Tea at Trianon: Rusalochka (1976)

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

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Rusalochka (1976)

A Russian version of Andersen's The Little Mermaid. Full movie, HERE. According to Tilly Daisy:

Vladimir Bychkov’s Russian adaptation of Hans Christen Anderson’s The Little Mermaid is such a simplistically charming cinematic piece. From beginning to end a viewer is captivated by the beauty of the mermaid and the world in which the film is set. The color palette, music, costumes and camera shots all help to make it a magical and sweet-lipped film.

Just as the legends of mermaids tell of their being seductive temptresses, Rusalochka is herself an almost hypnotic presence throughout the course of the film due to her naivety and beauty. In the sequence following the opening when viewers are transported into the world of the fairy-tale, the expansive underwater shots of the mermaids are mesmerizing and eerie. The viewer is drawn in by the fluidity of the mermaids’ motions and the delicate music that resembles a lullaby. The dreamlike quality of it combined with the soft turquoise palette help to visualize the imaginative world of myths and legends.

The repetition of the jingling music, the close-up shots of Rusalochka’s face with her hypnotic blue eyes, her soft voice and her delicate movements all help to enhance this fantastical tale. After her change from mermaid into girl her cautiousness on her newly appeared legs is enthralling and much later in the film the dance scene at the palace with her lightness of step is mesmerizing. The allure of her character makes the film heart-warming, fully capturing the beauty of the original fairy-tale. Her blue dress symbolizes the world below water from which she originates with the floaty fabric and oceanic patterning helping to combine both worlds just as the film aims to blur the barrier between human and mermaid life. (Read more.)