Julia Jentsch's underarms


In "Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei", Julia Jentsch ("Jule") has unshaven underarms/armpits.

Was this part of her role? (i.e. to have Jule look like "alternative", leftist, ökologisch)
Or did Jentsch just happen not to shave her underarms at that time? (which is rather common among many German women)



Any "Fetten Jahre" insiders who know for sure? (Like cookcook, for example?) On another topic thread, there was discussion about Daniel Brühl's Spanish army t-shirt. (Was it part of his role or did Brühl just wear it "einfach so"?) This question is similar in nature.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

Maybe he is watching to many Star TV and/or porn movies, where all the women are always shaven.

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Excuse me! I am Brazilian and as far as I know, every single Brazilian woman shaves her armpits and her legs. I shave them myself every week. That doesn't mean I'm a porn star. It's just a question of local manners - in my country, unshaved women are seen as non-hygienic. I lived in Germany for several years, though, and most of the women didn't bother doing this. I was shocked at first, but quickly realized it's just a matter of local habit.

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I have to agree with ninik on this one. It is merely a question of local culture. Women shave their underarms/armpits in Brazil and North America. It is less common in central and eastern Europe.

I was not making any value statement or judgment. That wasn't the point of my query.

I just wanted to know if Julia Jentsch was unshaven specifically for the role of Jule in "Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei", or was she normally unshaven at that time?

It's a reasonable question. In fact, if you see photos of Jentsch on the red carpet at awards ceremonies, it is clear that she does now shave her underarms/armpits.

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[deleted]

I can't see the point why is it important to ask if Julia has hairy armpits in the movie... As long as it is not hairier than Daniel Bruhl's armpits, I don't think we should have a thread about that haha!!!

Daniel Brühl is simply the best!!!

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/danielbruhlfanz/

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Civilized women with self-respect, devoid of nihilistic tendencies and deluded idealism with respect to personal hygiene shave their *beep* pits and legs because it is a natural human reaction to feel revulsion upon encountering hairy women. What does this tell us? Hard to say. The evolutionary causation for this revulsion is less easy to account for than, say, revulsion to filthy things, such as insects or decay. However, it is just as natural to feel revulsion for hairy women. Therefore, unless you are rejecting human instinct on logical grounds. If the latter point is your position, then you are by choice of belief following a path that naturally will result in your partial-ostracization from society, depending upon how far you take that belief.

In conclusion, the reasons that New World Western women and women in most modernized parts of the world maintain a grooming standard that includes the shaving of leg and arm-pit hair are due to a natural human emotional reaction, and opposition to this practice should therefore be viewed as more revolutionary than common-sense or logical. You are the opposition. Your beliefs are counter to natural human instinctual response. Therefore, you are WRONG.

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised."

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I disagree completely, it's a societal preference not a natural one.

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[deleted]

What he says is laughable in other regards too. Even though all cultures around the globe show a revulsion to feces, babies do not - it is something you learn. You learn it in every culture as far as I know, because surrounding yourself with feces all day would pose a serious health risk for you. Similarly, we learn to feel revulsion towards insects or spiders, because they look very different to mammals and we learn to fear the unknown and possibly because we associate them with an unclean environment. But not everybody does and in many cultures people don't develop this supposed instinct at all - they might even consider an insect as a delicious food source.
And of course our sense of beauty is shaped very much by our culture and our upbringing.

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Being hairy (aside from head hair) is associated with masculinity or testosterone. So it makes sense for men to be attracted generally to women who exhibit feminine features rather than masculine.

As for degree on hairiness, then it depends doesn't it. Having hair on legs doesn't necessarily mean hairy. In the Philippines for example, girls tend to pluck their underarm hair (some will shave though), but many will not shave their leg hair.

It is both cultural & natural, like beauty, both subjective & instinctive.



Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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Well, yes and no. There's a pretty big difference between a "hairy" woman and a hairy man (coarseness, thickness, darkness and coverage) so I'd say the types of hair growing on women was probably not seen as very masculine in the past.

