh. The real canals as they are just as they would have been in Vermeer's time but I guess filming on location is difficult. And although the acting seems to be good, they just didn't lose me in their characters. I still felt I was watching Colin Firth in a bad wig (although the one on Cillian Murphy was worse!) and ScarJo in a bonnet.

Cillian Murphy in a fright wig and Scarlett Johansson in a bonnet

Judy Parfitt as Vermeer's mother-in-law and Tom Wilkinson as his lecherous patron were spot on however. So, I can still recommend watching it to learn about Vermeer and his amazing works, of which only 34 now survive. And watch it because it is gorgeous and sumptuous in it's scenery, costumes and cinematography.

Sumptuous and colourful, this could also be a painting!

And now on to Marie Antoinette. Filmed almost entirely in France (and director Sofia Coppola even got permission to film in the Palace of Versailles!) there is no doubt that this film is one of the most visually pleasing I have ever seen. That alone is reason to watch it. Eye candy is probably the most often used term to describe Marie Antoinette.

Not surprising that they were guillotined by the poor starving peasants!

There is a lot of great historical content in this film too and although not perfectly correct, it is probably closer to the truth than most bio pics. So what was it that bugged me about this film? Was it the weird mix of accents, from American to British to French (real and faked)?

OK, the costumes alone make the film worth watching

If I compare it to Shakespeare in Love, which is one of my absolute "can't do without" films, there is just a lack of heart and soul to the film. I just didn't care whether they got their heads chopped off at the end. And that is never a good sign in a film...

Mmmmmmm.....Marie Antoinette shoes from the film. Manolo Blahnik made hundreds....

So watch this film for the costumes, the shoes, the food, the scenery, the furniture and even the history....just don't watch it to be swept away by the story. 

Midnight in Paris- Time travel in the City of Light

Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen (poster inspired by The Starry Night by Van Gogh)

I am still jet-lagged from a whirlwind trip to Paris and Amsterdam with my husband (The Squire) and our two teen boys. "Wow" is about all I can say. Although impressed with both cities, my thoughts keep returning to Paris. I watched Midnight in Paris twice earlier in the summer in anticipation of my first trip to Paris. Loved it both times and now I feel like watching it again to feel that Parisian glow again...

Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard in Midnight in Paris

I adored this film, although I am not normally a Woody Allen fan. Apparently I now have to see Purple Rose of Cairo as well however, as it seems to be the absolute fave of the die hard Allen fans. Midnight in Paris has nostalgia (for better or worse), time travel and an absolute feast for the senses. The music, the scenery...well I don't want to build it up too much, just go and enjoy.

Rachael McAdams as the slightly obnoxious American fiancee of Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson plays a successful but insecure Hollywood screenplay writer (aka the Woody Allen type) who accompanies his  fiancée and her family to Paris and becomes painfully aware of the differences in their interests and goals after some magical midnight walks.

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald from one of the "Midnight in Paris" journeys back to the 1920s

This film will make you want to bone up on your history of art/literature/music of the 1920s (and of the Belle Époque) after Woody Allen crams in as many allusions to the past as he can manage in one film.

The Pont Alexandre III in the rain

Even rain in Paris is glorified as seen above in the final scene on the gorgeous Pont Alexandre III. We had a spot of rain in this area of Paris followed by a double rainbow over the Seine, so I cannot argue with the magic there! We were also befriended by a lovely 75 year old Parisian a few days later and invited to his apartment for wine, cheese, seafood and conversation so truly, anything can happen in Paris. Sigh.......

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (found at MOMA in NYC-not in Paris)

P.S. Thanks to my Big Sister for the great guest post while I was away. Merci bien!

P.P.S. Kudos to Michael Sheen as a hilarious pseudo-intellectual and to Adrian Brody and Kathy Bates for their very entertaining Salvador Dalí and Gertrude Stein. 



Here are a few other films with a French influence which you might enjoy...

