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PadmeAmadildo
Reviews
An Education (2009)
Tell us something we DON'T know
As one comment has already mentioned - it's '....been done a gazillion times before'.
What bugs me though, is that the writer has missed about as many opportunities to make this movie stand out.
A young girl finds that a life of knicker-dropping is way more exciting than a life involving any kind of effort on her part. What else is new? Having chosen freebie hedonism, it eventually stops, or rather segues into something more mundane and down-to-earth - but nevertheless still free and very nearly effortless.
Maybe the writer could have used some imagination to explore the inherent sexism of our society, where men are routinely exploited, and women would rather not have to exhibit any effort, creativity or responsibility, but rather have their lives handed to them on a silver platter by a man - any man will do - but preferably a rich, well-connected one.
The world Hornby has created is one of a small, self-appointed male elite, eagerly sought out and preyed upon by scheming women (and girls), who are educated enough to know a good thing when they see it. (After all, Heather Mills coined £20,000 for every DAY she was married to Paul McCartney) Wouldn't it be nice to see the OTHER side of the coin on film for a change? To see the lives of men who aren't part of Hornby's cosy, self-satisfied, self-proclaimed deserving elite. To have issues of sexism properly examined - like the 'Glass Floor' for example, and the perma-victim culture which women still project today.
No... Hollywood beckons for Mr.Hornby. He just has to stick to the script and soon enough, he'll be collecting a golden statue with a shiny bald pate.
Err, the statue I meant, with the bald pate.
(Or did I?) The film's rubbish, despite Carey Mulligan's dimples.
Le dernier jour (2004)
Symbolism
I loved all the symbolism. Mind you - you didn't need it - nothing came out of left field at all in this movie. In fact, you were shown the denouement right at the outset - no happy endings for this movie then...
Even Mommy-dearest's 'earth-shattering' disclosure to Simon, came as no great shakes, because it had been presaged by the scene with Marie snooping through Louise's Filofax and exhibiting over-the-top shock at her surname.
It was obvious at the outset that Simon was gay. (!!! - he's FRENCH - how many more clues do you need??? - little joke, there). Then when you meet the 'Adam's Family' back home, it's clear he's not one of them (the Adam's Family, that is!) Then we find out that Simon has the hots for Mathieu who turns out to be a young version of Marc - his mother's toy-boy*.
So - S&M are going to get it together, oui? Non - parce que LOUISE and Mathieu effectively get married at the Family's Christmas do. Louise is in her wedding dress. The 'Young married couple to be' (NOT specifically S&L) are toasted, and M&L have their post-wedding dance together, with a salutary 'guard of honour' supplied by the local 'matelots'.
So that's both S&M AND S&L killed with one stone.... and talking of birds, the seagulls telegraphed the state of S&M's relationship at the outset.
At the Lighthouse (a monster boner, BTW - signifying what a stud-muffin M is!) Mathieu's seagull was dead, never to be seen and 'yuk' (rotten) and outside on the balcony.
Simon's seagull was also dead, but preserved in S's bedroom, wings outstretched, head turned as if in grief, in the exact same pose as the b&w photo of a Michaelangelo bust, in S's photo portfolio.
So S was preserving his feelings for M, whereas M's feelings for S were dead, defenestrated and left to rot.... and it took LOUISE to literally tell us this fact. Appreciative applause - a master stroke!) The wheeling seagulls permeated the seaside environs, symbolising the very whirlwind, which is life and love, of course...
* So apart from being French, why else is Simon gay? Very possibly because he didn't have a father. He had a cold relationship with his mother's husband, and so spent his life 'looking for Dad' which is how SOME interpret homosexuality.
No surprise then, that Mathieu is the spit of Marc - his real Dad. No surprise either that the erotic bed scene of S on M's bed, is echoed at the end, with S on his Dad's bed - the other M.
Incidentally, we know well in advance that Marc is Simon's Dad, because Marie spells it out in discussion with Louise about her real relationship with S. 'Like sister and brother?' All good stuff. You know what the outcome's going to be way in advance, but unlike Star Wars, it's a very entertaining and enjoyable ride getting there all the same.