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Once again, in keeping with these weeks of "fashion and art" posts, I am re-posting below my July 15, 2009 blog on the movie Chéri released last year (which is a cinematic reproduction of Collette's famous novel by the same name). Michelle Pfeiffer is just great in the role, albeit a little ephemeral. The novel's protagonist, who has an affair with the much younger Chéri, is an older woman who seems to maneuver herself very well around high society and young hearts.
Throughout the film, Michelle wore beautiful hats. We don't wear hats anymore. And if we do, it is with an apologetic air, as though we are a little embarrassed by what we perceive to be a flamboyant behavior.
But recently, hat designers are coming to the fore. The late hat fashion icon Isabella Blow brought some glamor to hats, and was the muse to milliner, and Royal Ascot hat designer, Philip Treacy. And extravagant fashion designers like John Galliano are reviving period hats through creative hat designers like Steve Jones. But who would were those hats? The Royal Ascot does bring out all those hats (I will forever be entranced by those lovely scenes at the races in My Fair Lady, where Eliza Dolittle was transformed into the quintessential lady because of her hats). But, that is an extravagant and unique occasion.
We hardly have such social moments for wearing hats as beautiful objects these days. They are used to shield us from the elements - snow, rain, sun, cold. But, we could be brave enough to use the weather as a pretext, and just let the aesthetics shine through. And summer hats are the perfect way to start.
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Modern People Can't Handle Beauty
Michelle Pfeiffer in "Chéri"
From Camera Lucida blog article, July 15, 2009
Michelle Pfeiffer is radiant (and tragic, like a rose whose petals are falling off) in Colette's novel-turned-film "Chéri."
The petals scene I described is actually from the film. This is yet another decadent French story, this time of a much older woman and a younger man, who remain for six years together until reality hits them.
Colette's novel is magnificently brought to the silver (or I should say, bejewelled) screens, with Michelle's subtle and intelligent acting winning all the scenes.
I was surprised to see the film critics can this film. When I first read them, my first thought (after seeing the trailer) was that they couldn't handle how beautiful it was - like too much chocolate, said one critic.
Well, yes, it is beautiful. Yet, surprisingly, there is an attempt to ground the two characters in some kind of morality. Although Michelle saved her young man from drugs, alcoholism and general debauchery, she understood that she had left him addicted to a kind of narcissistic love that she (or anyone else) could never fulfill.
Beauty cannot stand on its own. It needs Truth and Goodness. Michelle's character, Léa, tried all that, but the latter two came too late.
Only the French know how to do decadent with a moral twist.
Of course, I would watch the film only for the costumes and the hats, and the beautiful gardens that seemed to be everywhere. Film is only film, after all.
