Al's Funeral

Al had always said he didn't want any religion at his funeral. So the undertaker provided this beardy guy (they always have beards, I don't know why) who we were informed was a humanist minister.  He started off pretty well- with a long, detailed account of Al's life- but then- about five minutes before the end- he allowed Jesus to creep in through the side door and invited us to praise him, thank him and ask him to do us favours. Ailz turned to me and said. "If Al can hear and there's room in that coffin" (which there won't have been because he was a very big guy) "he'll be spinning!"

It was the coldest night thus far. The temperature at Dukinfield cemetery was two degrees below. On our way there we had the sun setting to the left of us and the moon rising to the right of us in a totally cloudless sky.

L'Eclisse

Like a fashion spread come to life.

A rich girl breaks with her fiancee, moons about a bit, has a brief affair with her mother's stockbrocker. That's it.

Every frame is so beautifully composed. Those verticals!

Monica Vitti is a prophesy of Lady Di. The gawky grace of a wading bird, the big hair, the tilt of the head.

Does Monica see the beauty that surrounds her? That's the question. Are we seeing things through her eyes or the director's? Is she  vapid or entranced?
 
The beauty saves it from being boring- by a hair's breadth.