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scottishlassSaw Stage Beauty last night. Even though the movie already came out in 2004, Germany didn't get it until just recently. So I got the DVD and watched it. Very nice. I love elaborate costume movies and I liked this one very much, and not only because of the costumes.
So what is it all about?
Set in the late 1660's/early 1670's London is still trying to get rid of the years of Cromwell's Commonwealth. Theatres and troupes compete for the capital's audience and some actors rise far above their simple upbringing in their special roles. From medieval times onward, women were not allowed to participate on stage. They were used as dressers, as handmaidens, but never as actresses. This is about to change with Margaret Hughes, who is called Maria in Betterman's troupe. She dresses the hottest actor of that time, Mr. Edward Kynaston who is specialised on female roles. Indeed, he has gone through a brutal training where every little male gesture, intonation and even identity has been erased from him.
Ned as he is called by friends loves to perform and basks in the admiration his admirers, both male and female.
Maria wants to perform as well and with borrowed stage clothes she acts as Desdemona in a tavern performed play of Othello. Of course, Ned gets wind of it and due to his hurt pride and outrage, brings his own downfall on himself while he in turn not only embarrasses his mentor and lover Villiers, Duke of Buckingham but also Nell Gwynn, the lover of King Charles II.
Broken and out of work, Ned has to witness the rise of Maria to the first female actress in centuries in England as well as the complete banning of male actors in female roles. It could be his death but Maria, who secretly loves him, tries to rescue him...
The movie is full of colour, rich fabrics, make-up, and a whole plethora of rambuckous characters:
which were carefully drawn and well casted.
I loved Rupert Everett as greying and balding Charles II. He was hilarious and countercast to his usual sleek, slick, handsome work. He made quite a believable Charles II., both thoughtfull ruler and boisterous leecher. It is one of the first roles, I have seen him in, that hints that he is just not a pretty face who can pose as the pompous, gay Brit, but will also still perform when his physical beauty is long gone. Bravo!
Claire Danes as Maria surprised me (like she had in Little Women) - she went far beyond her normal blonde, nice girl kind of fare and her liked her portrayal very much.
Billy Crudup as Ned Kynaston. I can't comment on what he has done before this movie, because it was the first time I saw him. At first I got the impression that he is not pretty enough to actually pull this off, and in make-up he looks more like a cheap drag queen than one of those beautiful young male actors of that time who really could pass as a girl. He is a handsome man, but not pretty in the way of girl-pretty.
Most actors at that time who played female roles were smooth-cheeked, porcelain skinned, snob-nosed and round-chinned angels. Crudup isn't.
BUT! due to his acting I didn't much care about fact vs. fiction because even though he doesn't look the part, he sure acted it.
The supporting cast was also brilliant.
I really liked this movie, especially the play on the question of what is male and what is female. Kynaston tells Pepys that he cannot play male roles without being a man pretending to be a woman who plays a male role. The agony and also the horror of what he had gone through during his training unfolds bit by little bit that is revealed from Kynaston's formative years.
The supposed love affair with Buckingham (played by a very laid back Ben Chaplin) leaves Ned devastated after Buckingham declares to get married (to a woman) and that he only made love to Ned when he was in one of his female roles, wearing a wig. Buckingham tells Ned that whenever they were together, they were in a bed on stage and he imagined himself being inside Ophelia, Cleopatra or Desdemona, he never wanted Ned as himself.
Another scene I liked was when Maria and Ned try to discover what is distinctly male and female during sex. Who is on top, who is not, and who then will be male or female. A tender, sexy and yet heart rending scene, when all Ned can think about is how Maria portrays Desdemona while Maria tries to seduce him.
While she tries to show him that he is a man with both a female side trapped in him that needs to come out so he can play a male part, Ned cannot let go of his former glory and one suspects that it might end badly for him, for Maria.
The finale is surprising and for a moment also disturbing ... but to conclude with the words of the great bard ... all's well that ends well.
All in all a very nice movie, great historically correct costumes, great actors!
So what is it all about?
