Two films I've watched this summer have been Orlando (1992) and The Portrait of a Lady (1996). Both are period dramas, directed by women, with only four years between their respective releases. Two scenes in particular, from both films, captured my imagination, as well as the costumes. Clothing for characters, as for us, reveals much about class, background and personality. Costume tells us much about the role of women in society, and for both genders, it reveals to us their social background. I don't pretend to possess anything beyond a superficial knowledge of nineteenth-century costume, but reading costume provides a richer history of a particular period, and the nineteenth-century into the twentieth-century was one of tremendous societal change, one that is most explicitly obvious though women's dress. In Orlando, they wear the large petticoats of the mid-Victorian period, whereas in The Portrait of a Lady, her skirts are much more suitable for a young woman travelling, but nonetheless long and cumbersome. What these costumes express is how women were bound to societal gender roles by corsets and impractical oversized or long, heavy layers of skirts and petticoats, representing a very particular ideal of femininity.
Both films feature tackle the subject of gender, with two strong female leads. The gloomy, almost Gothic mood of these films appeals to me, as we tend to associate this moodiness with the Byronic hero, this idea is subverted here. The moody psychic landscapes reflect in tone and feeling, the darker oppressive clothing of the characters. The fog of evening lingers over both scenes as these characters come to make the choice that will determine their lives going forward, and perhaps lead to the fog of uncertainty being lifted.
Orlando, 1992 (dir: Sally Potter) is adapted from Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel Orlando: A Biography. The costumes are by Sandy Powell (Shakespeare in Love, Interview with the Vampire). Tilda Swinton, plays the title role of the androgynous young nobleman Orlando. Orlando, the Queen's favourite, is demanded by Queen Elizabeth to remain forever young, and incredibly they do just that, living from decade to decade seeking love, poetry and ultimately the meaning of life. At one point Orlando changes gender, and the revelations that accompany this are aptly played out on screen. Our hero, turned heroine finds themselves (I will refer to Orlando in non gender specific terms) trapped between the intrigue and over-sized crinolines of 18th-century court life, with its egotistical poets and gossips, and salacious men. Alexander Pope informs the now Lady Orlando:
“Conversation, is a place where one plays with ideas, my dear lady, though one forges them quite alone. The intellect is a solitary place and therefore quite unsuitable a terrain for females, who must discover their natures through the guidance of a father or husband.”
When a former acquaintance asks for their hand, Orlando's aghast refusal, reveals to them the imbalance of power between the genders. In this standout scene (see below), Orlando recoils with their dignity intact, but struggles to exit the scene as swiftly as they would like, their silk skirts weighing them down and their perspective all astray. The scene is strongly charged, as our hero/ine struggles through the metaphorical labyrinth of the grand maze, just as they struggle through womanhood, before stumbling on the next period in their development as a woman - 'Sex', represented by the dashing figure of Billy Zane.
Formal or picturesque garden design was the height of fashion in England during the eighteenth century, as in most fashionable matters, England took its cue from the magnificent gardens of the French court. Orlando was filmed at Hatfield House and Blenheim Palace, and it appears that the 'labyrinth scene' was filmed in Blenheim Palace's Marlborough Maze ("the world's second largest symbolic hedge maze").
The Labyrinth scene from 'Orlando'
The Portrait of a Lady (1996) (dir: Jane Campion) is adapted from American author Henry James' 1881 novel. The costume designer was Janet Patterson (Bright Star, The Piano). Our heroine is Isabel Archer, a young American heiress, who has come to England to visit relatives, and to 'find' herself, with the intention of embarking on her own Grand Tour. Being an educated young woman, from a good background, she is highly eligible and sought after. Isabel refuses the advances of her young suitors and quickly departs to Italy, where she makes some unfortunate acquaintances and finds herself coerced into a union with the penniless but charming American Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich, who seems to have excelled at playing dastardly charmers in 90s period films). The film is highly sensual at times, as our young heroine seeks life and love, making naive mistakes along the way. In this final scene, Isabel realises that in order to be her independent self, despite her sexual desires (which women weren't expected to possess), she must be free, and alone to pursue her dreams, for in the role of wife, she would be expected to be the submissive partner in the marital arrangement.
The slowed down frames allow us to observe Isabel more closely as she contemplated her decision (and the deceptive amount of layers to her dress!). She surrenders this final temptation, in order to become herself, truly independent and free. Instead of entering the house as soon as she reaches for the door handle, Isabel turns her body to face our gaze, a contemplative look plays across her face, neither sad or outwardly happy. John Gielgud's character, the aging Mr. Touchett, Isabel's confidante, in a revealing quote on 'self' tells Isabel:
“When you have lived as long as I, you will see that every human being has his shell, and that you must take the shell into account. By the shell I mean the whole envelope of circumstances. There is no such thing as an isolated man or woman; we are each of us made up of a cluster of appurtenances. What do you call one's self? Where does it begin? Where does it end? It overflows into everything that belongs to us - and then flows back again... One's self - for other people - is one's expression of one's self; and one's house, one's clothes, the books one reads, the company one keeps - these things are all expressive.”