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[deleted]

if you are going to respond so emphatically, at least know a BIT of whereof you speak, because you, kind sir/madame, are utterly and completely wrong! In fact, women did NOT shave pits and legs up until the wise marketing people at I think it was Gillette wanted to sell more, natch, so they made it seem only right for women to shave wherever they could convince them they needed to shave! Also there was a time when women never exposed legs or armpits, so I suppose the idea never really was thought about quite as much as after the miniskirt came into vogue. The fact is you are so wrong in saying this (unless you are kidding which did occur to me) if you read up on the history behind shaving. Moreover I have read that in some cultures both men and women PREFER the hair where it is supposed to be by HUMAN NATURE (here you sound particularly idiotic) because it retains the human and sexual scents for attraction (or repulsion if you don't want a certain someone.) It makes sense that completely ignoring human attraction and what propels it would in fact be going AGAINST human nature. You say a lot of things that are wrong and make zero sense. Maybe you like smelling fake perfume or ignoring human instinct, but I think it's important to pay attention to scent when it comes to attraction. In fact, not shaving makes perfect sense (or scents, haha) and HAS BEEN STUDIED in kind of hilarious experiments done, in which they measured levels of sexual excitement in men and in women when taking a whiff of hairy pits! Go check it out on pubmed these experiments were actually done, not sure who volunteered...but it had interesting results that go against everything you say unless you think civilization means mating with the exact wrong people (people who your nose would alert you to NOT mate with, for example.) Now how funny is it that a simple question about this actor's pits actually taught us all something? (Not sure how much or what, but there ya go...)

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I live in central Europe - Poland namely, and it is the most natural and common thing for women here to shave their legs and armpits, for young women especiallly. Not doing so is regarded as negligence. In my life i have seen a few women who didn't do that - mostly elderly or middle-aged women of lower economic status.
I think this is also the case in other countries of central and eastern Europe.

It is true though that this ritual is strongly connected with culture and may represent the social pressure that is put on women to be always attractive and please men, the same way as make-up does.

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In a lot of Asian countries, shaving or removing underarm hair in women is common but shaving your legs or private parts isn't as widespread as it is in the US or the UK.

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I totally agree that it's just a cultural and sociological matter whether or how much women shave their armpits and other body parts, but just to defend fw-bz a little: He didn't say that all women who shave their armpits/etc. are porn stars, but that all (at least feminine mainstream) porn stars do so. I don't like seeing misunderstandings (being) unfold because of cause and consequence being mixed up.

And by the way I can imagine quite well that there are enough (poorly satisfied ^^) men who think that all women are shaved at anytime because they don't know it better from the porn movies they consume frequently, even though just few women in their "real" cultural and local environment do.

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Wee it's a fact that the popularity of the Brazilian wax steamed from porn films becoming common place and seen by many men and women. The reason why women in porn films shave or wax completely down there is yes, for hygienic purposes since they have multiple partners.

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"which is rather common among many German women"

not among younger women!! I guess it's part of her role.

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leona, thanks for offering a real opinion. The other respondents seem to have dismissed this question altogether.

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i agree with leona. jule doesn't seem to be the kind of girl who pays too much attention to her appearance, I mean, look at her hair, it's a little greasy... she has to work a lot to pay for her debts, so I guess the director decided that she wouldn't have so much time spent on her clothes or hair or her anything.

BTW, I didn't notice anything until I read about this thread.

Tetragrammaton. There's nothing we can't do. --Cleric John Preston

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me neither :)

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That is because its a stupid question.

I didnt even notice that in the movie.

I am kind of disgusted by people like you. I would never shave my armpits because of some stupid ideal. I am 16 years old and I live in Sweden. I would never shave my armpits to please someone else. People should realize that women have hair on other places than the head...

this is so stupid. it pisses me off.

