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VIDEO – Robert Pattinson is sexy and violent in the 1st Cosmopolis teaser
R-Patz changes his style in the Cosmopolis teaser , David Cronenberg’s upcoming project.
Flashy neon lights. Captivating voice over and then one sentence. One sentence which should make moviegoers talk today:
“Show me something I don’t know”
And this is exactly what Cosmopolis does , a kind of American Psycho but more clear sighted and less cold. Much more than an adaptation from Don deLillo’s novel, David Cronenberg ‘s film must reveal Robert Pattinson under a new light. After Twilight, Cosmopolis is the film that must turn him from the poster boy to a major actor . And even if this teaser is very short, we can witness the magnetic power of R-Patz (the scene in which he wanders in the alley, monstruous), his boldness and the extreme change in his register (Robert Pattinson is shot by his half naked mistress , he shoots himself in the hand and wanders in the rave parties in New York). We’re far from the Twilight’s mormon’s moral speeches.
Cronenberg’s awesome idea was to give Pattinson the leading role, as Eric Packer, Patrick Bateman’s first cousin . The novel focuses on one day of this yuppie in the 2000s, he embodies the decadence of Post 09/11 America. Stuck in a huge traffic jam, Packer speculates in his limo and watches the US President’s visit , an alterglobalist demonstration and the funeral of a hip hop star , just to mention these events
The extraordinary teaser makes us think that the director is returning to the staging of his violent and clinic early days (the awful sequence with a knife in the eye) . He also proposes some shadowy swerves (the demonstration with weird animals), which are far from the academic classicism of A Dangerous Method.
This short but explosive teaser is greatly edited and makes us want to learn and see more . Will this film be presented at Cannes since we have a lot of clues to think so ? Anyway, the countdown till May 23rd will be long…. very long.
Robert Pattinson from Twilight to Cosmopolis : the huge gap (TEASER)
While the fans were waiting for Breaking Dawn part 2, this is what should surprise them! Because, we have finally the 1st teaser for David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolisand it’s quite an event . Why? Because as Eric Packer, Robert Pattinson shreds his image of the sweet Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise. Let’s quickly discover this very exciting teaser.
Cosmopolis is likely to be selected at Cannes , just like Walter Salles’s film , On the Road . If both films are concerned, the event would be highly mediatic and it would be a kind of explosion since, Robert Pattinson with Cosmopolis and Kristen Stewart with On the Road could both walk the red carpet. For both of them, it would be a way to say goodbye to Twilight, since the last sequel will be released in Novembre, even if the saga still arises excitement and a constant frenzy. However for Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, real life couple, who will still have to promote Twilight, it’s time to do something else, and today, we discover the new Pattinson and it rocks!
It seems, just as he said for an interview last November, that the director David Cronenberg didn’t lie. Indeed, he was saying about the actor: “He is amazing in that movie. They’ll see him do things he’s never done before, believe me. And he will surprise everyone”. Indeed, in this 34 seconds teaser , we can see a completely transformed Pattinson , not only physically but also in his attitude, his acting. In Cosmopolis , he plays Eric Packer, a 28 years-old billionnaire who wanders across Manhattan to have a haircut, inside his high tech limo. The golden boy will be stuck in his gorgeous limo due to a huge traffic jam paralysing Manhattan. He’ll witness the twilight of a system which put his company into the Wall Street galaxy. He’ll lose his clients’ millions dollars, because he bet on the drop of the Yen , which will unexpectedly rise. Paralysed by the irruption, in his virtual world, of a wild reality that sets on fire the city’s streets , Packer is given access , in a day , to a spectacular iniation on how life can be rough . Assauyted by men, even revengefull former clients, and obsessed by sex , Eric will be sure his downfall will be utterly complete.