Guest Post - Two Degrees of Judi Dench

Hello, All! Big Sister here with my first solo guest post ... Jenny is away in Europe (Paris and Amsterdam) with the Squire and her two handsome sons for a couple of weeks and has left this blog in my hands to continue the postings while she's "abroad". Silly sister ... I promise that I won't go off onto too many tangents and will keep The Jane Austen Film Club going in her absence ... so here we go!

JUDI DENCH - The Queen (in more than one sense) of the Period Drama

Longtime followers of this blog may remember that Jenny has referred to an ongoing conversation that she and I have about the possibility that (at any given time) there are really about only 30 British actors working in Period Dramas ... because we keep seeing the same wonderful faces showing up in (often) quite different roles. Her recent "Actor of the Week" series really highlights this - but I would like to give my own spin on it with a game we've developed called "Two Degrees of Judi Dench" (based on the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon idea) ... I'm going to try to work my way through the list of actors that we have put together, and will endeavour to show how almost any actor in a costume drama is only separated from Judi Dench by two degrees (at most!) of distance.

But first, we start with Dame Judi herself! Although she was well-known to Anglophiles as a wonderful stage and television actress through the '60s and '70s, I first remember seeing her as the novelist Eleanor Lavish in the wonderful (and very romantic) Merchant/Ivory film called "A Room With A View" (1985).

Dame Maggie Smith as Charlotte (left) and Dame Judi Dench as Elinor Lavish (right) in "A Room With A View" (1985)

It was a crackerjack supporting role as the forthright, nosy, opinionated female novelist, and was a perfect foil to Dame Maggie Smith's role as the twittery and passive-aggressive chaperone Charlotte to her cousin Lucy Honeychurch (played by Helena Bonham-Carter). If you haven't seen it - or haven't seen it lately - RUN (don't walk) to the video store/Amazon/Netflix and track it down! You'll absolutely love it ... I promise!

Billy Connolly as John Brown and Dame Judi Dench as Queen Victoria in "Mrs. Brown" (1997)

Judi Dench credits Miramax Film for moving her up to a leading film actress in "Mrs. Brown" (1997) about Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert. She starred in this film with Billy Connolly, the Scottish standup comic and actor, who portrays John Brown, a member of the Queen's staff at Balmoral, whose burgeoning friendship with Victoria brings her out of her depression. Confession time: I haven't yet seen this film, but based on what I've read (and this trailer on YouTube), I will definitely be checking it out in the near future!

Colin Firth as Lord Wessex and Dame Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love" (1998)

Dame Judi's 1999 Oscar was awarded for an eight-minute performance in only four scenes as Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love" (1998). Being a complete film geek, I will tell you that it was the second shortest ever performance to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (the only shorter performance being Beatrice Straight's six-minute performance in "Network" in 1976). "Shakespeare in Love" was another fun, fantastic film and a prime place for spotting more of the 30 British Actors that Jenny and I often talk about.

Dame Judi Dench as Miss Matty Jenkyns in "Cranford" (2008 & 2009)

Judi Dench's performance as Miss Matty Jenkyns in "Cranford" (2008 & 2009) was a delight; and according to the interviews in the Bonus Features on the DVD, everyone had a great time during the filming. According to all, Dame Judi is charming and personable and made everybody feel at home on the set. And the development of the character of Miss Matty through the two series of "Cranford" is sweet and natural: from meek younger sibling to a role of leadership in the female-populated community of Cranford.

Other notable Judi Dench Period Drama roles:

Jane Eyre (2011) - Mrs. Fairfax

Pride and Prejudice (2005) - Lady Catherine de Bourg

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) - Lady Augusta Bracknell

Hamlet (1996) - Hecuba

Henry V (1989) - Mistress Nell Quickly

So catch up on some (or all) of these movies with the incomparable Judi Dench, and then stay tuned - in my future posts, I'll show you how your favourite British actors in period dramas are connected by no more than "Two Degrees of Judi Dench"!