Beautiful
The Cinematography plays a starring role and director David Lean delights in laying out the treasure of Venice in summer for the cinematic eye. A later Lean film Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite film and it's interesting to see similarities in the two movies: trains, impoverished boys selling cigarettes, and regret.
A relative of mine said of this film: "Katharine Hepburn is too old. It's sad." But he's totally wrong. She's an amazing protagonist. We know nothing of Jane except in the visual feast of her summer sojourn in Venice. Her athletic performance is undeniably remarkable. She falls in a canal and gracefully swims out of it without using a stunt double. Plot? There is a plot. I don't remember the details. For me, it's the visuals and the the glorious fashion of 1955. It's still the "New Look" but every stitch of clothing is a sartorial delight. This isn't just a travelogue. This is a clothes movie. "Jane's" high ponytail never wavers- but her dresses tell a different story.
Speaking of visuals, Jane's Italian paramour is a work of art. He was the actor from South Pacific, the original "Some Enchanted Evening." He brings the charm of Venice to life. And yet.... Is the couple's ill-fated flower, the gardenia, a good thing? Does it represent some post-war malady half-understood?
A relative of mine said of this film: "Katharine Hepburn is too old. It's sad." But he's totally wrong. She's an amazing protagonist. We know nothing of Jane except in the visual feast of her summer sojourn in Venice. Her athletic performance is undeniably remarkable. She falls in a canal and gracefully swims out of it without using a stunt double. Plot? There is a plot. I don't remember the details. For me, it's the visuals and the the glorious fashion of 1955. It's still the "New Look" but every stitch of clothing is a sartorial delight. This isn't just a travelogue. This is a clothes movie. "Jane's" high ponytail never wavers- but her dresses tell a different story.
Speaking of visuals, Jane's Italian paramour is a work of art. He was the actor from South Pacific, the original "Some Enchanted Evening." He brings the charm of Venice to life. And yet.... Is the couple's ill-fated flower, the gardenia, a good thing? Does it represent some post-war malady half-understood?
- debbystardust
- Nov 28, 2024