Sunday, May 9, 2010

Stage Beauty

This is one of those films which, when I finally saw it, I had to buy a copy immediately. It's such an exellently performed, entertaining movie. Zoe Tapper stands out as a wonderfully winsome presence, delightful and appealing and funny and perfectly cast, even though at first she's just way to modern-ly pretty and telegenic. Rupert Everett is impossible ever to dislike much, but here he is both magnificently royal (pleh!) and alMOST human. It's lovely, and so is he. ALL the supporting roles are great here, and the leads are impossibly frustrating, electric, riveting.

The detail is super - the language of gesture they invented for seventeeth-century actors of women's roles is wonderful - and the production design is extremely well considered. It looks fantastic, even down to the costuming, which I often find distracting in historical pieces. Here, it's very nicely planned and executed. And the lighting, yes, is a fantastic accomplishment (just listen to the commentary). Supa-dupa!

But more than anything else: entertaining. I love this plot. The performances and the interesting developments. The writing.

The performances. Yep.

Faboo flick. Get it.

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