another hollywood beautification screwup

I am watching it now, and I'm having a REALLY hard time getting past the ridiculously horrid accent the actress is affecting. Yes, she's undeniably lovely, and that's clearly the reason she was cast, and obviously not, as the original poster has noted, because of any resemblance to Lou Andrea Salome. Obviously the filmmakers thought the only way they could get across her bewitching qualities was through casting a physically beautiful actress, and this was a mistake - again, her horrible accent is distracting at best. Couldn't they at the very least have hired someone who can put on a convincing European accent (I understand Salome was born in Russia and lived all over Europe), even outside of finding someone who resembles Salome?!

I found her to be one of the most interesting characters in the film. She was quite accomplished in her own right, not just as a collector of great minds (as was mentioned in the film). I think the real Lou Salome was quite beautiful as well. There are a couple other pictures of her online. The actress did a good job portraying her intellectual curiousity, intensity and drive.

I was most annoyed at the portrayal of Bertha, who later became a very accomplished and influential social worker. I think it was a foolish (but unfortunately common) error to think "hysteria" meant the same thing back then as it does now. A woman needn't have shown any twitching, jerking, histrionics, or screaming to be diagnosed as an hysteric. I suspect a diagnosis of hysteria back then was as commonplace as stress or anxiety today.







... are in bloom again