The Great Lie Review
Mar. 17th, 2018 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI really enjoyed this.
+ This was pretty much Mary Astor and Bette Davis's show and they were amazing. The relationship between Sandra and Maggie was so fascinating and I loved every scene they were in together. They were so enjoyable to watch and I just wanted more of them. I loved the pointed bitingness of their exchanges while still being surface polite to each other. I love how it always felt like there were several conversations happening between them and the depth both characters and their relationship had right from the beginning.
+ I felt a lot of sympathy for Sandra while she was pregnant. Ignoring the emotional component of the entire situation - she’s isolated on a rural farm with only two people around, with not a lot to entertain her or keep her busy, there isn’t even a piano for her, while also kept on a strict (crazy) diet. Of course she’s deeply unhappy and going stir crazy! But also props to Maggie for her superhuman patience and calm.
+ I was so amused by Sandra smoking a pack of cigarettes a day (and Maddie smoking around her) and meanwhile the doctor is all ‘no pickles!’ (or ham or onions or butter, what??) Also only an ounce of brandy a day. It was just such a weird contrast especially looking back on it from today.
+ Maggie was really very kind to Sandra in her explanation to Peter about the situation. She says: "it wasn’t an easy situation for Sandra to face alone" making Sandra sympathetic and emphasising how difficult it was for her; "then I persuaded her to let me take him" where, by putting it post-birth, occludes the fact that this was an arrangement between them from the beginning and while ‘persuaded’ is what she did it also makes it seem as if she worked hard to convince Sandra to give up her newborn which in turn gives the situation a slightly different feel to what actually happened; "...so Sandra gave him up so he could have that place" making it seem as if Sandra sacrificed a relationship with her child for his sake. I love how this just emphasises what a genuinely kind and generous person she is.
+ I would have loved an exploration of their shared past. It’s clear that there was something between them that had nothing to do with Peter, something that left negative feelings on oth sides and I wanted to know what it was. Were they friends who had a falling out? Were they rivals at school? I could absolutely see popular urban Sandra and kind rural Maggie butting heads, perhaps even taking an immediate dislike for each other. In fact it's practically the cliche. Sandra hating 'goody-two shoes' Maggie, perhaps even feeling judged while at the same time looking down on her, and thus picking/bullying her and making her life at school suck. I could see that.
+ I really wish we had gotten a scene post-Pete’s birth where we saw Sandra’s reaction to him (did she hold him? Did she have second thoughts? Mary Astor would have knocked it out of the park) and a final scene between Sandra and Maggie, perhaps as Sandra was leaving.
+ I thought it interesting that after Maggie's Pete explanation, when she started crying, Sandra got up and went to her first and then spent most of the rest of the scene with her attention on Maggie.
+ I was annoyed with Peter for dragging Maggie away at the end after Sandra's announcement. Maggie went to reach out to her! I wanted that last Maggie/Sandra moment.
+ I actually liked the Maggie/Peter romance. I found them eminently believable. It was clear that they not only loved each other (and had for years) but that they genuinely enjoyed being around each other.
+ Overall Peter wasn't bad at all. I liked that post-break up with Sandra he treated her with respect and was happy and friendly to her every time they met. I liked how he dealt with the entire Pete situation at the end.
+ The main issue I had with Peter was over his ultimatum to Sandra. He clearly didn't love her, wasn't into her party lifestyle and regretted their drunk elopement. But instead of being honest about it with her he skirted around their issues and then put their entire break-up onto her (and the failure of their relationship) by giving her an unreasonable ultimatum to choose between her career and re-marrying him, and thus allowing him to leave her guilt free when she made the choice he knew she would. Also he didn't even make it clear to her that it was a choice between that concert and them remaining a couple, and she had no idea that he would immediately leave her and marry someone else. It was such a asshole move. I mean, for the best because they wouldn't have been happy together but a selfish jerk move.
+ I loved Mary Astor and I'm definitely going to have to look into more of her movies. She had a lot of little reaction moments that I really loved like the tiny blink and miss it smile when Maggie got her the scarf or Sandra’s expression when she first looks at the picture of her son (that whole short sequence with the pictures was amazing).
+ I love the BTS stuff I learned about the movie. The fact that Bette chose Mary for the role because she thought she was the most accomplished actress and fought hard (enough that she got laryngitis while arguing with the director) for her to get it. That Bette preferred acting with powerful actress that challenged her to be better. That the actresses bonded immediately and then re-wrote most of their dialogue together.
+ Like I think all movies from this time period there were occasional moments of, let's say, gender issues that bugged me. Also the portrayal of the black characters left me uncomfortable.
