Tea at Trianon: Mermaids (1990)

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Mermaids (1990)

Shredded Cheddar shares some reflections on the film's presentation of single motherhood. To quote:

My favourite part of Mermaids used to be the "Catholic clutter." Lonely teenager Charlotte Flax may be Jewish (though in a non-religious family), but she has wanted to be Catholic ever since she was in elementary school and saw another "little girl with ashes on her forehead cross herself and chant Hail Marys at a spelling bee."

I'll be the first to admit, though, that all Charlotte's piety is skin deep. For it's not Faith she seeks.

Enbrethiliel said...: +JMJ+

Wow! A Shredded Cheddar link! =D Thanks so much, Elena.; March 9, 2010 at 7:17:00 AM EST
Julygirl said...: I remember enjoying this film immensely. One has to see a movie just for the enjoyment of experiencing how the actors intrepret the situations, etc., and forget about whether the situation is moral, ethical, whatever. Life happens! Personally, I am not a fan of how how 'life happens' in, for example, a film like 'Goodfellows' by acclaimed director Martin Scorsese, or that sort of thing, but to each his own.; March 9, 2010 at 6:54:00 PM EST