Persona 1966

Charles theatre
7pm showing
Actress, Elisabet Vogel, played by Liv Ullman.
Nurse, Alma.
Doctor, psychiatrist? female.
Mr. Vogel.

actress stopped talking (but not not moving).
nurse, seemed average, talking.
they seem to be separate, merge, then actress seemed to disappear.
nurse's first impression was that actress was mean. but forgot about it.
emerging story that some man told her that actress was great, but not a good mother. she bred a son, but could not love him. and the boy loved her unconditionally.


settings:
hospital- only know it as, when doctor says actress should leave the hospital as it wasn't doing her much good
seaside resort- supposedly the doctor's
random tidbits- boy who looked like he was in a hospital bed

flashes: crucifixion (ick), bleeding a lamb, tarantula, skeleton and person going to bed

themes:
mortality? blood (crucifixion, lamb, nurse scratching her own arm and actress sucking on it, unseen actress stepping on broken glass that nurse had left ). the only thing the actress said was when nurse was going to throw boiling water on her- as she was genuinely scared. and then nurse imagined that actress had told her to go to sleep in bed, rather than at the table. and perhaps towards the end the nurse had had the actress parrot "nothing."
madness?
acting? reality?
truths, lies

seen with llh, as the charles was running a special series on bergman's productions. someone had told her that it was suspenseful, psychologically challenging
not more time to write unfortunately...
- posted by B @ 6:55 PM

 
curse of the golden flower 2006

gong li
chow yun fat
jay chou
girl who looks familiar

opulence of the imperial family
supposedly epic, but i couldn't see the gore

unexplained: why emperor was trying to kill the empress, unless he just knew her character. why he had to get rid of his first wife, unless he was just a captain, and just not the right time

definitely not a feel good movie- or rather people represent ideals, but not human enough or comfortingly human towards the end.
jay chou as filial piety, towards mother
chow yun as the emperor- lonelier as you get further up
gong li- as the ultimate sufferer

emperor has been poisoning empress with a black fungus fr Persia, which will eventually rob her of her mental faculties. she drinks it q2h. once she finds out, unwittingly using emperor's first wife, to find that information, she starts to plot a coup.
she has sewn 10,000 chrysanthemums, and sends it out as a signal to get troops to come on the night of the chrysanthemum festival.
fr first wife, emperor has one son, who empress was sleeping with for the last 2 years. the 1st son is involved with his half sister, again unknowingly - which drives the girl to her death, and the mother after she chases after her.
fr empress, emperor has two sons, jay chou who has gone to the frontier for the last 3 years and knows how to fight. returns, and he and empress' relationship is the quintessential son-mother relationship. tender, sincere, running deep. he decides to take her side in the fight, as he doesn't want her to be poisoned. and she didn't force the situation. he ends up killing himself - as he doesn't want to negotiate betw being drawn apart by 5 horses or personally giving her the medicine.
youngest is a pip squeak, who kills the eldest, thinking that the eldest is involved in a plot with the empress. he feels that he's left out. killed by father.

um. not much of a plot, some twists, but not fascinating. it's pretty, but flimsy.

watched with akv, rental fr blockbuster. as i didn't get out of the last day of consults on time. :o
watched over two days, fri and sun pm.
- posted by B @ 7:05 PM