i was surprised with the pacing of the movie, considering it was a period piece - it was set in the 50's. the whole premise of the story is challenging conformity and not doing what society has expected you to do.
kirsten's betty warren narrates the movie and introduces julia's katherine watson as a california teacher who comes to wellesley college on a lark. we are introduced to the other actresses in the movie in one clean swoop: the first day of school. Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles), Gisele Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Connie Baker (Ginnifer Goodwin) all turn out exceptional performances, but, and i'm not being biased here, Kirsten Dunst's performance stands out.
i loved how the other girls had their stories and yet they all seemed to revolve around betty. joan and betty were close and so they thought that they would be spending the latter years of their loves together, happy and in love with their husbands while punching out children left and right and living happily ever after. betty is the first to marry and convinces joan to follow suit despite urgings from ms. watson to be a lawyer and go to yale. joan would eventually elope with her boyfriend.
connie baker meets charlie stewart, betty's cousin. she falls in love with him, unbeknownst to her of a prior engagement that the boy was caught in - this according to betty. this news destroys connie's dreams of falling in love and being happy. she says so to betty: "why can't you let me be happy, betty??"
the second-best performance came from maggie gyllenhaal. it's always so much fun portraying a promiscuous, fearless, foul-mouthed college girl, no matter the era. gyllenhaal gave her giselle a sincerity and ironically enough, innocence. her character will be betty's undoing. betty unravels completely after a shocking admission, preceeded by a really heartbreaking name calling scene.
in the end, ms. watson's words were MY undoing:
Dear Betty, I came to Wellesley because I wanted to make a difference. But to change for others is to lie to yourself.
Betty:
My teacher, Katherine Watson, lived by her own definition and would not compromise that, not even for Wellesley. I dedicate this, my last editorial, to an extraordinary woman, who lived by example and compelled us all to see the world through new eyes. By the time you read this, she'll be sailing to Europe, where I know she'll find new walls to break down, and new ideas to replace them with.
i loved that this was my first movie for 2010 and that it has spoken volumes to me. i hope that whoever watches this, whether it be a girl, boy, man, woman, child, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, orange or green, that they take away the same aspirations and dreams that this movie gives.
No comments:
Post a Comment