A la croisée des parfums

Which I would have watched on the big screen if I could have, but a brief showing time and my tight schedule did not allow it. Anyway: this is the movie in which Natalie Portman plays a (tv) actress, Elizabeth, who wants to play Gracie (Julianne Moore) in a movie based on events taking place about two decades plus earlier than the film's setting, which is 2015. (Though the film itself premiered in 2023.) Said events consisted of Gracie, at age 36, having had a "relationship" with a thirteen years old boy, Joe ,whom she after some years in prison for statuary rape married; he's currently 36 (as is Elizabeth), the same age she was back then, and played by Charles Melton, who I osmosed before this movie was mostly famous for playing a jock type in Riverdale but who is absolutely stunning in this film (and should at least have gotten an Oscar nomination), which given he's working with Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman at their best, is truly saying something. There are also kids (the one Gracie was pregnant with when she got caught is now in college, and thn there are twins about to graduate), as well as Gracie's offspring from her earlier marriage, with her son Georgie being the same age as Joe. The movie is directed by Todd Haynes, and dives right into how incredibly messed up a story this is.

Now, if you start the film knot knowing what it's about, then the first few minutes might let you assume it's a black comedy about suburbia; Gracie, Joe and their children live in the proverbial idyllic white fenced area somewhere in South Carolina, with Gracie (who runs a small scale bakery) coming across as somewhat high strung but popular among her neighbours - and then Elizabeth arrives, only to find an anonymous package at the couple's front door which contains feces. There are some comedy beats throughout the remaining movie, but actually I would classify it as emotional horror. Gracie is still absolutely incapable of admitting she ever did anything wrong, and we get an early taste of her ability to manipulate and achieve emotional control when she comments on her daughter's choice of prom dress: "You're so brave to show your arms! I wouldn't have dared", with the result that of course the poor girl doesn't buy that dress but the one Gracie likes. Elizabeth isn't the film's heroine, either, though in the first half her investigation provides the audience bit by bit with the backstory from various povs via the characters Elizabeth talks to; the movie goes full throttle about what a disturbing and ruthlessly exploitative process an actor working on a role can be if that role isn't a fictional character but a real person. (BTW, of course Portman and Moore don't look much alike, but that only helps enhancing the sense of disquiet as Elizabeth adopts more and more of Gracie's mannerisms, with the scene where Gracie gives Elizabeth a makeover with her own makeup and lipstick being a showcase in point.)

Meanwhile, Joe starts out on a quiet background note when compared to the two women, and then the story shows more and more how messed up not just the start of his relationship with Gracie was but how messed up their present day relationship still is. More than one review described Joe as a thirteen years old still locked in the body of an adult man, and before watching the film I assumed this meant Joe would be characterized as a manchild, but no, that's not what was meant at all. If anything, he's the most reasonably and responsibly acting adult in this film. But emotionally, it becomes clear he's never had the chance to process what happened, not least because his entire life is still built around keeping Gracie happy. He became a father years and years before growing up, and the scene where due to his teenage son for the first time sharing pot with him his quiet and calm facade finally cracks and some of that repressed emotion breaks through is incredibly good and heartbreaking.

Incidentally: making a movie which deals with an adult grooming a kid without getting voyeuristic with a young actor sounds near impossible - but May-December by showing us the aftermath and the long term effect everything had on Joe decades later proves it can be done. At the same time, we do get a visual reminder of just how young he was when Elizabeth gets sent video clips of teenagers auditioning to play Joe. (The audition clips don't show more than them introducing themselves with their name and age.) Elizabeth looks appalled, and the audience might think it's because it hits her how young thirteen really is.... and then a few scenes later, she's on the phone with her producer and tells him these guys are just wrong because they don't look sexy enough. Which tells you something about Elizabeth.

Despite how good this film is - with script, acting and cinematography all outstanding - , I'm not surprised it wasn't a box office success (while getting deservedly criticial praise.) It's hardly a subject lending itself to relaxation, and despite its three leads all being very attractive people, any sexual activity is basically the opposite of fanservice - like I said, it's an emotional horror show. Not something I'll rewatch any time soon, though I am glad I watched it once, and am full of admiration for what it achieves.

This in fannish and rl political matters was not a good past week, but what is anymore, one is tempted to ask. But it wasn't universally bleak, either.

Wheel of Time cancelled: a pity. I was only so so about it in the first season, grew to like it in the second, and was impressed by the third. Where it had felt like starting out on a generic fantasy pattern (heroes called to quest, evil dark overlords and minions wrecking the land), it had truly become its own unique thing. Yes, I could still read the books, but I osmosed that many of the things I liked best about the tv version are in fact different to the books (for example, unless I osmosed wrongly, Rand is the clear main character in the books, while if there is any lead on tv, it's Moraine, Liandrin is a simple Evil McEvil villainess in the book where in the tv version she has backstory and complicated feelings, and "more complicated" is true for other villains as well, Moraine's sister Alvaere (spelling?), wonderfully played by Lindsay Duncan, only exists as a name in the books and her relationship with Moraine not at all, and the books have only same sex subtext where the show has main text, etc.). I wanted to follow this specific version of the tale, and now I won't be able to.

(Also, I'm reminded of how annoying I always found back in the day and sometimes years later when B5 and DS9 were played out against each other; I loved both, and refused to play that game, and interaction with other fans was tricky if you wanted discussions of one only to to come across rants about the other. It's not that I love Rings of Power, but I do like it, and if it was difficult already to come across interesting meta, now there will be additional bile blaming it on a note of "why wasn't this cancelled instead".)

The Mouse channel put up Captain America: Brave New World on its streaming service. I hadn't bothered to see it in the cinema after getting only discouraging noises, and while sometimes I come across media loathed by most which I love or at least like, this wasn't the case here. It had some elements I liked, but simply wasn't very good. I do wonder whether Captain America: The Winter Soldier is for the MCU what Star Trek: Wrath of Khan was for decades for the ST franchise - to wit, the movie most of fandom adores and loves best and which subsequently gets imitated over and over to the detriment of the results because they don't succeed in creating something of equal value and the repeated tropes get less convincing the more they're repeated. In the MCU case, subsequent attempts to combine 70s style political thriller with the superhero formula included the dreadful Secret Invasion which everyone seems to silently agree never to have happened since it's been ignored by the rest of the franchise, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was decidedly mixed in quality and result (though definitely better than Secret Invasion). Some short observations why despite having good actors and some good ideas, Brave New World just didn't stick the landing (imo, as always) in its attempt to recreate Winter Soldier: ( are spoilery. )


Doctor Who ?.08: Reality War: Which felt at times like RTD throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, at times like (great) trolling, and at times was surprisingly touching giving everything else. ( Spoilery comments await )


***

Peter David the writer died. Back in the 1990s, I loved reading most of his Star Trek novels, especially but by no means exclusively Imzadi and Q-Squared. (I haven't reread them in decades by now, and have no idea whether they would still hold up, but I remember the reading pleasure they gave me, and how they long before the internet provided me with online fanfic showed how a story can enhance and deepen characterisation as given by a tv show.) On the B5 side of things, he contributed two episodes, including Soul Mates in season 2, which is still one of my all time favourites, and in it he created who is definitely my favourite one episode only on Babylon 5 character, Timov. (His B5 books were more of a mixed affair, but this is not the place to repeat my problems with the Centauri trilogy and its (lack of) worldbuilding.) If a writer is able to gift you with characters that remain with you for the rest of your life, that is more than many of us will ever achieve, so, hail and farewell, Peter David.