More on A Woman's Face
For all my gushing about Thief of Bagdad and all my "unf unf Veidt" stuff, I still can't get A Woman's Face out of my head. The themes of that damn film keep haunting me. The scarred woman deemed "ugly", her personality, her struggles with power and the temptations she's offered, both for good and for evil. I say "good and evil" because it's that
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Ah, that's a good point, that they might've been hinting at maternal instincts. I didn't put that together, but it might well be! And I think you're right that it's different because a child represents all the things she has hope for and could never have in her life before. And killing the child would not only be the decisive act that would set her on a path away from that, but it would be like "killing" those hopes and that part of herself as well. Ooh, that's really interesting stuff. (eta: I forgot to say this, but another aspect of that could be her genuine concern over him being burned by the sun lamp and getting "scarred for life," like she was when she was young. Like in that moment she really realizes what it would mean to destroy/scar everything the child represents as well as the child himself. As if the threat of a scar like her own forces her to see this more clearly than the threat of death would, even.)
Yeah, I noticed the same thing in that scene! Like it would've been easier for her if he managed to fall over the side on his own. Because I could believe, too, that she might've been able to do it - even though she was obviously having an internal struggle, and it would have (maybe) been simpler for her if he'd fallen due to her passive negligence rather than her actively pushing him out.
The shift in tone of that last scene did feel pretty abrupt. I actually like your interpretation, that the situation was affecting her or that she was sort of fantasizing about being normal, better than what they probably intended. And it was easier for me to believe that the doctor would be attracted to (or at least intrigued by) her than the other way around. :|
Talking about it is awesome because MOAR LAYERS do keep getting uncovered, just when I think there couldn't be any more. Such a neat film. Thanks again for pointing me in its direction. *hugs*
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Also, since I'm rambling anyway, I heard they were remaking The Man Who Laughs (with some actors I don't know much about) and then I went "NOOOOO!" and then started thinking of what sort of modern version I could accept (if it could even be made to work with sound, which... er... I doubt). And then I realised that oh shit, John would probably be one of the few actors who could pull Gwynplaine off because of the whole having-to-act-only-with-your-eyes thing. Holy shit, he'd be good o_O
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Are they really? How odd. :| It wouldn't bear much resemblance to the original, I imagine, since the sensibility of a modern film would be totally different. But OMG, John would be pretty fantastic in that role. God, why can't that happen? *sadness*
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*squishes*
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