#215- Juliet of the Spirits

Quick recap: Juliet discovers that her husband has been unfaithful and goes on a journey of self-discovery to gain the courage to leave him.

It was an odd journey, to say the least

Fun (?) fact: Director Federico Fellini claims to have taken LSD in preparation for the film.

I would've been more shocked had Fellini had instead admitted to not using any drugs prior to directing this film

I would’ve been more shocked had Fellini instead admitted to not using any drugs prior to directing this film

My thoughts: Most women who find they have been cheated on choose to blast girl anthem songs while throwing their man’s things out the door. Not Juliet. She instead turns to mediums, New Age psychoanalysts, sex workers and her own twisted hallucinations for comfort and guidance. At least, I think she did. Juliet of the Spirits was filled with so many symbols and metaphors I wasn’t sure what I was watching most of the time. It sure was pretty, though.

But seriously, this film is gorgeous on so many levels. There are scenes that are so colorful that it practically hurts your eyes and scenes where there are just a couple of colors. All of it is beautiful. When I think of the 60s, I think of a lot of yellows, pinks, browns, and oranges and this film had those colors, but the movie still looks timeless. I wouldn’t go so far to say that it could be mistaken for a modern film, but it definitely does not feel dated, color-wise.

The New Age-y stuff in the film didn’t make much sense because it’s not something I am familiar with, but it did make me curious what rich Italians did back in the 60s. Because according to this film they held séances, made up games where they psychoanalyzed each other, and went down slides after crazy sex. I’m not really sure how all of this helped Juliet, but by the end of the film I think she figured out that she needed to leave her husband. Actually, I’m not even sure that happened. Throughout the film, Juliet has visions of herself as a young child, strapped to a bed of pretend fire. In the end, she crawls through a door in her bedroom and frees the little girl. The two hug and then suddenly it’s daylight and Juliet looks happy. I’ll take a wild guess and say the ending had something to do with freeing herself from the restraints of religion, but I’m not even sure about that.

Final review: 4/5. I think I liked this movie?

Up next: A Woman Under the Influence

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#210- Rosemary’s Baby

Quick (recap): A woman (Rosemary) unwittingly births the anti-christ.

such a touching moment….capturing what all mothers look like when gazing upon their children for the first time.

Fun (?) fact: Let’s play Six Degrees of Evil! Ready? Ok, so Roman Polanski directed Rosemary’s Baby. A year later, his wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. Charles Manson titled the killing spree, ‘Helter Skelter’, after a Beatles song. One of the Beatles, John Lennon, stayed in the apartment where this movie was filmed. He is also responsible for writing the song ‘Dear Prudence’, about Mia Farrow’s (Rosemary’s) sister. Bam! Thanks to whoever at IMDb figured that one out.

yes, she was getting assaulted by satan at this time, but nonetheless, this looks very comfortable

My thoughts: America, you confuse me. Many of you refused to see The Exorcist, on the grounds that it was blasphemous. Which, sure, I could see that with the dialogue of the demon. But he was a DEMON and the Catholic church came and cast him out and good won. So, if anything it is a very religious movie. And then you have Rosemary’s Baby, which doesn’t have near the same hatred as The Exorcist, even though it involves the birth of satan’s son. What gives? Personally, this movie was much more creepy to me than The Exorcist and had a downer of an ending, which I always appreciate in horror films. Add to that, all of the real life stuff that went on a year later with Sharon Tate and Charles Manson and you have a damn good scary movie.

Well, scary in theory, at least. Most of the film is a slow build up where the audience knows what is going on, but the main character doesn’t. She figures it out at some point, but it’s very hard to grasp that your husband has made a deal with your witch neighbors to have satan rape you and impregnate you with his spawn. That’s years of marriage counseling right there. The ending, as Rosemary tries to escape is exciting as well as ultimately futile. What I loved most about this film is how far Rosemary goes to protect her unborn child, not knowing that she is essentially protecting evil and the eventual destruction of Earth. It’s kind of hard to predict these things, although I suspect an ultrasound might have picked something up, if it had been around in the 60s.

My one complaint about the film is how the devil worshippers are portrayed in the end. All of the ‘hail satan!’s were a little on the campy side, as well as the choice to put the demon baby in an all black bassinet. It was a little overkill. I mean, obviously he is the son of satan, but do we to be reminded of it every second?It was a little disappointing not to get a good look at the baby, but knowing this crew, he was probably decked out in devil horns, a pitchfork and an Iron Maiden onesie.

Final review: 4/5. Quite scary!

Up next: HorrorFest continues!

#202- The Leopard

Quick recap: The Prince of Salina comes to terms with his diminishing importance during the late 19th century in Italy.