After a very cerebral A Dangerous Method, it seems Cronenberg is returning to his most extreme tendancies since the shots are either electrifying or simply violent. Sex also plays an important role in De Lillo’s novel and this aspect hasn’t been put aside, from what we’ve seen in this teaser. And we are really thrilled to see that Robert Pattinson is willing to propose a complete change. We really hope he’ll be really good in this film, which by the way has a huge cast, such as Juliette Binoche, Jay Baruchel, Kevin Durand, Mathieu Amalric, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton and Sarah Gadon. The film will be released on May 23rd so it’s likely to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival . The official selection will be announced on April 19th.
Robert Pattinson frightening in Cosmopolis’s teaser
The Twilight star plays the cynical billionaire for David Cronenberg. It’s enough to blow up his Mr Perfect son-in-law image…
Sex, violence and rise and fall , the Robert Pattinson we can see in Cosmopolis is at the opposite of the man we could admire on Wednesday in the tasteless Breaking Dawn teaser . The 34 seconds teaser which was released on Thursday was electrifying. Adapting Don DeLillo’s novel, David Cronenberg seems to have found the perfect field to do his art . And Pattinson, a rôle which proves he’s got huge talent «When he is on screen, it’s so hard to stop looking at him . He’s really a terrific actor», said recently Cronenberg.
«Show me something I don’t know», whispers the teen idol in the teaser. Thus, we didn’t know he could be that violent and rough. Embodying a golden boy, Eric Packer, who wanders through Manhattan looking for extreme sensations, Robert Pattinson will find something to erase his Twilight page . Check it when the film will be released on May 23rd
КОСМОПОЛИС (Cosmopolis, 14 июня, показали промо-трейлер) – Забавно, что представляя картину, “Топ Фильм” многократно вспоминали о Паттинсоне как главном манке и аттракционе Кроненберга, словно забыв, что сами выпускают РЫБУ МОЕЙ МЕЧТЫ в уик-энд старта паттинсоновской же ленты МИЛЫЙ ДРУГ. Ролик КОСМОПОЛИСА заявил, что зрелище фанатов Паттинсона ждет неординарное. Один день из жизни миллионера, путешествующего по мегаполису на машине, в ходе которого его жизнь превращается в руины и хаос – в изложении Де Лилло (автора) и Кроненберга (режиссера) будет, возможно, самым неожиданным, сюрреалистичным и причудливым проектом, который зрители СУМЕРЕК видели в своей жизни. Фильм-аналог и главный референс по сборам – ВООБРАЖАРИУМ ДОКТОРА ПАРНАСА Терри Гиллиама. Недавно релиз ОПАСНОГО МЕТОДА Кроненберга позволил нащупать прослойку зрителей интеллектуального кино в России: это базовая аудитория КОСМОПОЛИСА без Паттинсона. С ним – она раза в 2 больше.
“Trailer prooves that Pattinson fans will see an extraordinary spectacle”
“… [it'll be] the most unexpected, surreal and bizarre project that Twilight fans have ever seen”
“Recently released Cronenberg’s’ A Dangerous Method’ allowed the audience to feel a layer of intelligent cinema in Russia: basic audience for Cosmopolis without Pattinson. With him – it’ll be twice bigger”
Thank you to @AdeleStew for the information and translations.
BBC1′s “Film 2012 with Claudia Winkleman” gave Bel Ami an average rating.
Claudia wasn’t sure if it was the script or Rob’s acting that she didn’t like, but in the scenes with Christina Ricci, ‘he shines’. She said it feels very much like the film “Dangerous Liasons”.
Her co-host, Danny, urged every one to give it a chance, saying he thinks it’s a brave thing for Rob to have taken on a role where he has to carry the entire film.
He also compared Rob to Brad Pitt – he started out as a heartthrob and it took him years to shake that image.
Update: Low quality video capture below! Thank you to ROBsessed for the tip!
Update: Exit-song from Rob’s IMDB message board added,
I haven’t seen Bel Ami mentioned on TV until tonight (adverts aside). Film 2012 reviewed it. For non UK readers, this is the longest running film review show on TV here.
I was bracing myself for some very smug and below the belt comments, and the first one didn’t disappoint.
After they showed the cinema trailer and we see Georges emerge from the church at the end of it.
