Morning, Afternoon, Evening

[poliphilo]

In the morning I did some pruning. There's a tree embedded in the hedge at the front that I think is an elder. It entertains ideas above its station. Ideally I'd like to cut the hedge back to waist height, but Rene, who shares it with us- wants it left as it is. She thinks it protects her windows from footballs.

In the afternoon we went to the Nativity play at Fabi's nursery. He was a shepherd. He had a line but I don't think he said it. At one point he came and joined us in the audience. I was sitting behind a tall woman with tall hair so I didn't see very much.

In the evening I watched Fellini's Toby Dammit on YouTube. A drunken English actor arrives in Rome, attends an awards ceremony, bails out early, goes for a spin in his new Ferrari and has a nasty accident. Of course the story is nothing. The interesting thing is the hallucinations. Are they Toby's hallucinations or Fellini's? I think they must be Fellini's because if I were Toby and I were having such interesting hallucinations I'd sit back and enjoy them and stop being such a raging knobhead. Here's the problem about presenting depression on the screen. If you make it interesting you misrepresent it- and if you don't no-one will come see your movie. Toby Dammit fits into Fellini's oeuvre somewhere between Guilietta and Casanova- and is an exercise in pure style- like a person waving a stick- but beautifully. Terence Stamp- an actor generally hired for his immobility- gets to wear white make-up and emote like a star of the silents.

Comments

[aellia.livejournal.com]

I was lucky and sat at the end of the row at the Nativity play.
I could crane my neck sideways :-)
x

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

In film class, we were taught that "Toby Dammit" is Fellini's adaptation of Poe's "Never Bet the Devil Your Head," with the little girl with the ball representing the Devil, of course.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Terence Stamp. I haven't heard that name in years.