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Emma Thompson criticizes 'utterly unbalanced' movie romances between men and women


https://ew.com/movies/emma-thompson-criticizes-unbalanced-movie-romances/

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A woman who cast herself in the role of a 19-year old when she was 35...

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Well to be fair in the movie Elinor was 27 not 19, and she also changed the ages of Marianne, Edward, and Colonel Brandon to be a little closer to the ages of the actors. (and I do mean only a little)

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Emma Thompson looks every bit her age. She didn't pass for 27 either.

I'm sure there were enough talented actresses at the time who were around the age of 20 and could've played the part as originally intended.

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No argument here, I'm just saying that she did fudge all their ages so she could be in the movie with her friends and not have it so jarring. I mean book Brandon was 35 and I think Rickman was 49 at the time of the movie. I know it's not as jarring with men, like she argues in the article but there was no way Rickman looked in his late 30s.

I do enjoy this adaptation, but there are certainly others out there that have a cast more suited to the book characters.

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I wasn't too happy with Rickman's casting either for the same reason. But turning a 19-year old girl into a 27-year old woman becomes way more problematic in Austen's world.

I don't completely disagree with her, but she's been guilty of a bit of ageism herself.

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I honestly think that it was to show up Kenneth Branagh. They divorced the year it came out, so I'm sure there were issues before that, and maybe she just wanted to do for Austen what he did for Shakespeare.

That is just my speculation with nothing to base it on other than I'm projecting what I might feel. Haha

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Hmm, you could be on to something. Who knows!🤷‍♀️

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Actually, she was working on the s&s screenplay for ten years after being asked to write it by Lindsay Doran. Around 1993 (iirc) Doran got Sidney Pollock to read the script and hoepfully produce. He is the one who wanted Thompson to play Elinor.

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Like I said, my thoughts were really more wishful thinking.

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🙂


she already showed up Branagh with her oscar/gg/bafta for Howard’s End (And noms for Remains of the Day), which is frequently suggested as the main reason their relationship went kaput.

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It seems to me that they both had colossal egos so they were bound to come to grief sooner or later in the battle of ' Who's the most important one in this relationship ? '


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Is Kaput a word?

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Yes!

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Yes ! There was another thread that mentioned Yiddish words some people aren't familiar with.
Heck, I'm as Goy as they come, but I still have enough cultural awareness to know Yiddish is a rich source of language. Not to Kvetch but Oy Vey ! You're a real Mensch, if I may say so.

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Gee, thanks! I try to be.

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Sidney Pollock made that a stipulation when he read her script.

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Lol, no, the "official story" is that Ang Lee convinced her to take on the role because he was so impressed with her acting. And if you really believe that, you're even sillier than I thought.

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I read that in multiple sources back in the 90s.

Condescending much?

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Come on, you were way worse over at the Bridgerton board!😆

Elinor being 27 makes no sense in the historical context, so even if Thompson was offered the role she should've refused because she should've known better having worked on the screenplay for 5 years.

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Nope. You were. Yes, I suggested you were making an ass of yourself. Now go back and figure out how I came to that conclusion.

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I already know why you came to that conclusion. You're a woke troll making an ass of themselves!

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Damn, Stratego vs. Emma Thompson.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/94/40/71/94407135f73f1e66541b3faad4df25a5.gif

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where do we sign up to watch this?

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Is Stratego the kicky one or the flippy one?

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#cougarlivesmatter

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😊😊

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Another reason to hate Mank (2020):

In the the Netflix film Mank, "62-year-old Gary Oldman stars as Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, while his wife Sara is played by 33-year-old Tuppence Middleton. In real life, the pair were the same age."

I cringed when I saw that, especially since Mank was a drinking alcoholic. Why would this much-younger-woman be interested in this over-the-hill drunk?

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I cringed when I saw that, especially since Mank was a drinking alcoholic. Why would this much-younger-woman be interested in this over-the-hill drunk?


Is there any other kind? 😜

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There are people who obsess on cleanliness and disinfect everything with alcohol all the time...

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She's free to write her own version of what she'd like and see how it sells.

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Why would she does that when she can just write controversial tweets and get more popularity and money instead?

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Yep. Free publicity is the best kind.

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She's just saying it to wind people up would be my guess.

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Or she's saying it because it's true.

It's not even just a Hollywood issue. It's much more acceptable for there to be an age gap as long as the male is older. We can argue the why, but it is the way it is.

I applaud her for challenging it. Not sure she will have success, but I think if Hollywood does show actresses playing desirable characters, and not just grandmothers, once they hit 40 or 50, it would help how society sees women.

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Being "acceptable" really has nothing to do with it. It is what it is.

It's just a milder form of the " Ugly women are beautiful and if we keep saying it over and over people will finally realize that it's true ! " would be wish fulfillment nonsense. The fact is that some young women are attracted to usually rich, successful and charismatic men that are twenty and even thirty years older than them but instances of young men being attracted to older women are uncommon by comparison.

I have nothing against films and TV shows depicting younger men older women relationships but if people think this will make these kind of relationships more mainstream and commonplace in real life they are kidding themselves.



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I'm not saying that these older women have to be in relationships with men 30 years younger than them. They could, however, play opposite someone their own age. George Clooney's character doesn't have to be with a character 30 years younger than him. There are many attractive actresses over 50.

