Monday morning...
Oct. 25th, 2004 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fajrdrakoYesterday I saw both Becket and The Lion in Winter at Sheila's place. I was particularly impressed this time by the costumes in Becket - they were generally gorgeous, especially the things Becket wore, and I liked the way Henry's clothes all looked a little haywire, not quite fitting right, while Becket's clothes were always perfect - tightfitting and not a crease. The women looked absurd but of course the women in that story are absurd - no resemblance to history - Anouilh took great pains to make Becket look good and the King look bad (though Peter O'Toole gives him a lot of charm) and so much of it is simply fantasy. Becket was no Saxon and no former peasant.
I found myself much less sympathetic to Becket than I was years ago. All the business about the honour of God - which he seemed to believe so sincerely - it was just another power-play in the church vs. state question, in a round of the game where the Church (i.e., the Pope) resoundingly won.
The orignal 1968 version of The Lion in Winter as as brilliant as ever, and shows what Peter O'Toole could really do with a good role. I was surprised to see that the movies were made only four years apart, when I'd really believed Henry had aged twenty years. Tmothy Dalton is great. Katharine Hepburn is unsurpassable.
Our food was a potluck and I enjoyed it immensely, especially Sheila's meat balls.
I found myself much less sympathetic to Becket than I was years ago. All the business about the honour of God - which he seemed to believe so sincerely - it was just another power-play in the church vs. state question, in a round of the game where the Church (i.e., the Pope) resoundingly won.
The orignal 1968 version of The Lion in Winter as as brilliant as ever, and shows what Peter O'Toole could really do with a good role. I was surprised to see that the movies were made only four years apart, when I'd really believed Henry had aged twenty years. Tmothy Dalton is great. Katharine Hepburn is unsurpassable.
Our food was a potluck and I enjoyed it immensely, especially Sheila's meat balls.