Set in the late 1660's/early 1670's London is still trying to get rid of the years of Cromwell's Commonwealth. Theatres and troupes compete for the capital's audience and some actors rise far above their simple upbringing in their special roles. From medieval times onward, women were not allowed to participate on stage. They were used as dressers, as handmaidens, but never as actresses. This is about to change with Margaret Hughes, who is called Maria in Betterman's troupe. She dresses the hottest actor of that time, Mr. Edward Kynaston who is specialised on female roles. Indeed, he has gone through a brutal training where every little male gesture, intonation and even identity has been erased from him. Ned as he is called by friends loves to perform and basks in the admiration his admirers, both male and female.
Maria wants to perform as well and with borrowed stage clothes she acts as Desdemona in a tavern performed play of Othello. Of course, Ned gets wind of it and due to his hurt pride and outrage, brings his own downfall on himself while he in turn not only embarrasses his mentor and lover Villiers, Duke of Buckingham but also Nell Gwynn, the lover of King Charles II.
Broken and out of work, Ned has to witness the rise of Maria to the first female actress in centuries in England as well as the complete banning of male actors in female roles. It could be his death but Maria, who secretly loves him, tries to rescue him...
The movie is full of colour, rich fabrics, make-up, and a whole plethora of rambuckous characters:
which were carefully drawn and well casted.
I loved Rupert Everett as greying and balding Charles II. He was hilarious and countercast to his usual sleek, slick, handsome work. He made quite a believable Charles II., both thoughtfull ruler and boisterous leecher. It is one of the first roles, I have seen him in, that hints that he is just not a pretty face who can pose as the pompous, gay Brit, but will also still perform when his physical beauty is long gone. Bravo!Claire Danes as Maria surprised me (like she had in Little Women) - she went far beyond her normal blonde, nice girl kind of fare and her liked her portrayal very much.
Billy Crudup as Ned Kynaston. I can't comment on what he has done before this movie, because it was the first time I saw him. At first I got the impression that he is not pretty enough to actually pull this off, and in make-up he looks more like a cheap drag queen than one of those beautiful young male actors of that time who really could pass as a girl. He is a handsome man, but not pretty in the way of girl-pretty.Most actors at that time who played female roles were smooth-cheeked, porcelain skinned, snob-nosed and round-chinned angels. Crudup isn't.
BUT! due to his acting I didn't much care about fact vs. fiction because even though he doesn't look the part, he sure acted it.
The supporting cast was also brilliant.
I really liked this movie, especially the play on the question of what is male and what is female. Kynaston tells Pepys that he cannot play male roles without being a man pretending to be a woman who plays a male role. The agony and also the horror of what he had gone through during his training unfolds bit by little bit that is revealed from Kynaston's formative years.
The supposed love affair with Buckingham (played by a very laid back Ben Chaplin) leaves Ned devastated after Buckingham declares to get married (to a woman) and that he only made love to Ned when he was in one of his female roles, wearing a wig. Buckingham tells Ned that whenever they were together, they were in a bed on stage and he imagined himself being inside Ophelia, Cleopatra or Desdemona, he never wanted Ned as himself.
Another scene I liked was when Maria and Ned try to discover what is distinctly male and female during sex. Who is on top, who is not, and who then will be male or female. A tender, sexy and yet heart rending scene, when all Ned can think about is how Maria portrays Desdemona while Maria tries to seduce him.While she tries to show him that he is a man with both a female side trapped in him that needs to come out so he can play a male part, Ned cannot let go of his former glory and one suspects that it might end badly for him, for Maria.
The finale is surprising and for a moment also disturbing ... but to conclude with the words of the great bard ... all's well that ends well.
All in all a very nice movie, great historically correct costumes, great actors!
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-17 04:11 pm (UTC)The part where Ned tries SO hard to act like a man for the King was just WRENCHING. The love scene between Maria & Ned with the "I'm the man-woman, you're the woman-man. Now you're the woman-woman-man-woman, and I'm the man-man-woman-man-dog-whatever" just cracked me up.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-17 08:33 pm (UTC)