noracharles | Albert Nobbs

I wholeheartedly agree!

I reserve the right to link to that time you took it apart in my journal. Good times :o)

Ahahahaha - oh, the rage ;)

If only I had read your response to it before going!

But I do like going into movies unspoiled, and I probably would have gone anyway for the sake of my mother, because she was very eager to see it.

So maybe it was good I was able to enjoy many aspects of the movie before it became unavoidably obvious where the story was heading. ;-)

It was a pretty film, there for a while :)

Hi!

I don't think I've seen Glenn Close in a movie since the '90s, but I wasn't intrigued enough to seek this movie out. Probably a good thing.

I believe so, sadly.

There are two informative discussions of the movie in calvina's journal and in ar's journal.

Very spoilery, of course, but when it comes to warning off others from this kind of Othering and pitiful/contemptuous pathos/early death of queer characters I value warning over spoiler considerations.

McTeer is wonderful in a little film called "Songcatcher" with Aidan Quinn and Jane Adams, set in the early 20th century in the North Carolina mountains. There is a major plot of a lesbian relationship, but also how a rural community in that time would respond to same when it becomes public, so consider that a trigger warning. It's a well-made film, though, and filled with beautiful folk music.

Thank you for the McTeer rec, and I appreciate the warning.

I'm at the point where representation is less important in and of itself to me; I want the portrayal of queer characters to be both realistic and sympathetic, including the idea of homophobia not utterly destroying a person's life and joy and fulfillment being possible.

Given that, I think you'll be pleased.

That sounds promising! :-D

I'll have to see if I can get ahold of that movie.

Urgh, I am so sorry you watched that :o( That movie was so depressing, I completely agree. I was so intrigued when I saw the trailer, also because -- Glenn Close!!! But yeah, for shame :o(

I don't quite agree that it's a Brokeback Mountain, but - caveat - I am still pretty fond of that movie. I think the main difference, to me, is that BM is at least played for "Lookit the poor gays, their lives are terrible, we should pity them" whereas I felt like Albert was never anything but an inherently off-putting and unsympethetic character -- he wasn't made or acted to make the audience even like him, only for "Look at the freak!" effect.

Heh, I'm sorry I watched that too :-)

But you know, my mother loves costume dramas, and I wanted to spend time with her, so that in itself made my time well spent.

I used to like Glenn Close so much! But to see her having fought for so many years to make this dreck happen, including changing the ending of the original novella to give the main character the requisite violent death... it's just not on.

Regarding Brokeback Mountain, I haven't actually watched it, because of being told of the tragic ending. I do generally like Ang Lee's films, and presume that considering it in isolation it is a very good film. I feel that way about Boys Don't Cry - beautiful, well-acted, amazing development of the setting, and worthwhile to me despite the ending, not least of all because it is a true story, not purely fiction made up to convey a certain agenda.

As for Albert being inherently off-putting and unsympathetic: many people have said so in their reviews. I liked him quite a bit, but I see what you mean. However, Kathleen was absolutely charming and sympathetic, no? And Mr. Page was extremely appealing to me, despite the rape-trigger scene. Then again, the drunken, gambling waiter whose name I forget, the one who was also beat up and called homophobic slurs by Joe was as pathetic as every man in the movie.

What I had a problem with moreso than the main character being Other was how all men are drunks and most of them are violent and useless, and women only turn to other women out of necessity. And how being queer (whether not-straight or gender queer) is a metaphor for the anguish cis, straight people feel when engaged in a cross-class romance, when being a bastard or having a child out of wedlock, or when compelled into putting on a professional face and fulfilling a social role (wtf!).

I mean, yeah, societal pressure, public shaming, the torment of keeping secrets, the individual versus society and all that, it's not that I don't see the parallels, but it's not okay to make a movie about queer people which is really all about the troubles of cis, straight people and how they were inspired or given money or given a husband to lend legitimacy to them by the queer characters.

Ah yes, the lure of the costume drama :oP

I didn't know the original ending had been changed. But yeah, part of what made me curious was knowing how long Close had fought to make it happen :o/

I can't quite articulate what about Albert made him unappealing to me. I think I read him as a bit of a creeper sometimes; the way he fixates on Helen and Mr. Page's & Cathleen made me uncomfortable, but I don't know how much of that was embarrassment squick. But yes, Page and Cathleen were really awesome together, I totally shipped that.

The part that really made me claw at my face was the apalling back-story bit with Albert, where it is firmly established that not only is he Weird, he is 'made that way' because he was assaulted as a child. I guess it fits in perfectly with the Men Are Monsters theme?

But yes, I totally agree with your interpretation of the ending. I felt so disgusted by the connotation that Albert was just a problem, an abnormality who got in the way of these people leading their normal lives, and how order was re-established when he was gone and they could cannibalise what he had left behind.

I'm sorry to hear it's so bad - I shall have to reconsider going to watch it. Though I do like historical dramas.

Kind of related question: have you ever watched The Ballad of Little Jo?

Eh. My mother liked it? The subject matter may not be something which bothers you, and apart from that, it's an entertaining enough movie, with some good acting and great costumes. I don't know much about Irish accents, but three of the major characters are played by non-Irish actors, and some have commented that the accents are quite bad.

I have not seen The Ballad of Little Jo. It looks horrifying from the wikipedia entry!

Yeah, the wikipedia entry isn't that great and it is nearly 20 years old and very much from the gritty western school of movies - well, I liked it, but then, I watched it shortly after watching Deadwood, so that might not be saying much... Anyway, I just wondered 'cause it came to mind. *shrugs*

And - I think I'll wait for Albert Nobbs on dvd - the library will probably get it, so free and easy to stop if it turns out to bother me. (Though, to be honest, I rarely get bothered or manage to work up a case of righteous indignation about fiction, and when I do, it's always the oddest things that nobody else seem to care about, not the obvious ones. Go figure.)

Albert Nobbs

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