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A return to socially responsible family values. I would be for it but I don't think the world of Showbiz would regard it as financially rewarding.

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Well put. Isn't this what Lifetime and Hallmark are for? People in the same age and attractiveness scale finding that special magic? Sure, I'll plunk down my hard-earned money and go to a theater to watch that ! (sarcasm)

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Woo-hoo, snepts comes out a-swinging. BOOM! Love it lol

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Thanks ! Or maybe not - whatever .... Merry Christmas !

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No no, it was a definite compliment!

Merry Christmas to you too 😊🎄

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Great ! Btw, I saw one of those stations the other day and I had to laugh just how young and lovely these people are and how contrived the situation was and how we are supposed to look at it like, isn't this what America is supposed to look like? We're all Young, we're all Clean, we have no Guile, we run into people who are Pure Of Heart and have Good Jobs, it all works out ....
I had to laugh, like, if only MY life was like this, smh, lol .
Cheers !

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This isn't sarcasm, but most men don't put down money to see romantic comedies in theatres anyway. But that being said, are actresses like Nicole Kidman, Monica Bellucci, Viola Davis, Salma Hayek. Sandra Bullock,
Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts etc all suddenly too ugly for the same romantic partners they had in movies 10 years ago?

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I used to call myself a SNAG.

Know what a SNAG is?
Sensitive New Age Guy, like Alan Alda as opposed to Burt Reynolds, (who may have been a real gentleman, he's just a name I'm throwing out there).
Many years ago I was dating a wonderful woman (who I'm still friends with today) and we watched While You Were Sleeping together. I thought it was charming.
No, I probably wouldn't plunk down $$ to see some current rom-com feature, but movies like Juno and Easy A or, going back, Kate and Leopold, I could see watching them in the theater. High Fidelity is also kind of a rom-com with a different twist to it.
But not Love Actually, and I'm sure you realize is a Christmas movie. Blech !

But Merry Christmas to you and yours. All the best !

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I think the last rom com I watched in the theatre was My Girl even though I'm their target audience. I'm not really a fan of them, even though I am currently watching some Hallmark Christmas movies. I don't know why. But I can say they are a million times better than Love Actually. I agree with you. Blech!!

Merry Christmas to you as well.

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Shoot, now I'll go off on a tangent on how much I dislike movies that rely on the title being some old popular song, like My Girl and so many others. (I remember it coming out but don't think I watched it.)
That's probably a good thread to post -- bad movies using a popular song as the title.

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Last Christmas. I refuse to watch that one.

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I’m unlikely to go see a romcom but I often watch movies on TCM that have themes that would mainly appeal to women.

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But that being said, are actresses like Nicole Kidman, Monica Bellucci, Viola Davis, Salma Hayek. Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts etc all suddenly too ugly for the same romantic partners they had in movies 10 years ago?

Not ugly. Old.

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Your comment about George Clooney, you are correct, I only used him as an example as he was mentioned in the article.

This comment however, does not surprise me at all.

Merry Christmas.

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Yeah, I don't like it either, but I think I know their logic. These dramas are kinda low in budget, so to maximise their exposure they would need to cast an aging well-known actor because they're still popular but relatively cheaper.

And then they would think that they need an eye-candy to bring even more butts to the seats, therefore casting an even cheaper young and fresh face for the other lead actor (usually the love interest in these dramas.)

In the end, moviemaking is a bussiness and the most important purpose is to bring in maximum profits.

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George Clooney's character doesn't have to be with a character 30 years younger than him. There are many attractive actresses over 50.

In real life, the wife of George Clooney is 18 years younger than him.

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Their are women in entertainment industry who is with younger men as well.

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"The fact is that some young women are attracted to usually rich, successful and charismatic men that are twenty and even thirty years older than them but instances of young men being attracted to older women are uncommon by comparison."

Unless you're a French president.

Amirite???

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She has a good point. I would welcome more films with older women getting it on with hot young studs.

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audiences don't seem to want to see it.

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NEITHER DOES MY WIFE... TOO BAD...SHE OWES ME.

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she doesn't have dentures or anything??

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SHE DOES NOW...IVE GOTTEN USED TO IT.

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is she getting social security??

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NOPE.

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i was just teasing. sorry. i meant she not he

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TEASE AWAY...I GOT MYSELF INTO THIS NIGHTMARE...NOW I JUST HAVE TO WAIT 5 MORE YEARS,WHEN MY DAUGHTER HEADS OFF FOR COLLEGE...THEN I AM FREE!,FREE!,FREE!....THE WIFE WILL PROBABLY BE THRILLED NOT HAVING TO PARTICIPATE INB SEX ANYMORE.🙂

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you are still a relatively young man. just have to find a woman who loves movies and collecting dvds.

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And VHS!!!

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The fact is men like younger women. And yes, some older women like younger men but it is far more rare. Also, many younger women like older men as well.

It always seems odd to me that with all this tolerance stuff with partnerships and sexuality that it is considered perfectly ok to disparage older man x younger woman pairings.

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Many young women like older men close in age not old men.

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I like Emma but have not clicked the link.
I think it's a fair criticism to remind all of us there are inequities in the depiction of relationships in entertainment that are profit driven and not helpful to the betterment of life for all parties.
Would be great if we were all less superficial.

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