In the Victorian period women were expected to be the 'Angel of the House'. Women have to fight for the right to be alone, and were scathingly referred to as 'spinsters', for their seeming inability to catch husbands with their feminine charms (maybe they just didn't have time for that BS eh?), while men often enjoyed bachelor status well into middle age, often then settling down to marry women half their age. Orlando chooses to enjoy sexual relations with another man in the infamously laced up context of the Victorian period. Isabel experiences desire too, but in the strict social conventions of the period, she can only truly enjoy those relations within the confines of marriage. In a marital arrangement, by societal standards of the time certainly, no matter how her husband encouraged her, her husband's needs would come first. Now do you see what I did in the post title, 'No Angel', huh, you get it?
Orlando is also searching for self, becoming accustomed to the restriction of their new female gender. Shocked by a former male acquaintances advances, they rebuff him only to be told that 'she' will end up alone and a spinster. A threat not unfamiliar to many young, unattached young women. In the final scene, Orlando gazes confidently out at us, the viewer, having reached their own revelation.
The characters struggle both metaphorically and physically against their gender roles. You'll notice in the above scenes both directors focus on the weighty quality of the skirts, in their attempts to flee from masculine constraints they are literally weighed down by the clothing and metaphorically by all that it represents in that particular society. Sound also plays a conscious part in the representation of dress in these two films, a subtlety I love and that can only be communicated through the medium of film, unlike a painting alone. Campion's Isabel tinkles delicately as she moves, wearing all the baubles of a heiress, and a lady, a bird in a gilded cage. Potter's Lady Orlando's dress rustles impatiently as it is hitched up and dragged across the earthy ground and against the pruned shrubbery of the maze, in her desperation to escape, troubling with movement is not something Orlando had to contend with as a man.
British and American audiences respectively, have always held a fascination with period dramas, each generation sees a revival of certain popular novels. These two films no doubt presented challenges, as they are both ambitious projects, but are ultimately most satisfying to watch, and yet are still severely underrated. This post was a little meandering, but I hope it will encourage you to watch both of these films (ignore the IMDB ratings in these cases!), and to pay more attention to the beautiful subtleties of dress and costume in film, period or otherwise. Buttons, embellishments, cuts, all have their part to play in the interpretation of a character.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), directed by Peter Weir, is an Australian mystery film, set in Victoria at the turn of the century, adapted from the Joan Lindsay novel of the same name. The film opens at Appleyard College, a private girls school and relates the mysterious disappearance of a group of girls on a picnic excursion to a local geological and former Aboriginal settlement, on St. Valentine's Day in 1900. The film explores the subsequent effect this has on the small-knit community.
If you're into the eerie and the mysterious, with the addition of beautiful girls floating about in Edwardian garb, then this might the one for you. Don't be tempted to pass it off at sheer whimsy, Weir has crafted a bewitched piece of cinematic history that will haunt you long after you've watched it. I've had friends comment on how discomforting they found it, and when you hear that pan pipe music, you might agree.
The promotional photos for this are just too sublime not to share.
I love how each individual actor is accorded his/her own shot.
(Click on images for larger versions)
Solomon Glave as the young Heathcliff
Shannon Beer as the young Cathy
Young Heathcliff and Cathy
Kaya Scodelario as Catherine Earnshaw (Struggling to find a HQ version of this, if someone could point me in the right direction I'd be most grateful!)
My love for Wuthering Heights may not be apparent on this blog, but in the weeks leading up to Andrea Arnold's highly anticipated adaption of Wuthering Heights I will prove otherwise.
Wuthering Heights is my favourite novel and naturally, I am excited when a new adaption is released, as I enjoy seeing a creative director's vision of the characters and their complex relationships. Whether or not I particularly appreciate their vision, I don't deny that I get a thrill when I see flesh and blood versions of Catherine and Heathcliff on the screen.
In this post I am going to look at the various adaptions of Wuthering Heights, the more well known ones (those that merited a trailer), through the medium of their trailers (so the more popular adaptions then). Beginning with Andrea Arnold's 'teaser trailer' for the upcoming release of Wuthering Heights on November 11th.
The 2011 trailer stars Kaya Scodelario as Cathy and the unknown actor James Howson as Heathcliff. As suggested by this trailer and confirmed by director Andrea Arnold, the focus of this adaption is the first half of the novel. Shannon Beer is the young Cathy, and Solomon Glave is the young Heathcliff, both making their film debut.
