Does anyone know of pre-Raphaelite films other than this one?
The book suggests this more than the film, with the hero meeting Rosetti on a train. But then in the film, the scene where Sara with red hair and green dress, catches the dress on a briar is pure pre-Raph. If I remember correctly the film crew within the film make a big deal of the scene by re-shooting it.
You're mistaken. This film is a Victorian/contemporary 1980s film.
shareNo, sorry, but you are mistaken. All the imagery is pre-Raphaelite - red haired woman, brambles, green dress etc. As I am sure you know the pre-Raphaelites were around in Victorian times (1848 was the beginning) so being a victorian film/1980's film does not exclude it from being pre-Raph. Also, the book emphasises the p-R aspect even more. Infact the hero (Jonathan?) sits opposite Rosetti on a train without realising who he is.
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
In that case then maybe you'd like Tess. It's similar to what you describe.
shareI've seen Tess but can't remember it having any PR imagery in it. It's unlikely it would have as I don't think Hardy ever expressed any interest in the PR movement. Fowles however, obviously did in the FL'sW.
I'm assuming you are aquainted with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and all that they stood for and achieved. Some would argue that the PR's represent the zenith of UK painting.
Films/movies are a totally legitimate and valid artistic genre - but they are not the only artistic genre. How terrible it would be to reject all genres but one, just in favour of that one, i.e. to disregard al that really important cultural heritage. The thought is complete anathema to me. Hope you agree.
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
I just saw the F.L.W. and it's completely Pre-Raph.
Even down to the heroine being like Lizzy Siddal who
was an artist in her own right .
I would be interested to see the other endings to this .
For the ending was not Pre-Raph.
Pluto: you are the first person who has actually agreed with me on this! I missed the heroine-as-an-artist reference. Have you read the book - more in depth and different to the film - but really enjoyable.
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
That wasn't Rosetti on the train. That was the book's author, John Fowles. Rosetti lived at the house at the end where Sarah was living and working.
shareThis is the kind of answer I hate the most: the responder thinks you're an absolute moron by stating the obvious (that this story takes place during the Victorian era - and in case one still misses the clues, there are ample mentions of Darwin as a contemporary biologist). Not only he thinks that the OP is a total moron, but he betrays his own ignorance of what pre-Raphaelite imagery means in art.
Very typical of a kind of people I am forced to work with: always thinking on the first degree, and missing any clue about anything beyond the obvious surface, the first appearance. These sad boeotians make the most boring life companions possible and have made more than one's life miserable...
Fortunately, the OP persisted and ignored the ignoramus for us all :-)
Victorian, Doh! Pre-Raphaelite, huh? I tend to think that there is quite a lot of Neanderthalian DNA out there. That DNA was inherited by our ancestors when Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis were fvcking each other for the few thousand years that the 2 species coexisted. Some of us have apparently salvaged more of it than others, leading to brilliant statements of the obvious.
Now that my presto has let off steam that had built up because of Iratemovies neanderthalensis, I has to say that the OP's post is cleaver and quite intriguing. I appreciated the meticulous attention to details in the composition of the images, making of "The French Lieutenant's Woman" a true gem that I had not yet seen until today, silly me.
In that respect, on the same level as "Barry Lyndon", although the latter is more akin to Thomas Gainsborough. I think.Both movies contain quite a few moments that are purely aesthetic. Painting with a camera...
I has to say that the OP's post is cleaver and quite intriguing.
OK, English is not my first language, but two grammar/spelling errors in such a long post? Not too bad... But I still maintain that YOU messed big time first by thinking on the first degree only and not knowing what we refer to generally with "Pre-Raphaelite". Your post implied that the OP would have missed that the story took place during the Victorian era, which is equivalent to thinking that he was a bloody ignoramus or worse. Well, you sure did not look very good on that one, that's for sure...
And you have every right to be offended.... That was the purpose :-)
When they come back at you with grammatical or spelling errors, it's because they don't have a real argument.
share
Interesting post. This also explains the extraordinarily beautiful color of hair that they give Sarah.
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Yes, Sarah's hair, her green gown, when she catches the gown on the bramble - all pre-Raph imagery.
Incidentally, people with red hair often today dress in green. I wonder if this fashion was actually started by the pre-Raph paintings - any ideas anyone?
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
I don't know about the green and the red hair; these things go in and out of fashion through the decades and centuries. For quite a while in the 1950s and 60s and 70s, redheads were told not to wear green because it clashes with their hair. Which is quite silly, because it doesn't clash, it actually sets it off.
By the way, I don't personally consider the color of Sarah's hair to be red. It's sort of a hair-color not generally found in nature invented by the pre-Raphs -- a rich gold which borders on bronze or deep pumpkin or ochre. Hard to describe, but it's of the blonde family in my opinion.
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Yes, red hair + green definitely works.
I suspected that Sarah's hair colour would not fall under the general definition of 'red'. Being a bloke I'm not particularly good at the subtleties of shades and colours. Don't they say that the ladies have a far greater number of words in their colours/shades vocabularies than the guys.
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
Ladies and gay dudes know all the color names. For the rest of us, it's "reddish-brown" or some such.
shareAngelofic: I've just watched Girl with a Pearl Ear-ring. Because of what was said in our previous conversation I'm guessing you would really enjoy it (maybe you've already seen it). It's interesting how the hierachy-thing works - who has to defer to who. The cinematography is incredible - a lot of the shots, if frozen, would look just like Vermeer paintings - guess it's the lighting.
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
Hi S, thanks for the recommendation. I love Vermeer, and was somewhat tempted to see that, but I dislike the fact that it's a totally made up (and incriminating) story about a famous painter. I didn't read the book, either. I prefer something like The Other Boleyn Girl, which is actually based on fact.
Another film that uses Vermeer images as the basis for its sets is the BBC 1981 film of "All's Well That Ends Well," with Ian Charleson and Angela Down. The lighting isn't the same as Vermeer, but the set designs are recognizably Vermeer.
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OK A, thanks for the "All's Well" recommendation. I wouldn't say G with PE is totally made up, apart from Johansson all the other main characters are historical. Vermeer's real life was probably more chaotic than the film made out. I saw a BBC4 docu about his life and one thing it said was he went to collect a considerable debt on behalf of his mother-inlaw and did a runner with the dosh!
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
You may know this film already, but 'Dante's Inferno' (1967) by Ken Russell is about Dante Rossetti's relationship with Elizabeth Siddal and I found it quite brilliant and moving. It may be quite hard to find, but if you are interested in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, then it is a must see.
The link to the imdb page...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061552/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_48
thanks lippertokes! I'll have a go at tracking that one down.
I think my toaster is in with the machines!
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