MovieChat Forums > Le divorce (2003) Discussion > What's up with that hair?

What's up with that hair?

posted 20 years ago by MoonsofJupiter
17 replies | jump to latest

I've just seen this movie so forgive me if someone's already brought up the subject...what the heck was going on with Kate Hudson's hair? Was that elongated, silvery helmet supposed to be better than the style she arrived in? When she had it pinned back at the poetry reading she looked older than Glenn Close, for crying out loud. Did not suit her.

And speaking of Glenn Close, was she trying to channel Gandalf or something? In half the scenes her hair wasn't even brushed. I'm not even going to go into the bush on the younger guy's head...yeesh.

Sorry if this sounds shallow, but half the movie was about clothes, scarves, purses, lingerie, and hairstyles. They could have done better at the Walmart hair salon.

[–] TheSausageKingOfChicago 20 years ago

i just saw the film on tv, and boy when she had that awful wig on i could hardly watch the screen. when they said "oh your hair is so french now" ....does this mean all the french have awful darth vader helmet hair?

and glenn close.....oy awful

[–] TerminalMadness 20 years ago

That haircut was purely awful. I'd marry her or Naomi watts in a second, but that hairdo, woo. I was shocked when I saw her, she ruined those beautiful locks for that horrible haircut.

But it was kind of symbolic at how France is intoxicating and her dive into the culture.

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[–] Professional_Suicide 19 years ago

I agree at the start of the movie her hair looked really nice - but then it all went wrong!

[–] jenise-louise 19 years ago

Ah, but what you complain of is in fact one of the key elements of the film's comparison of American customs to French. That to be French is to care about style above all else--and no matter what may actually suit the girl best is less important than that the style be very current and sophisticated.

[–] morning_star 19 years ago

I agree with jenise-louise...changing her hair so dramatically was symbolic of her immersing herself into the culture. I agree, it looked pretty awful, and that bright red lipstick on those skinny lips looked pretty bad too. Thank goodness by the end of the movie you could see that she was letting her hair grow again and letting it go all curly and loose. It was like she was taking herself back.

"Ahoy there! Ahoy there! Ahoy, cock-a-doodley there!"

[–] blondie212 19 years ago

i saw this again on cable last night, and the editing is just plain awful. her hair literally goes back and forth between blonde and brunette at the end... it's like they rearranged the scenes without paying any attention...

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Heybartender 15 years ago

Actually I find the opposite to be true. Parisians (and the French, in general, I believe, although I cannot really speak for them) care far more about personal style and what suits the individual than following trends simply because they are more "now".

I think she had her hair cut this way in order to appear more sophistocated for Edgar, and he buys right into it. I guess it's more along the lines of Isabel's idea of the proper mistress (and also Edgar's).

Her hair also serves to show the passage of time in the film. Le Divorce elapses over several months, and it might seem odd if her hair stayed exactly the same, as Isabel herself goes through a transition. Costume/hair/makeup is the easiest way to exemplify a character's internal change.

And even though it was a wig, her haircut didn't bother me all that much. If it had been her real hair and not so stiff as it was in the movie, it might have been adorable.

[–] moxie_slacker 19 years ago

I think you guys are nuts! Her hair was gorgeous.

"You and I are pro-insanity" -John Wozniak

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] pjbadseed 17 years ago

As others have said, the haircut shows her attempt to 'change' herself and immerse herself in the culture, and to try and impress Edgar. It is also demonstrating a stereotype of that sort of French haircut, when really, French women's hair is more in like with Naomi Watt's hair, slightly curly and long. It demonstrates her perception of France in that kind of touristic way. Especially with the red lipstick, the haircut looks quite nice minus the red lipstick but the two together look so cliched and terrible. French women actually don't seem to wear a lot of lipstick. It's more subtle and naturalistic makeup and hair. Well groomed and simple. And Isabelle did look quite old with the haircut, the lipstick and the long burberry (as opposed to Watt's short burberry which looked fabulous) I guess demonstrating how Edgar was changing her, into a demure and passive middle aged woman!