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No need to get upset. I didn't notice Jule's body hair at all in the film, but she has (and you probably have as well) very light colored body hair. Not to be presumptuous, but since you mention you are Swedish I'm guessing I'm right. I have a friend who has a very fair complexion and light body hair. She doesn't shave either, and it's not a big deal. You can hardly tell, except in direct sunlight. I, on the other hand, have really dark and coarse hair and if I don't remove it, I'll be the first to admit it looks pretty gross. I bet if you were dark, you'd do it too. Every girl and her luck, I suppose.

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pretty funny how people from america see europe..

I´m an 18-years old boy from Cologne, Germany and every Boy and Girl in my age shave their underarms and the girls shave their leggs, too.
Furthermore older women do it, too.

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every Boy and Girl in my age shave their underarms






Ich glaub wir haben die meisten Punkte, glaub ich.

öpö

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I´m an 18-years old boy from Cologne, Germany and every Boy and Girl in my age shave their underarms and the girls shave their leggs, too.
Furthermore older women do it, too.

You're gay, small wonder with you coming from the gayest city in germany.

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Actually you shave them because they start to smell bad pretty quickly, no matter how often you bathe. Anyway since you live in Sweden, the average temperatures there might make shaving less obligatory. Saying that, no one is forcing you to not smell bad ;)

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I live in Austria and although I do not pay particular attention to things like that, I still believe that most females (also younger ones) do not shave their underarms. However, most of them do shave their armpits and legs. I do not believe it is that different in Germany.

Was this part of her role?
Or did Jentsch just happen not to shave her underarms at that time?


I don't know if Julia Jentsch does not shave her underarms, but it definitely fits her role. If she played a character who is more concerned with her looks (which I would call superficial), it would probably not fit the character.

Im Kino gewesen. Geweint. ---Franz Kafka

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i don't think it was part of the role. i live in germany, and every girl i know, including myself, shaves her legs/armpits. but nobody i know shaves their underarms. maybe some do, but it's a minority, i think. it's just not as "important".

Daria: Damn. I must make my own breakfast. [Pushes toaster level down]
Now I'm too tired to eat.

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Many respondents to my questions have noted that Germans, Austrians, etc. shave their legs and their "armpits" but not their "underarms." I think that there has been a misunderstanding.

"Underarm" is another expression for "armpit" ("Achsel" auf deutsch). "Underarm," in American English, does not mean the underside of one's arm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axilla
Sorry for the confusion.

Nonetheless, you have answered my question. It seems likely that this was for the role and that Julia Jentsch does shave her armpits (Achseln).

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Thanks for clearing that up.

While we're at it though, in German "Unterarm" doesn't mean "the underside of one's arm", but forearm. That's where the confusion came from.

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[deleted]

I'm confused by people's definition of 'armpits' vs 'underarms' - in my country we call armpits 'underarms' - we don't refer to it as an armpit. So what's an underarm in your definition?



Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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The lower arm. Everything below your elbow... hands not included. But I think underarm is not commonly used for this, however itd be the literal German translation... thats why it may confuse.
I badly sunburnt one of my underarms as child but not my armpits. ^^

---
Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.
Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

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Ah ok, that makes sense actually.

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Hmmm, I normally notice things like that, but I guess I missed it in this case. I would go with others, and say it must have been something for the role, although I'm not quite sure why, but I guess they just decided it was part of her character. Or it was just shadow on her armpits which looked like hair. It seems shaving there is common in most places now.

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[deleted]

> Seeing as she's an activist, I'd see it as part of her role.

Thanks for replying to my question. You're probably right, but I think it is interesting that the director even thought of such a small detail.

> As to those commenting on how women who don't shave are
> non-hygienic, is it any less hygienic that men don't
> shave their bodies bald?

Ha ha! Good point. (Keep in mind that even though I started this thread with the original question about Julia Jentsch's armpits, I never suggested that it was unhygienic. I would think that bathing is more important than shaving in terms of hygiene. The rest is aesthetic opinion.)

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[deleted]

"2) seems more highly evolved. I for one am HIGHLY EVOLVED. Take my word for it."

what on earth is that supposed to mean??

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Wading thru a jungle of hair of any kind is sickening. Therefore, sucking is best.