This is the best Wuthering Heights trailer of them all. It suggests something dark and uncomfortable, the infamous story is appropriately weighed down with a heavy, drooping atmosphere. It reminds one of 'psychic landscapes'. The camera work is tempestuous, at the mercy of the unforgiving weather conditions of the moors, it lends a tangible thrill to the proceedings.
The overall mood conveyed alludes to themes of despair, loneliness and childhood bonds, with allusions to death and the transitoriness of life. This is a world of contrasts, the interior versus the exterior. While nature is cleansing, it responds, expresses extreme emotion (Heathcliff lying on the ground with the rain on his face) - it offers little comfort, it is just like "the eternal rocks beneath, a source of little visible delight, but necessary."
The sense of foreboding is always omni-present, the wind wails relentlessly in the background. The shot of two birds circling across the moors, a reminder that two similar souls are locked together for life, or in this case, beyond death. Nature grounds all living creatures, we are all at its mercy, the moors are their dangerous playground.
I don't know what this predicts for the film, perhaps Arnold focuses too much on mood rather than the relationships.
Since there is (blessedly) little dialogue in this trailer three quotes particularly come to my mind whilst watching: "What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself." (Cathy)
"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary." (Cathy)
"You said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" (Heathcliff)
The 2009Wuthering Heights adaption was made for ITV television and divided into two parts. Therefore the "trailers" were more teasers than anything else. Made for a television audience.
This trailer takes for granted that we are already familiar with the story. It opens with the scene from the first chapter where Heathcliff awaits Cathy's ghost. The story is immediately associated with a violent aspect as the ghoulish fist comes smashing through the window pane and grasped blindly by Heathcliff.
The voiceover is of Cathy quoting one of the most famous passages from the book, her "I am Heathcliff" speech, spoken in confidence with Nelly. It is apparent that this adaption focuses on their teenage years together. We are acquainted with a shot of Nelly, which is significant, as she acts as the novels primary narrator, the story of Catherine and Heathcliff is told through her voice.
This adaption is embroidered with a definite sexual element - the kissing scene is not in the book, as far as the book portrays there is no sexual contact between Cathy and Heathcliff, to Nelly's knowledge anyhow. This is sexing it up for a new audience since this is the first adaption in over a decade, audiences tastes in costume dramas have evolved.
There is a ghoulish, otherworldy element - the grave digging scene suggests a grim finality and an eternal reunion can only be found in death - "We will not talk of our seperation again" - "[I] wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth." The trailer ends with Heathcliff breaking into Cathy's grave and embracing her corpse.
The music is an interesting touch, it has an element of folklore and the oriental about it, which seems appropriate considering the book alludes to Heathcliff's Gypsy-like appearance and elusive ethnic background. It also reminds me of the vagabond lifestyle of the gypsy traveling communities, who have no fixed place of origin nor do they have a fixed abode, which also parallels the uncertain origins of Heathcliff's background. Heathcliff leaves the Heights for a period and travels abroad, upon his return he is fixed with a certain degree of wealth, again of which we have no clue as to how he obtained, whether it was through employment in the wars, or by dishonesty. What we know of Heathcliff's character and temperament, it could easily be one as much as the other.
This is probably the most famous adaption of Wuthering Heights. The 1994 adaption with Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff and Juliet Binoche as Cathy. The soundtrack is one of the most remarkable things about this film and trailer, composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and notoriously hard to come by (out of print), it supplies a powerful and eerie backdrop.
Heathcliff's voice domineers the opening, in a scene conceived particularly for this film adaption, which sets the theme for the direction their relationship will take. The moors are presented as uninhabitable and barren, where Cathy and Heathcliff only find comfort in each other in the crevices and most isolated parts of the countryside.
Even though this is one of my favourite adaptions of the story, I'm not a fan of this trailer at all, I don't like the melodramatic voice over. I think it caters for an American audience. It unnecessarily poses it as a Romeo/Juliet story, "but she was sworn to another" (untrue, one of the complexities of the story is that she accepts Linton's proposal and sacrifices Heathcliff) "It was Cathy's own choice.. and Heathcliff's own curse". The dramatic use of words "passion", "obsession" are overly dramatic and theatrical, dumbing down the unique pull of the story. It doesn't require these overblown descriptions. Voiceovers in general tend to date very quickly.
The selling point of this film is that it is the first adaption up until that point to adapt the whole book.
The 1939 version starred Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and Merle Oberon as Cathy. Ironically, the lead actress, Oberon, whose own parentage and ethnicity is as hotly debated as Heathcliff's. This adaption is stamped with the authority of the studio from the outset, which means the story will unfold under a dictated auteurship - "Samuel Goldwyn".