Claudia Winkleman opened the review with:
“Nice pale complexion coming out of the church, just so we remember.”
She then went on to say she doesn’t think it works because she thinks Georges comes off as petulant and spoiled. “Is it his fault or is it the script?” she asks.
She then goes on to say all the women were wonderful.
Then the guy on the show (sorry don’t know his name) muses that Rob took the role to shock his Twilight fans “Rather like a teenage boy playing music in his bedroom too loudly to shock his mum.”
He then says “Now that I’ve said something bad I should say something good.” And goes on to say how it was quite brave of Rob to take on the role because he’s carrying the movie and is in almost every scene. He said that he brings something subtle to a film that is anything but.
They then went on a diatribe of calling it Dangerous Liasons lite and how everyone seemed bogged down by the costumes, heaving bosoms on show and wild whiskers.
They made a point to exempt Christina Ricci from criticism and said Rob was best when he was acting with her. (I disagree, some of my fave scenes of the movie were with the other actors).
The guy in the end decided to stick up for Rob and say that “Hollywood is littered with actors who started out as vapid teen heartthrobs who became really good actors. So let’s give Rpatz a chance.”
I could almost forgive him for the Rpatz tag… but I won’t.
So there you have it… I think they tried to be fair and it could’ve been a lot worse. I was expecting worse.
The only input from Rob was some taped comments from the time of filming.
Update:ROBsessed found a preview clip to the show where in this video below at the 0:02-0:03 mark there is new footage of Rob smoking.
a film directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod
With: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci, Holliday Grainger, Colm Meaney, Natalia Tena, Philip Glenister …
Georges Duroy is an ambitious young man, who wishes to make a name in the Parisian high society and especially to ensure financial security. Through his meetings, he will win the protection of certain women, who will make him climb the ranks of the bourgeoisie at a breakneck speed ..
Willing to do anything to succeed
Maupassant’s work has often been adapted for the television and less for the big screen: the latest filmfrom 1955, directed by Louis Daquin was preceded by that of Albert Lewin (American director) from 1947. This new adaptation is the result of a collaboration between Anglo-Saxon Declan Donnellan, director of British theater and Ormenod Nick, director of English theater company, Cheek by Jowl. It seems France is not interested in its literary capital!
To play George Duroy de Cantel: Robert Pattinson (from the vampire saga “Twilight”). To give the role of Bel Ami is really a gamble but it’s also the assurance of a return to an audience of women who are still under the spell of his vampiric canines. The bet is not yet completely lost, despite his acting rather average. He personifies Duroy with a certain elegance, and his role with aplomb as a seductive manipulator, even if it seems capable of only a single expression , either for those scenes of sadness or contentment …
As for the female casting , Uma Thurman is perfect in the character of Madame Forestier, a lady, erudite and highly influential. It was also fun to see the beautiful and fragile Christina Ricci evolve , who was scarcely seen on the big screen. Finally, it is regrettable that this adaptation of Maupassant seems to forget some aspects of the novel, as the first marriage of George Duroy, or the fact that he is an educated man, not an illiterate as we try to suggest it .. . We can also blame the film for not really giving a “French” focus in this story, because of its cast (half-British, half American) and rare shots of Paris (the film was shot in Budapest). ..
One thing for sure is that Robert Pattinson wanted to break its image of teen-lovesick in the bartering for that of an anti-hero of French literature, selfish, ambitious and opportunistic … But is Bel Ami really a disguting character so that he could really succeed. I doubt it
My favorite feature on the Blu-Ray special edition is the six-part, 90 minute long MAKING-OF-DOCUMENTARIES. This was the first time I saw how every important scene was positioned together. Another awesome feature about the documentaries is that they can be played alone or in picture-in-picture mode alongside the film starting from “Love Death Birth”, “The Wedding”, “The Honeymoon”, “The Wolf Pack”, “The Pregnancy” and “The Birth”. All of these special features walk you through the entire process of making the movie with the writers, creators, and cast. My favorite out of the six part documentaries is definitely “The Pregnancy.” Watching Kristen Stewart’s transformation, the prosthetics that were used on set, and the making of her uncanny body double were all wonderful. If you’re someone who loves watching and learning about the pre-production, production and post-production processes, you will thoroughly enjoy these documentaries.