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

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"I would be insulted to be called "superficial" as I am a well read and educated person with many things on my mind and many interests. With that being said, I find underarm hair disgusting and don't want to see it on anyone."

Oxymoron?
I wonder what/where are the roots of your 'disgust'? You don't fancy the way the human body was designed by nature? Is nature 'wrong'?

"Why is hairlessness prized?, could be a couple of anthrpological reasons 1) it harkens back to youth and youth conveys health, health makes for successful mating,"

Disagree. 'Youth' does NOT make a successful mating, quite the contrary. NO hair means pre-pubescent 'look', right? Pre-pubescent has little to do with 'successful mating', wouldn't you agree?
What about Peter Pan syndrome? Not wanting to grow up? Forever 'young'?
Well, if anything on planet, that IS 'superficial' (NOT natural), tee-hee...

"2) seems more highly evolved. I for one am HIGHLY EVOLVED. Take my word for it."

Yeah right! And so is Gillette, LOL.

To stay on topic of this film, 'Long Live Capitalism!' (and 'feminine ideal' in the North American culture).


vivaLuis

http://imdb.com/title/tt0053967/board/thread/97124879

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The human body changes overtime, due to both natural & sexual selection.

It's called neoteny, humans as a species have been evolving towards neoteny, youthful or prepubescent looking.



Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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For an educated and highly evolved person; your language skills are atrocious. Your comments are from the dark ages. Perhaps you were educated in the 60's
Body builders are very well known for waxing. Sexual preference has no bearing on this practice. The superficial comments of being highly evolved "take your word for it" Perhaps words from an ancient harlot?

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A lot of people responding to my original post commented that they hadn't noticed Jentsch's unshaven armpits in the movie. So, I looked again on the DVD. I admit, the few times they are visible, it's very brief, but she does spend much of the movie wearing a tanktop. So, they are visible. Here are some examples:

Chapter 3, 18:25
as she's answering her mobile telephone

Chapter 3, 19:00
as she raises her arm and puts it on Peter's (Stipe Erceg's) shoulder

Chapter 4, 32:00
as she raises her arm to affix wallpaper to the wall of the apartment

Chapter 8, 1:11:33
as she's putting on her jacket

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Yep.And you can JUST see them in Sophie Scholl too when she is strip searched.Actually its pretty weird that I was looking there in the first place.What was I thinking?

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So, Jentsch was unshaven in both of her big early roles. This raises the question: Did Jentsch go unshaven expressly for the roles of Sophie and Jule, or did Julia Jentsch (as Julia Jentsch herself) not shave her armpits until after making these movies?

Both scenarios are plausible.

1) Sophie Scholl probably didn't shave because it wasn't that common in Germany at the time. And Jule wouldn't have shaved because of her alternative/activist personality.

2) On the other hand, maybe Jentsch simply didn't shave until she became an international star and started having to wear strapless/sleeveless gowns on the red carpet.

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Haha yeah, wouldn't that have shocked some viewers if she hadn't shaved them for premieres and award ceremonies.


She wouldn't hear the end of it.From the media anyway.

I too heard it was a European thing,but more the French women who I heard were rather hairy.

Im guessing Julia just didn't shave them before,I mean,there is technically nor rule saying that a woman has to right? although its still alittle unusal when one doesn't.

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I remember the time Julia Roberts didn't shave her armpits when premiering for one of her movies so when she lifted up an arm to wave at her fans, everyone was aghast. People thought she forgot. But because it's expected of women to be completely hairless, if you don't shave, you would have to be making a fashion statement. There's just no way you can consciously choose not to shave if you have eyes and spend any time at all immersed in Western culture. Julia Roberts as an A-list celebrity was in the thick of it, so she was probably making a statement. So subversive, I know! (Just for trivia, some women have also organised a charity event called Armpits4August, similar to Movember.)

But damn, you sound so serious, like you're about to solve a mystery or something haha. To be honest, I think I'll be able to sleep at night without knowing the answers to that question haha. But even if the real Jentsch didn't shave, it wouldn't make her any less attractive.

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