Back with more reviews

[selenak]

Back in Europe, and here are the results of another 12 hours with Lufthansa's inflight entertainment program:

Woman in Gold: Trufax: When I was in Los Angeles this last week, I visited a friend of mine, the fabulous Barbara Schönberg, who asked whether I had seen this movie yet. I hadn't. "I'm in it," she said, "well, an actress supposed to be me

Comments

[redfiona10]

There was a BBC article on The Woman In Gold when it was first release that you might be interested in - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32203753

I had to read a condensed play version of Far From The Madding Crowd but Mum had to read it for A-Levels and therefore hates it. But hates every adaptation more, mostly for the crime of making Bethsheba blonde. Far From The Madding Crowd is one of his happier ones, in that not everyone dies horribly and someone gets a happy ending. With Hardy you take what happiness you can get.

[selenak]

Well, Batsheba looked like a brunette in this version to me, so maybe your mother might hate it less?

Re: article, thanks for the link!

[rose_griffes]

Jane the Virgin was an unexpected delight. I watched the pilot episode more out of curiosity than anything else, and was charmed in spite of myself. And then it kept getting better. And yes, the women have the best roles, although I have a soft spot for Rogelio and his unselfconscious egotism.

Gina Rodriguez (Jane) won a Golden Globe for the role in... January, I think? The first time for the CW channel to have a winner of any kind, I believe.

[selenak]

I look forward to the rest of the season, then.

[zahrawithaz]

I ADORE Jane the Virgin, which is probably the best show I watch currently on television; it's just so smart and whole-heartedly committed to its wacky, original concept. I love the narrator!

And it is thoroughly committed to its female characters, especially Jane and Petra (whose development is one of my favorite aspects of the show) and Xo. (I also have a very soft spot for Luisa, who I wish got more screen time; the actress was unavailable thanks to another project during much of the first season.)

[mamculuna]

I'm a great Hardy fan (and haven't yet committed suicide), and while I loved Far from the Madding Crowd, I had to go check a plot summary after seeing to be sure it kept Hardy's ending. In most Hardy novels, Gabriel would have gone off somewhere to live a miserable life after missing a connection with Bathsheba. Hardy's books aren't just depressing (Jude the Obscure has to be the darkest), but very, very dependent on coincidence (and the sort of opposite, missed connections, like Fanny going to the wrong church and totally missing Troy--most Hardy plots would be impossible now in the age of cell phones). That was really a part of his philosophy, I think (we're all just victims of Chance). Also sometimes his characters do things that seem totally inexplicable for the character, just thrown in to do something for the plot, like Bathsheba's sending the valentine to Boldwood. And yes, the appeal of the cad and the horrible caddishness of the cad is amazing

[paratti]

Far From the Madding Crowd is Hardy's least depressing novel. The rest get far more depressing endings.

[selenak]

So I gathered. Well, every dark fic writer must experiment in (his/her idea of) fluff at least once. :)