The one minor disappointment in my opinion is the lack of a film commentary by Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. I still enjoyed the commentary with Bill Condon, but would have also preferred to hear the main cast members walking us through the film. To sum up everything, I would give Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Blu-Ray Special Edition an ‘A’. This version has something special for everyone and it’s perfect for every Twilight fan.
Okay, i think i should write about my experience at Bel Ami premiere, bc it has been definitely one of the best day of my entire life and i’d like to share w/ you these precious moments!
I arrived at the Berlinale Palast around 7 o’clock in the morning, and there were already 10 people. I got a very good spot, bc i was between the box of the camera and my friend, but she doesn’t care at all about robert, so there weren’t crazy fans around me lol
Around 2 a.m i saw all the journalist got into a hotel in front of the berlinale where take place photocalls and press conferences, so i went there and i remained locked into the bathroom until Rob showed up!
I watched the entire photocall, but when i tried to get into the press the kicked my ass out bc i hadn’t any badges. The security guy was a pain in the ass, i tried everything: ” i lost my badge, a guy stole my purse with my badge, please let me get in, i blinked… but nothing lol my blue eyes didn’t work!
After the photocall rob came out, and then I waited for him until 6.45.
The premiere has been really cool, w/ music and stuff!
Anyway when finally rob came to me , i got the chance to talk to him!
I told him that he looked good with his new haircut and that he seemed like a mohican guy hahaha and he answered that i looked good too. I almost died.
We took pictures and then he signed my “Bel ami card”!
When he was coming back for the interviews, i began to scream: high me five roooooob, high me fiveeeee! and he actually came back and gave me an awesome high five :’)
When i saw the gif on tumblr i couldn’t believe that it happened for real.
I’ve already met Rob’s family in London, and i’ve already took pictures w/ Victoria and Liz but seeing them there, ready to support their baby bro/son, has been amazing!
I asked Clare and Richard if they were excited for Rob and they answered that they couldn’t wait to see the movie!
Anyway after the premiere a bodyguard gave me two tickets for the screening of Bel Ami,i went into the theatre and before the movie, rob, christina and the director came to thank us :’) i was shocked! lol
Bel ami is great, Rob’s performance is flawless in each scenes, and… speaking of sex scenes, god!
I don’t want to spoil anything, but i can’t wait to see it again!
Film adaptation of a literary work with stars and weaknesses: “Bel Ami”
The story: Paris, 1890. The former soldier George (Robert Pattinson) is hungry for social advancement. It has no talent but unfortunately he seems to have an incredible nerve. With many calculations, he managed to seduce the wife of an editor, Madeleine (Uma Thurman) who gives him a job as a journalist. But that’s not enough for George – he is looking for a better match. Even the beautiful Clotilde (Christina Ricci) and the mature Ms. Rousset (Kristin Scott Thomas) can not resist the charm of “Bel Ami”. But the price that these ladies have to pay is high …
Directors: Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod in 1981 co-founded the theater company Cheek by Jowl. With the film adaptation of the novel by Guy de Maupassant, they offer here their first feature film.
Stars: The hearthrob Robert Pattinson who has chewed through the success of Twilight film . In “Bel Ami” unfortunately, his performance is similar to the vampire Edward: while both are terribly pale. Likewise, his partner Christina Ricci (“Monster”) do not really will bubble on the screen. On the contrary, very convincing in the role of the unfaithful wife”: the star of “Kill Bill” Uma Thurman.
Review by BZ: The beautifully designed scenery and sumptuous costumes unfortunately do not bypass the weaknesses in the cast. Too bad!
Chance to get a Prize at the Berlinale: None, out of competition film. Dates: Today, 12 (Berlinale Palast) and 22:45 (Friedrst.-P.)
