Age difference?
Olivia looks old enough to be Dirk's mother.
shareA bit ungallant but true!
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MovieChat Forums > Libel (1960) Discussion > Age difference?
Not true, and your post is a sad sign of the misogyny of the times.
She was 5 years older than he, and when you look at their respective skin textures/muscle tone, she looks like his contemporary. (The bad hairstyles of the era were matronly, I grant you, but that's about the only problem.)
I suggest, OP and 1st replier, that you stop paying attention to the 21st-century's woman-hating, plastic-surgery-distorted versions of "women" in their 40s and beyond, and instead take your cues from pre-1980 movies and still shots.
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."
Hi Helena
Sorry to be a bit late replying but I haven't looked at the site for a while.
You accuse the OP and me of being mysogynistic because we felt that Olivia de Havilland looked too old to be Dirk Bogarde's mother in the film. Naturally he (if the OP is a he) can speak for himself but for my part - and you will probably not be surprised to hear that I disagree with you - I think that you are seeing mysogyny where none exists. I genuinely feel that she did seem too old for the part, irrespective of the actors' real ages. It's a valid opinion, with which you are of course entitled to disagree, and the fact that she was a woman had nothing to do with it. You appear to be saying that any man who criticises a woman must in doing so be a mysogynist and that I cannot accept. Similarly should a white person criticise a black person, or vice versa, it would not necessarily be racist.
To turn the argument on its head I (again genuinely) believe that in North by North West Cary Grant looked too old to be Jessie Royce Landis' son. If a woman were to express that opinion would you automatically regard her as a misandrist? Or is it only men who have to suffer these accusations?
Apologies. Not "too old" - I should have said "old enough".
shareHelena,
I don't think the OP was really being nasty, just making an observation. I got the same impression at first but mostly because Ms.de Haviland is always so composed and dignified, while Bogarde is so boyish. It is more demeanor that struck me, rather than appearance. Also, Bogarde's character was so vulnerable and confused while de Haviland was strong and nurturing.
in defense of helena, i understand her response. this comment is all too familiar with actresses older than their male counterpart. it gets a bit tiresome when age is brought to everyone's attention and yet films with the male lead much older than the female lead goes without comment. we just want consistency, if you think it bad casting for a female to look older than her male lead, then call out the bad casting when it is the opposite.
shareI thought she looked great. I think the standard (then and now) must be that the woman is expected to look ten years younger than the man, so if she's close to the same age as her leading man she "looks like his mother". In this case the odd graying job on his hair might not have helped, but it never flitted through my brain that there was any age problem here.
Having just enjoyed "Daddy Long Legs" with Fred Astaire chasing Lesley Caron around, and being a very big fan of the original "Sabrina" and of "Charade", I don't really see the issue with this one.
As to misogyny, I guess that's in the ear/eye of the beholder, but if a beautiful woman who's aged as well as Olivia de Havilland- what was she here, 44?- "looks like the mother" of an actor five years younger, that seems to me like a bit of a stretch.