July 17, 2007

Enlightening Experience

I watched the movie adaptation of A Portrait of a Lady, a book that I didn't much care for. While I liked the movie about as much as the book, it did help to make a few things more clear for me. One of the things I noticed were a few well places images. In one scene where Barbara Hershey's character is having a discussion with Nicole Kidman's character in order to manipulate her, in the background there is a statue of a naked man who is missing his "member." So does this emasculation refer to Hershey or Kidman? Or both? The other symbolic background image is a mural or a wall hanging of Christ's death on the cross directly behind Hershey when Kidman accidental runs into her after finding out a terrible secret about Hershey. I would never have thought of Hershey's character as a Christ-figure in the book but I can see it now. How very interesting! Does it make me want to reread A Portrait of a Lady? Not really. At least not anytime soon.

5 comments:

Kimmie said...

I got the book you recommended. I've seen other people mention their book journals and wondered how to do it. Now I know. Thanks for the suggestion.

Petunia said...

I hope you get as much out of it as I have. It slows down my reading but my comprehention jumps up several levels. And a few books that I never would have enjoyed have become favorites because of seeing their depth.

Anonymous said...

It's always good to have something made clearer, even if you're not going to jump on rereading it.

Mind you, I didn't pick that up after watching the movie OR reading the book. Dense, that would be me.

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Ugh! After reading this book and hating the way it turned out (I loved the beginning), I don't think I could sit through the movie. Interesting thoughts about art--I probably would have missed all of those!

Petunia said...

carrie and trish-I think I only noticed because I was bored. My eyes were wandering. Actually the Italian background was beautiful to see.