Each nation has its sensitivities. Our French neighbors are particular suspicious on their language and culture. The classic novel by Guy de Maupassant, Bel Ami, 1885, repeatedly brought to the screen, clearly belongs to the national treasures that we protect with care. With the new directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, two British who just use the material and adapt the French novel with English-speaking actors. This operation “Bel Ami” has failed not only from a French point of view – the drama in period costumes suffer from atmospheric disturbances, lack of subtlety and a star who does not reach the complexity of his character
Paris in the1890s it’s the gold rush. Opportunities to earn lots of money quickly is immense. Only the old soldier, peniless, Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) has missed the boat of the bourgeois class and struggles as an employee to survive. When he meets Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), an old friend from the Army, everything changes suddenly, as he introduces the handsome young man at the leading company in Paris and gives him a job as a journalist for “La Vie Française” .
George falls in love at first sight of the eloquent and erudite Madeleine (Uma Thurman), wife of Forest, he soon leaves her distracted once again by an affair with Clotilde (Christina Ricci), who is also married. When Forester is carried away by a serious illness, George fights his way and marries his wife Madeleine. It is one more step in the social scale, but it is not enough. His megalomania finally led him to a marital crisis, to the connections and professional failures.
Guy de Maupassant created with “Bel Ami” a delicate portrait of society, which until today is still valid. After all, our time is also guided by the hunt for glory, money and influence, by fierce competition, disloyalty and lack of scruples. A new interpretation of the subject de Maupassant is quite obvious, but the directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod fail to illustrate its relevance in the present. They are limited to a decorative period film : the staging and how to film are pleasant and re”veal good qualities, but the plot seems restrained.
Many omissions have a negative influence, moreover, there is virtually nothing left of Maupassant complex characters in the film, of the summary device and this leads to sudden changes in traits and behaviors that are difficult to understand.
Pale as a vampire in a “Twilight” movie where the acting is not demanding – and that led to his fame, Robert Pattinson tries to overcome the character Georges Duroy with not much more than charm pornography. It does not do justice to this kid who plays among the women of the Parisian society, and he ends up being tormented by delusions of grandeur. Although the British actor has proven itself in the drama “Water for Elephants,” “Bel Ami” might have been more suitable to an actor like Leonardo Dicaprio. Even for him, it would have been a challenge to seem plausible playing the inconstancy of Duroy, required by the scenario.
Since it is difficult to recognize in this film actors who are particularly good but we have example with an experienced actress as Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient). When Oscar nominee loves suddenly, like a teenager in love with the beautiful George, then it is much the failure of an interpreter that the expression of gross dramaturgical weaknesses. The best impression is left by the experienced Uma Thurman (“Dangerous Liaisons”), whose character of Madeleine Forestier is also the one which worked more consistently.
Conclusion: “The Swedish are not Brazilians.” The Football Champion Franz Beckenbauer knew it, and this analogy has escaped Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod: the British and the Americans are not French. That’s why the British in costume drama “Bel Ami”, which also suffers from many awkward characters, fails to express the state of mind of the French material
In another film adaptation of the novel by Guy de Maupassant, Robert Pattinson tried the role of an unscrupulous cad.
Georges Duroy returned to Paris in the late nineteenth century, after years as a soldier in Algeria. He deftly uses his newly established with powerful men and women to climb the social ladder of the high society. Bel Ami, the bestselling novel by Guy de Maupassant, describes a career built unscrupulously in a corrupt society which seems to expect such methods.
A timeless subject, not least as suggested by the fact that the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) list about half a dozen of adaptations for film and television. Now, this British production is further added to the list.
Robert Pattinson was in the film Twilight, the vampire kind, here he is a manipulative, selfish, careerist, unscrupulous cad. He tries to interpret it by facial expressions with which he could strange surely be nominated for Razzie Awards: Pattinson grimace with the mouth in different directions, leaving his upper lip vibrate or shows his teeth. This quickly becomes a mannerism barely tolerable.