[–] brazil_chica 16 years ago

Didn't know about the red lipstick thing...though in the end, we have to admit they are all generalizations, although I did get that immpression from some French women when I was there.

As for the hair, I also thought it looked terrible on Kate Hudson, but it would make sense that Isabel would change it during her "enfatuation with Uncle Edgar" fase. It's like Yves said, she looked like "one of those women who read Marie Claire" and who care about things like Kelly bags and the like, i.e. she looked older to attract a man with those interests. I don't think it was so much about French culture though, it seemed more a matter of what kind of woman she wanted to portray, not necessarily French, perhaps a type of French woman. (I have to disagree, however, with whoever mentioned her hair at the bookshop -I think clipping her hair up made it look a lot better.)

Glenn Close's hair I thought was perfect for her character: a hippie-ish intelectual in her late 50s...And as for Yves, I loved the messy bush of hair - reminded me of my boyfriend's hair, haha...

...nitwit...oddment...blubber...tweak...

[–] emo_ville2002 13 years ago

Kate basically needed a better wig, aren't they available in Europe? Especially for a film where the character was simply supposed to have transformed herself with a new haircut and style of dressing? She did this to appeal to the older man, thought the hairstyle should not be screaming: "It's a wig"!

You want to see the actress and a different haircut, NOT the actress in an obvious wig.

Glenn Close's wig wasn't bad, unfortunately Ms. Close has a big forehead, perhaps some wispy bangs were in order, something to deflect from us seeing the hair was a wig. Supplemental hair should draw us to look at the woman's good features, not emphasize the bad ones.

The thing about wearing any wig, you don't want anyone to know it's a wig, when watching a movie, you simply want to think, "Wonderful hairstyle." or "She looks really good with her hair in a new color."

I find it hard to believe, with all the advancements in supplemental hair, that filmmakers can't find suitable wigs for their stars.

"Saturday Night Live" has amazing wigs. The actresses and actors are in and out of them very quickly for each sketch. If a TV show can find some great wig makers, I would think movie directors and producers would surely be able to do the same.

[–] MyMovieTVRomance 9 years ago

Glenn Close's wig wasn't bad, unfortunately Ms. Close has a big forehead, perhaps some wispy bangs were in order, something to deflect from us seeing the hair was a wig. Supplemental hair should draw us to look at the woman's good features, not emphasize the bad ones.

I agree with the two points you made above---especially the part about the emphasis of features. This style did nothing to emphasis Glenn's good features or at least the style didn't match her at all.

She is someone who I usually think of as a very attractive woman, but not in this movie! I didn't like the style or the character's over-all style. If anyone should never play a hippie, it's Glenn Close! She's not hippie material. In fact, I'd wager to say that most of her fans like her for being a sophisticate and powerful, sexually magnetic, seductive, clever, and tough woman---the anti-hippie.

There are two types of women Glenn can play well: 1. playful and cute, 2. seductive and psychotic. And, she often combines the two. Hippie-type women just aren't her thing. Such a miserable case of miscasting! And one of the worst cases of style, make-up, and fashion faux pas (of the whole cast) I've EVER seen in a film of this type. Hugely disappointing!

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

[–] mssmssmssmss 9 years ago

I just saw this film on cable. Many years have passed, so styles may have changed, but I wondered if the filmmakers intended for it to look bad. Her character was trying so hard to imitate the French instead of observing and learning what she could about the French and making the good things part of her own "self"--at least until the end, perhaps.

[–] PlatinumScreen 9 years ago

This thread is over 11 years old, but the description of Isabel's helmet and Olivia's Gandalf do just now cracked me up. So true.

My eyes burned when Isabel traded those gorgeous curls for that weirdishly blondegray, harsh thing (I don't even know what to call it it was so bad. It wasn't hair.) I swear this was when the movie jumped the shark for me. It was a downhill locomotive with no brakes after that.

I think that haircut shows that some people would walk around wearing coats made of cow dung if they thought it cast them in a trendy, fashionable light.

[–] jevicci (156) 2 months ago

I liked that hairstyle better than the long, wavy tresses she had at the beginning