3/4 of the movie involves the Prince brooding in one fashion or another

Fun (?) fact: Director Luchino Visconti didn’t like Burt Lancaster in the leading role (maybe because he plays Italian but in real life was Irish? sounds like that would be important). Anyway, Lancaster couldn’t put up with the mistreatment anymore and confronted Visconti, who was so impressed by his passion that they became BFFs 4-ever.

This look is more ‘contemplation’ than ‘brooding’, but still top notch.

My thoughts: IMDb says that The Leopard is Martin Scorsese’s favorite movie. The 1001 Movies book calls The Leopard ‘a cult classic’. Even Giuseppe Tornatore (director of Cinema Paradiso) counts this film as his favorite, although that doesn’t mean too much to me because I didn’t love his film. Anyway, the point is that, on paper, this movie should’ve been amazing, but the reality is that I was underwhelmed. I feel guilty even admitting that, considering how many people hold this film in such high regard. And then I remember how divisive my review of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was and realized that if I can make it through that, I can make it through anything.

I usually try and start with something positive here, and in this case, since this is an historical film, I wanted to at least praise the director for bringing to my attention this very famous person. Who, after a quick search on Wikipedia, does not actually exist and is merely a fictional character. So there goes my history lesson. I’m sure at least the time period was true but not the Prince or his family. I felt really dumb after learning this but really, I know next to nothing about Italian history so if this movie was about a pod of aristocratic whales storming Rome, I’d believe it.

It’s hard for me to put a finger on why I disliked The Leopard so much. The acting was great, not magnificent. And the plot was a little tedious at times but not excruciatingly drawn out. If I had to nail down a reason, I think it’s because I just didn’t care about these people. The Prince seemed like a good enough guy and it was sad to see his reign slip away, but at the same time, this is the aristocracy we are talking about, so there isn’t a lot of love there.The character of Tancredi, the uncomfortably beautiful nephew, confused me throughout the movie as I could never figure out where he fit in all of this. He and the Prince had a special relationship but I think he switched sides at some point and that probably wasn’t a good thing. There were many plot points I missed when I watched this because I had trouble grasping their significance.

But I can sympathize a bit with the concept of a fall from glory, especially if it is inevitable. The end scene where the Prince dances with Angelica, the daughter of his enemy, was beautiful and a perfect contrast between what things used to be and where they are currently.

Final review: 2/5. Reading up on Wikipedia helped me understand the movie a little better, but there still isn’t much love there.

Up next: Sunrise, which has made me start humming the score from Fiddler on the Roof.

#194- The Sound of Music

Quick recap: A singing nun takes on the role of governess for 7 children and teaches their widower father about love.

The hills are ablaze with the euphonious symphonies of descant

Fun (?) fact: Julie Andrews fell several times while on the mountain

My thoughts: Oh, Sound of Music. I fell in love with this movie as a kid after my music teacher showed it to us in its entirety. I have since seen many more ( sometimes better) musicals as an adult, but this one still holds a special place in my heart. Since I am familiar with this movie, watching it again for the list was more about whether it holds up as much as it did when I was little rather than if it is actually a ‘good’ movie.

When I told my husband that I was going to be watching The Sound of Music, he scoffed at how schmaltzy it is. This is coming from someone whose favorite Christmas movie is It’s a Wonderful Life, but that’s for another post.Anyway, while watching it, I could definitely see some schmaltziness, but it just didn’t bother me like I feared it would now that I am a jaded, cynical adult. Like, for instance, how quickly the children latch on to Maria when they are known to have driven several governesses away, including one that only lasted a couple of hours. She’s just someone that you can’t help but want to do good by, though. And Julie Andrews was made for this role. The kids can be eye rollingly cute at times but it is her that completely makes this movie into something wonderful.

Above all things, I love The Sound of Music for, what else, the music. I love every single song and was pleasantly surprised by how many of the lyrics I remembered ( the cats were not impressed with my singing, by the way, especially one who bit me throughout the movie). Edelweiss is still my favorite because of its simplicity and yet all the complicated things it stood for. For a kid just getting acquainted to the ‘adult’ world, this movie was a perfect bridge between childhood and adolescence. It was the first time I really understood the Nazi regime and how terrible everything was, and yet there was a happy ending so that I could still have hope. It may be schmaltzy, but it’s my kind of schmaltzy.

Final review: 5/5.

Up next: All that Jazz

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1001 Movie Nights

Tag Archives: 1960’s

#215- Juliet of the Spirits

#210- Rosemary’s Baby

#202- The Leopard

#194- The Sound of Music

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