Pattinson is visible in every scene, and its low representation could already spoil the film. If there was still something to spoil. The direction of Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod points wisely chapters of the novel and vigorously painted Parisian nightlife, where someone is always asking for the “champagne”. Connected by a clue, scene after scene, a seduction to another, a lady seductively wrapped in a sheet to another. Everything is served with a loud soundtrack.
Uma Thurman in the role of smart and talented Madame Forestier, who is responsible for the professional success of uncultivated Bel Ami, could be an interesting female character who opposes the ability of Pattinson’s character. We see her from time to time as a journalist / housewife investigator, but the film has no real interest in his female roles. Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci, who are other victims of love, play his on-screen partners, and as the plot requires it, he triumphs.
The former soldier Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) returns to Paris after his military service. He lives in poverty, unhealthy conditions in a room in the suburbs. He’s once again lucky and come across Forester , a former friend met during his time in Algeris, the latter invited him to dinner at his home. There he meets not only the educated wife of Forestier, Madeleine Forestier (Uma Thurman), but he will also be introduced into high society. When he is proposed to treat her experiences as a diary, he began with the help of Madeleine and her husband, an influential career in journalism.
Through his merit and his affair with the beautiful Clotilde de Marelle (Christina Ricci), he created the leading Parisian scene and eventually became editor. In this position, he is also associated with the collapse of the government. Meanwhile, he has fun with the ladies abandoned by men far too busy and uses his position to achieve its social goals.
Film Rating:
It is an attempt to break from the image of Edward, the beautiful vampire. While filming the Twilight series is over, and there is only one movie to be released on the screens, it is time to prove himself in new projects. Robert Pattinson is successful, with few weaknesses, to cope surprisingly well in the role of George Duroy. Of course it is always difficult not to see in every gesture or facial expression the vampire Edward and some traits remind that role too well. But overall this is a fair provision provides by the young actor in “Bel Ami” Maybe because the two characters share a certain resemblance. George and Edward are two handsome men, eager to satisfy their addiction. It is the desire of blood in Twilight (though discreetly removed), while Bel Ami covets recognition and women. Many scenes are very average and Pattinson is offset by the supporting cast who are at their best, which is quite impressive, the women’s team can be proud of Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci.
After having spoken of theactors , Bel Ami is also the first feature film directors Declan Donellan and Nick Ormerod who looked far from the theater. We see the origin of the filmmakers, as their penchant for beautifully designed scenery and beautiful costumes is remarkable in every scene. It is clear however, that the story sticks very specifically to the plot of the novel, each chapter has worked as gently as possible and the film seems, therefore, unpleasantly static and rigid. Despite his famous actresses, it’s almost irritating, that the female characters are extremely pale and sometimes act as extras who must recite their texts.
Overall, the film adaptation based on the novel of the same name, by Guy de Maupassant is essentially lighter than the cast would have suggested. We can diminish the role of seducer egocentric Pattinson in some places and replaced it by women on the screen. A fun pastime is still guaranteed, and thanks to its star, enough viewers should find the way to the cinema.
Men get a bye when it comes to their fantasy life – no matter how disturbing or buffoonish – but women are expected to be the grown-ups, even though it’s not much fun being the designated driver. In a strange way, we take female fantasies too seriously and not seriously enough. Our movie fantasies are supposed to be tame and measured, lest they cause alarm. You rarely hear people worrying about protecting society from James Bond’s or Batman’s exploits, but when something lowbrow for women comes along, like the blockbuster Twilight series, the hailstorm of scorn and anxiety rains down. It’s hard to be both insipid and harmful, yet that’s often the standard rap about chick flicks. But if you can ignore the din of derision, a seemingly lightweight adventure like Twilightoffers some interesting clues about the female inner world.
By now, everyone has heard of the impossible love story of the teenage girl from Forks and her immortal vampire love. If you know nothing else about Bella and Edward’s baroque romance, or the pack of sullen adolescent wolves who try to subvert it, you may have at least heard about the sickening birth scene in the most recent film installment, Breaking Dawn, that allegedly gave some real movie-goers seizures. So let’s jump straight into Crazy Land, shall we, with a plot that hinges on an unexpected honeymoon pregnancy of epic proportions. After just a few moments of soft-core bliss, Bella’s devastated husband and the audience watch with helpless horror while her body wastes away from the stress of carrying an inhuman pregnancy.