This is definitely posed as a romance story. With Laurence Olivier in the role as Heathcliff, his character is posed as the archetypical cinematic, handsome hero, as much as Heathcliff is the Byronic hero. The film industry in these days was dictated by the studio system and was notorious for "colouring up" actors as opposed to using genuine ethnic or mixed race actors, even if the role required it. Heathcliff is displayed as being brave and strong, with women swooning over him. He is a "gypsy", the lure of the exotic surrounds him.
The movie's selling point is certainly its star cast - typical of the studio system of the time. It is directed by William Wyler, who had directed Jezebel the year before, a story about a Southern belle shunned by her community for her vain and shocking behaviour.
This was not filmed on location, most of the scenes are filmed within interiors, which instantly takes away from the beauty of the book. So much of Cathy and Heathcliff's time is spend outdoors, the moors are central to their story. This adaption was filmed in California, heather was shipped over especially from England to 'recreate' the Yorkshire background, but not very convincingly.
The trailer makes it apparent that Heathcliff is an outcast, but he is curiously desired by women and despised by men. It is very much in the tone of the movies of the time, where the exotic vagabond who doesn't answer to societies' rules is posed as the hero (Errol Flynn's Captain Blood for example). understandably it is catering to the tastes of cinema-goers of the time. But such an unconventional story doesn't quite merit such a conventional treatment, which is what frustrates me.
There is some powerful dialogue and racial slander used throughout "You're not as black and horrible as they all think", "Gypsy beggar", "I'll be your slave" which are problematic in themselves. However, none of the script captures the powerful nuances of Emily's narrative, disappointingly.
Related posts: Here is a previous post I wrote about Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights.
Please share your opinions of the 2011 trailer or the other adaptions!
Anyone who knows me can vouch for my passion for costume dramas. The gloomier and more gothic the better. In preparation for the lead up to Jane Eyre (9/9/11) and Wuthering Heights (11/11/11) I've been re-watching some of my favourites. I do bemoan the fact that the same book adaptions are being made, leaving the lesser known, but equally intense novels in the dark. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is one of the latter. Fortunately, it was translated by the BBC in 1996 into a fantastic adaption, (the BBC made an adaptation in 1968 as well).
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is an 1848 novel by Anne Brontë (the third and obscurest Brontë sister) under the pseudonym Acton Bell. It was her second and final novel, after Agnes Grey. It is generally considered the most shocking of the Brontë's novels, it deals with immoral themes of adultery and vice, as well as domestic abuse. The book outsold that of Wuthering Heights, penned by her sister Emily. The book, set in rural Yorkshire, is narrated by Gilbert Markam, neighbour to the mysterious young widow, Helen Graham, who moves into a nearby mansion, Wildfell Hall.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is considered to be one of the first feminist novels. it challenged the morals of the Victorian era in Helen's upright refusal to tolerate her husbands abuses, therefore subverting the prescribed gender roles of the time. Helen grasps her own freedom by retreating to Wildfell Hall with her young son, and providing her own meagre income through her art. The neighbourhood gossips and defames her reputation, but Graham refuses to believe these rumours and finds himself falling in love with the cryptic young mother.
The scope of 1996 adaption is grandiose, sweeping across the foggy moors to inhabiting the darker and moody corners of Helen Graham's home. Rather than being dull the greyness of the composition is crisp and refreshing. We see the characters in sharp contrast and can read their characters well. The setting veers between the crooks and corners of Wildfell and its surroundings to the gaily lit ballrooms described by Helen in correspondence with Gilbert. Most of Gilbert and Helen's encounters happen outdoors, alluding to the freedom Helen craves as opposed to the violence, entrapment and uncomfortable secrecy imposed by the domestic sphere. However Helen can not be wholly free and soon her past catches up with her necessitating her to leave Wildfell, not before communicating the truth of her situation to Gilbert with whom she has formed a romantic attachment.
Toby Stephens plays Gilbert Markham, the earnest neighbour. Tara Fitzgerald is in the title role of Helen Graham. Rupert Graves plays the cruel Huntingdon.
I love this adaption because of the feminist subtext, but particularly on an aesthetic level due to lingering shots emphasizing the sparse, craggy quality of the moors, but also the violent camera angles and jolts, adding to the savage atmosphere at times. The tangible quality of the costumes perfectly fit the characters, particularly when comparing the flashbacks of Helen's optimistic youth to the direness of her situation at Wildlfell. We can see the transition of Helen's youthful frivolity of dress and hair to the more conservative, somewhat stern sensibility of her dress as secretive widower Helen. She holds an impressive crucifix collection it must be said!
If you can't get your hands on the dvd, you can watch it online here! Don't ever say I don't have your back!
Also, I'm not sure what country of origin this is from, but I don't know if this dvd cover is an accurate representation of the series, lovely shot as it is.
