BEFORE: I guess it's a bit of a strange phenomenon, that when you link movies the way I do (and honestly, why would you?) there are groupings and themes that sort of develop organically. I think that's because actors tend to stay in their lanes, they each tend to make a certain kind of movie, then on top of that I tend to stick in one genre, romance in the month of February, for example, and those things together create kind of a "perfect storm", where seemingly by chance I start to see the same sort of thing, over and over. What I'm saying is, I appear to be stuck in some kind of rut again. Or maybe it's a groove, I'm not sure - but the loose theme that developed this past week is "British couples who can't QUITE get themselves on the same page". It's fine, I know this theme can't last forever - plus a film where a couple exists in perfect balance would be rather boring, I realize. So the struggles will continue until the chain decides that it's shown me enough of this topic, and something else will develop. Looks like there will be some World War II/German-themed films coming up next week, so there's that.
Emma Thompson carries over from "Carrington". Believe it or not, I'm only about halfway through this year's romance chain, it's going to spill over into March, that was always part of the plan, because that will reduce the number of romance films on the list by about half, then I can start building it up again for next year. But I think slowly I'm going to wean myself off of this topic, the intensity level may sort of dissipate by mid-March, I think.
THE PLOT: A look at the scandalous love triangle between Victorian art critic John Ruskin, his teenage bride Euphemia "Effie" Gray and pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais.
AFTER: This one's not based on a novel by Oscar Wilde, or one of the Brontes, it's based on a true story, with a screenplay by Emma Thompson. (Side note: by sheer coincidence, I worked at a NYC screening of "Belfast" last night, which was directed by Emma's ex-husband, Kenneth Branagh. He attended the screening and did a Q&A session after the film, I got to cue him to go on stage, which was pretty cool. Emma is now married to Greg Wise, who also appears in this film.)
Yes, this fits right in with my theme, as teen Effie Gray gets married to John Ruskin, an older art critic - the film doesn't really get into how they met, or how long they dated, or how the marriage came about. All that might have been very interesting, but I guess we'll never know. The film merely states that Ruskin visited the place where his grandfather lived, and met Effie there - which is not quite true. In reality, Ruskin and his teen bride got married in a Scottish home called Bowerswell, which is where Ruskin's paternal grandparents lived, and Ruskin's mother lived there for a while and witnessed three family members die, so that's why she didn't want to return there to attend the wedding. Another truth is that Ruskin wrote a fantasy novel for Effie when she was 12 and he was 21, and then the marriage was arranged by her family several years later. As we've seen before this week, this happened back then when a poorer woman was trying to rise in society, it was an economic and socially acceptable trade-off, but these days we might have another word for this.
Once again, as in "Carrington", there seems to be some sort of reason why the two people don't seem to connect, sexually. It's not stated here, of course, but perhaps John Ruskin didn't really want a wife, maybe he wanted a husband. Was that the problem? Either way, he's not interested in her in that way, he seems to only want to get married because that's what was done, maybe he was trying to please his parents or just following the trends of society, but clearly he's not very good at it, for whatever reason. Effie's opinions don't really matter, she's got no say in their traveling plans or the way that the household is run - living under the same roof with your husband's parents is a bad idea all around, they've got their own way of doing things, the servants take care of the chores, and Effie is told to leave her husband alone when he's writing, and also when he's not. Maybe she's just plain bored. Also, maybe her mother-in-law is trying to poison her, this is a bit unclear though.
A trip to Venice brings some joy when Effie finally has a chance to socialize with other people, however the attention of a young Italian man brings her a little too close to cheating on her husband, whose idea of a vacation is to spend it by himself, writing about how the city was once like a beautiful woman, but now is essentially a whore. Perhaps this also reflects how he feels about his wife. Upon their return to England, Effie suffers from a string of minor "nervous ailments" and takes to bed again - because there's nothing more boring in a film then watching someone sleep their days away. The sole bit of wisdom comes from the doctor, whose advice is sought when Effie can't seem to drag herself out of bed. The doctor suggests some fresh air, and maybe even a little bit of love and attention, but then of course his advice just gets ignored, and the Ruskins are probably just going to keep doing what they do.
Ah, but Ruskin has some inspiration for a trip to Scotland - yeah, that'll fix it, travel to the only place where the weather is even worse than England! There's a young painter named John Millais who owes Ruskin a portrait, so what better opportunity than to combine the family vacation with the outdoor portrait posing, maybe even a little bit of spear-fishing. But then Ruskin goes on a side-trip to Edinburgh for a few nights, leaving his young, neglected wife with this rugged, handsome young upstart painter - what could POSSIBLY go wrong? Millais even complains that this just doesn't look right, being left alone with another man's wife, but Ruskin, once again, just acts like he doesn't even care. After the two people left alone express their love for each other, Millais convinces Effie to find someone she trusts and explore her options for divorce.
Back in London, Effie enlists her younger sister to go with her to visit Lady Elizabeth, and all the sad truths about the marriage come out - then it's off to a lawyer and a gynecologist to produce legal cause for the annulment of the marriage. Well, I did say we'd be exploring all the ups and downs of relationships this time around, this certainly qualifies. If you're in a relationship and you don't like where the train is heading, you certainly can't change where the tracks are, so the only thing you can do is get off the damn train and look for another one that IS heading in the direction you want to go. Simple as that - but I don't think this was considered all that socially acceptable back in the 1800's. This lady had some stones to consult a lawyer on her own and find a legal way out, that's for sure.
The film doesn't get into the events that came later, but Effie Gray went on to marry Millais, and they had eight children together. Millais went on to become a baronet, which made her a Lady, however her annulment prevented her from attending events where Queen Victoria was present. Ruskin went on to seek another teenage bride, he fell for a girl that he taught drawing to when she was 10 (!!) and tried to marry her when she turned 18 - only that girl wrote to Effie asking about what it was like to be married to Ruskin, and, well, that was the end of that. Revenge is sweet, I suppose.
Also starring Dakota Fanning (last seen in "Bad Reputation"), Greg Wise (last seen in "Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story"), Julie Walters (last seen in "Becoming Jane"), David Suchet, Derek Jacobi (last seen in "Nanny McPhee"), Robbie Coltrane (last seen in "The Brothers Bloom"), Claudia Cardinale, James Fox (last seen in "W.E."), Tom Sturridge (last seen in "Velvet Buzzsaw"), Russell Tovey (last seen in "The Good Liar"), Tiger Lily Hutchinson, Riccardo Scamarcio (last seen in "Third Person"), Polly Dartford, Linda Bassett (last seen in "The Reader"), Pip Torrens (last seen in "Darkest Hour"), Nicholas Jones (ditto), Tom Herriott, Sam Churchill, Martin Keatman, Chris Haggart, Alex Dabestani, George Laing, Peter Farr, Nicola Draffan, James Stratton.
RATING: 4 out of 10 Royal Academy members
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