Breaking Dawn also engages seriously with the idea that childbearing can be a scary and very bloody business. It’s easy to forget that more than 500,000 women worldwide still die every year in childbirth, and even that staggering number doesn’t begin to capture the many millions more who come close to death or who are left with disabling physical injuries. Not to mention the agony of pregnancy loss, neonatal death, birth anomalies, and other undesired outcomes. Women know this, of course, the way generations of men have known battle stories. War movies, of varying degrees of realism and quality, have always provided a window into men’s hopes and fears.
I mention maternal mortality because it’s not only women’s dreamy fantasies that are absent in mainstream movies. Women’s fears are missing, too. It says something deeply unflattering about the state of American culture that it takes a teenage vampire movie to capture women’s worries, imagined and real, about reproduction and motherhood. For all its freakish implausibility, critics who panned the nauseating birth scene in Breaking Dawn were missing the point.
It’s grotesque, yes, but not ridiculous. Robert Pattinson nails the desperation (on poor Edward’s bloodied face) that accompanies a birth when things go badly wrong. But in some ways, the Breaking Dawn scene actually doesn’t go far enough in its gothic horror. When I lost half my blood volume giving birth to my first child, an obstetrical resident crudely described the delivery room scene as a “Texas Chainsaw Massacre party.” And a physician friend recently noted that, “cesareans are real blood baths.” Are we surprised, then, that female viewers might be drawn to Breaking Dawn like a highway pileup? The theatre went totally silent during the birth scene at the screening I attended. This crazy shit speaks to us.
People are naturally uneasy with the asymmetry between the hot vampire and the young frail human (whose translucent skin and klutzy limbs occupy a lot of real estate in the books). But, to be fair, Bella was never quite the loser it’s been claimed: she’s a good friend and does well in school. She has a job and a car and cares for an infantile mother and a dad who can’t microwave a pizza. Bella was “born thirty-five” she explains early on. She’s also apparently the only human sufficiently on the ball to notice the creepy exceptionalism of a coven of vampires trying to pass for regular folks.
On the other hand, there’s no denying that Bella’s a dullard compared to the boyfriend whose defining feature is perfection. Interestingly, the one power Edward lacks is the ability to read Bella’s mind. He spends much of his abundant free time struggling to understand his beloved, and he suffers the added indignity of watching Bella’s half-wolf buddy, Jacob, connect easily with her. Any woman who has ever played the game of forcing her man to guess what he has done wrong will like this thread of the story a lot.
But Bella is also riddled with a rat’s nest of teenage inadequacies and tics, and the naysayers find Edward’s steely adoration implausible. Bella will always be inferior in everyone’s eyes … but his. That, of course, is precisely the point. The multilingual polymath with mind-reading powers and superhuman strength is in love with Bella’s sweet normalcy.
And here’s the other point: Edward’s vampiric love is unalterable. When Bella badgers him that she will age and die while he retains his perfect, 17-year old body, Edward insists that he will go on loving her, and no one else, even as she becomes a shriveled, sagging mess. “That makes no difference to me,” he insists earnestly. “You will always be the most beautiful thing in my world.”
Here’s another new UK poster for Robert Pattinson’s latest movie, Bel Ami which I’m sad to say is as dull as the previous poster that we saw for the movie. The trailers look intriguing though which sort of make up for these. It’s a bit like they needed to get a poster out, wanted to feature the main cast and had nothing else to put on it except photos of the main cast members. Sorry but surely more could be done…..?
Bel Ami is directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod and stars Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci, and the fabulous Colm Meaney who I will always remember as Chief O’Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation or the fighting guy in Far Away!
THE ROVER
COSMOPOLIS
BEL AMI
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN (PART ONE)
