A Student in Expressions |
"Married?" They asked.
"Of course," I replied. "Can't you tell by how miserable I am?"
And no one laughed.
The film "That Hamilton Woman", filmed a mere 2 years after "Gone With The Wind"** has two major attractions:
1) Leigh speaks in her native tongue.
2) Leigh does impersonations within the script. I count at least 5 examples.
The first is a nice element if you've only watched her speaking in Southern Belle accent or southern Has Been accent of Blanche in Streetcar Named Desire. The second element is something I've always felt gives immediate dimension to a character...when they act within the acting...they are written to pretend to be someone else or act out something they did in an anecdote.
Here's an example from a script I wrote:
COACH
Good ticket? Treat you right?
Good ticket? Treat you right?
BECKER
(shaking his head)
Ticket was fine. It’s...well, the ticket didn’t suck too much. It’s these assholes on the bus. Jesus, please! Talking on their fucking cellphones like they own the joint.
[imitating a cellphone user with his right hand holding an imaginary phone]
‘He said what? Really? Your pussy stinks how much? Oh, yeah, I love to get fucked in the ass. I’m such a fucking asshole that I’ll just talk on my fucking phone like a stupid bitch. That’s how much of a cunt I am! I’m a fucking asshole cunt!’
(shaking his head)
Ticket was fine. It’s...well, the ticket didn’t suck too much. It’s these assholes on the bus. Jesus, please! Talking on their fucking cellphones like they own the joint.
[imitating a cellphone user with his right hand holding an imaginary phone]
‘He said what? Really? Your pussy stinks how much? Oh, yeah, I love to get fucked in the ass. I’m such a fucking asshole that I’ll just talk on my fucking phone like a stupid bitch. That’s how much of a cunt I am! I’m a fucking asshole cunt!’
COACH
(Nodding)
I hate them assholes too. Ignorant. Don’t understand how they can afford a cell phone but they got to ride the bus. How does that work? If I had a cell phone I’d buy me a fast car. One of them new Fords.
I hate them assholes too. Ignorant. Don’t understand how they can afford a cell phone but they got to ride the bus. How does that work? If I had a cell phone I’d buy me a fast car. One of them new Fords.
All the great comedies have this element: Tootsie, Some Like it Hot, Caddyshack,*** and The Breakfast Club**** the premise involves acting within acting. It's an element featured in my guilty pleasure "How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days" where both lead characters have hidden agendas. I love it. Leigh's character was based off the real life scandalous Lady Hamilton of the 1800 era who apparently fucked her way to the top of the Italian social ladder and along the way picked up some skills of deceit and impersonation. Within a minute of meeting Emma she disrobes after intentionally charming Lord Hamilton, the British Ambassador to Italy...and the audience is let in on the hidden agenda of Emma: She's a conniving, manipulating little nymph whose objective is to screw anyone it takes to get what she desires.
On a trivial Mt. Vesuvius anecdote: "It's knowing little things like that, that make you a Lady." |
Anyway, the topic today is desire. Specifically how desire is used well in art. I want to point out that in "Gone With The Wind", "The English Patient", "Doctor Zhivago"...desire is elemental...something we can relate to or at least aspire to in our daydreams. But most importantly, it is how dramatic art works. Without desire then you have Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith shit dribbling around for 90 minutes and pointlessly confusing everyone.
That Hamilton Woman works because desire is paramount, Lord Hamilton desires beautiful objects, Lady Hamilton desires acclaim, Lord Nelson desires victory. If you analyze successful movies you will find desire is a main ingredient. I'm not talking about "Want" or "Need"; I'm talking about "Desire", desperate desire. That's a fine line in linguistic terms but not in terms of humanity. Once you have the elements in place, the desires established, then the rest is filling in the blanks. Reisch and Sherriff do a better than average job filling in the blanks with pertinent and compelling dialogue, but it all comes down to desire. Desire is the music, and you are only writing the lyrics. A year after "That Lady Hamilton" was released "Casablanca" would focus on the same element. Desire drives a story line better than anything. Add some star struck lovers and it's a time-tested formula.
I don't want to leave the impression that desire is only a romantic comedy or dramatic romance element. "Silence of The Lambs" is also all about desire. I think Hannibal Lecter says, "What does he [the villain] covet." And Clarice also has desires (redemption) as does Hannibal (intimacy) and Buffalo Bill (transformation). Everyone has desires that drive them (mine is universal transcendency) and when these are clearly established in the writer's mind then everything else will fall into place. Take away desire and you have a pretentious and trendy Wes Anderson flop that makes me puke.
A final note on Leigh...her charm is infectious and I think she got that way by paying attention to what drew the best response from men in real life. She understood/learned that animated women are interesting...and intelligent women are alluring...and aloof women are sexirable (I meant to type desireable hahaha but that's too revealing to edit). So she combined everything and on top of all that she's blessed with very petite features. The audience is fortunate the directors of the time used one camera and got the most out of every camera position...dialogue goes on for minutes without a cut to another angle. It's so blunt and honest that I swear modern directors should have a limit on the amount of film they can use BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE THEM THINK ABOUT THE SHOT FOR A SECOND and maybe ACTORS WILL MEMORIZE MORE THAN ONE SENTENCE AT A TIME.
I've heard that between Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin a man, any man, should be able to assemble a functional personality and code of conduct. Given these three as role models you should be able to simply impersonate your way to success. I've tried to do this but it's easier said than done...I kind of ended up with part Jerry Lewis and part George Burns. I wonder if the same is true of Vivien Leigh since I see almost no trace of her dynamic personality in modern lead actresses, let alone women I meet on the street.
Here endeth the lesson.
*Lawrence Olivier is a dull actor to my eyes. He's good only in that he's not annoying. Maybe I'm missing something or can't judge properly since I never saw him on a stage. Totally lacking in personality. A wet rag. I think Vivien Leigh saw in him someone who would look the other way while she fucked every costar and sailor in Hollywood.
**1941 pictures also included How Green Was My Valley, and Citizen Kane.
***Bill Murray's impersonation of a golf announcer.
****Bender's (Judd Nelson) impersonation of Brian's (Anthony Michael Hall) family followed by a reenactment of his own family is classic: "Shut up, bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!"