Wednesday, October 18, 2006

YE OLDE PRINTED MATTER OF YORE...


I have had no internet connection since Sunday so I turned to ye olde printed matter. The Marie-Antoinette book I ordered months ago turned up, prior to the U.K and U.S release of the film it accompanies this Friday (I saw the film in Paris last June). So the book, hmm. I'm loath to criticise anything Sofia related because I find her so inspirational. Honestly. Think about it. I actually can't think of ANYONE else of my generation who I find as creatively inspiring. So I'll blame Rizzoli who published it. Maybe there's no one to blame except me with my expectations. The film is so sumptuous and the book that accompanies it is so sparse, actually very Sofia. I'd built it up in my mind to be a behind the scenes look at the making of the film, with maybe handwritten notes, inspiration collages, on set shots of cast members in full Versailles costume smoking, wearing Chuck T's and talking on their mobiles in between takes. And plenty of shoes and macarons. In fact it's stills from the film, with excerpts from the script, which interestingly in the book has a different ending than the one they went with. I really loved the film but the book just wasn't juicy enough. Better to get the soundtrack which really does.fully.rock. (To the ear of a child of the '80s.) Actually it's a lovely book, just not the book I was hoping for. The book I was hoping for is more like.......
....Grr. To be continued. Blogger is being an arse at uploading pictures so I will leave you with the first part of this post until it starts behaving itself.

6 comments:

RD said...

Just coming out this week in the US, can you believe it? I'm afraid I can... Well I'll find out what you've been raving about. Take 2: I’ll find out about what you've been raving.

I don't want to damage the foundations of this friendship, but I don't quite grasp the centrality of SC. Two very fine names, fore- and sur-, a very fine film (now apparently two) to her credit. But what makes her such an icon?

While I'm navigating this minefield, I know I've previously confessed not understanding the Princess Di thing either. I just saw this film called The Queen, with Helen Mirren doing a fine E II R, but what it reminded me more than anything was the whole Princess Diana phenomenon, that she was such an inspirational figure in life and even more so in death...

A conversation best postponed till I've seen the film and a future transatlantic tête-à-tête.

BB

Anonymous said...

sorry for the frustrations-- disappointment is one of my MOST hated things-- wah.

Hope your blogger service sorts itself out soon!

~your fellow SC lover, bluepoppy

Anonymous said...

Wow - another MA book - I didn't know it was coming! I'm just finishing Caroline Weber's "Queen of Fashion" about la reine's wardrobe. Very dense, very academic, very interesting...and more than likely very different from SC's interpretation in the film. (Looking forward to my advance screening tonight!)

Anticipation and excitement for the decadence of Kirsten Dunst in fichus aside, I must agree with Bombay Beauty about the Sofia question. Just what is it about this girl that makes her so fabulous? True, she knows ALL the right people, is arty and stylish, has family money...but is she truly the voice of our generation? Not so sure...

travel notes said...

Yes, I have been having issues in the photo-uploading department also.

I am very much looking forward to seeing Marie Antoinette; I have a hot date with a ridiculously calorific cake.

Claire said...

To a girl working in a creative industry and in a world of Paris Hilton and her ilk, I think thank god there's someone like Sofia who's not getting attention for turning up at premieres wearing a flourescent bikini but who just quietly and steadily gets her vision accross without any of that desperate hoopla. Even with her family background she still had to go out and get her films made the way she wanted them. I guess she has become such a mainstream icon now but I think that's because she just gets on and calmly but firmly does her own thing...

la femme said...

MA is just coming out today in Canada. I can't wait to see it...
Thanks for the peek at the book.

I agree that SC is very refreshing amidst the sea of 'flourescent bikini' wearers...