Tea at Trianon: New Movie about Tolkien

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

Monday, February 25, 2019

New Movie about Tolkien

Nicholas Hoult as Tolkien and Lily Collins as Edith, his Lúthien Tinúviel

From Vintage News:

With Peter Jackson’s six Middle Earth films and a TV series in development, it’s hoped audiences will want to know about the man behind the legend. The adventures of Bilbo, Frodo and friends were shaped by his experiences, both good and bad. Movieweb writes “We’ll see how both his high school experiences and his terrifying participation in the first world war shaped and formed this expansive and epic narrative that is still being studied and dissected by professors to this day.” (Read more.)

From Little White Lies:

Karukoski’s film chronicles the boyhood years of JRR Tolkien, from his time as a plucky orphan (Harry Gilby) shuffled through the state’s childcare system to his stint at university. There, as a strapping young man with the sturdy build of Nicholas Hoult, he formed a so-called “fellowship” of friends and prepared for a great reckoning of good versus evil – not the Battle of Helms Deep, but World War I.

Prior to the glory of a literary career that yielded the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit novels, Tolkien fell for one Edith Bratt, whose steadfast devotion got him through the trauma of combat. She’s portrayed in the film by Lily Collins, who’s having quite a year playing the patient wives of famous (or infamous) men. (Read more.)