+ There is no fic for this movie which isn't unexpected but is a bummer because I really want some. AU where Maggie and Sandra fall in love during the pregnancy. Post-movie fic where Sandra sends a letter while on her tour and they begin to correspond and eventually become friends via the letters and then in their old age after Peter has died Sandra returns to Maggie's home and they live the rest of their days as occasionally squabbling but genuinely fond roommates. Pre-movie fics exploring their past.
+ This was pretty much Mary Astor and Bette Davis's show and they were amazing. The relationship between Sandra and Maggie was so fascinating and I loved every scene they were in together. They were so enjoyable to watch and I just wanted more of them. I loved the pointed bitingness of their exchanges while still being surface polite to each other. I love how it always felt like there were several conversations happening between them and the depth both characters and their relationship had right from the beginning.
+ I felt a lot of sympathy for Sandra while she was pregnant. Ignoring the emotional component of the entire situation - she’s isolated on a rural farm with only two people around, with not a lot to entertain her or keep her busy, there isn’t even a piano for her, while also kept on a strict (crazy) diet. Of course she’s deeply unhappy and going stir crazy! But also props to Maggie for her superhuman patience and calm.
+ I was so amused by Sandra smoking a pack of cigarettes a day (and Maddie smoking around her) and meanwhile the doctor is all ‘no pickles!’ (or ham or onions or butter, what??) Also only an ounce of brandy a day. It was just such a weird contrast especially looking back on it from today.
+ Maggie was really very kind to Sandra in her explanation to Peter about the situation. She says: "it wasn’t an easy situation for Sandra to face alone" making Sandra sympathetic and emphasising how difficult it was for her; "then I persuaded her to let me take him" where, by putting it post-birth, occludes the fact that this was an arrangement between them from the beginning and while ‘persuaded’ is what she did it also makes it seem as if she worked hard to convince Sandra to give up her newborn which in turn gives the situation a slightly different feel to what actually happened; "...so Sandra gave him up so he could have that place" making it seem as if Sandra sacrificed a relationship with her child for his sake. I love how this just emphasises what a genuinely kind and generous person she is.
+ I would have loved an exploration of their shared past. It’s clear that there was something between them that had nothing to do with Peter, something that left negative feelings on oth sides and I wanted to know what it was. Were they friends who had a falling out? Were they rivals at school? I could absolutely see popular urban Sandra and kind rural Maggie butting heads, perhaps even taking an immediate dislike for each other. In fact it's practically the cliche. Sandra hating 'goody-two shoes' Maggie, perhaps even feeling judged while at the same time looking down on her, and thus picking/bullying her and making her life at school suck. I could see that.
+ I really wish we had gotten a scene post-Pete’s birth where we saw Sandra’s reaction to him (did she hold him? Did she have second thoughts? Mary Astor would have knocked it out of the park) and a final scene between Sandra and Maggie, perhaps as Sandra was leaving.
+ I thought it interesting that after Maggie's Pete explanation, when she started crying, Sandra got up and went to her first and then spent most of the rest of the scene with her attention on Maggie.
+ I was annoyed with Peter for dragging Maggie away at the end after Sandra's announcement. Maggie went to reach out to her! I wanted that last Maggie/Sandra moment.
+ I actually liked the Maggie/Peter romance. I found them eminently believable. It was clear that they not only loved each other (and had for years) but that they genuinely enjoyed being around each other.
+ Overall Peter wasn't bad at all. I liked that post-break up with Sandra he treated her with respect and was happy and friendly to her every time they met. I liked how he dealt with the entire Pete situation at the end.
+ The main issue I had with Peter was over his ultimatum to Sandra. He clearly didn't love her, wasn't into her party lifestyle and regretted their drunk elopement. But instead of being honest about it with her he skirted around their issues and then put their entire break-up onto her (and the failure of their relationship) by giving her an unreasonable ultimatum to choose between her career and re-marrying him, and thus allowing him to leave her guilt free when she made the choice he knew she would. Also he didn't even make it clear to her that it was a choice between that concert and them remaining a couple, and she had no idea that he would immediately leave her and marry someone else. It was such a asshole move. I mean, for the best because they wouldn't have been happy together but a selfish jerk move.
+ I loved Mary Astor and I'm definitely going to have to look into more of her movies. She had a lot of little reaction moments that I really loved like the tiny blink and miss it smile when Maggie got her the scarf or Sandra’s expression when she first looks at the picture of her son (that whole short sequence with the pictures was amazing).
+ I love the BTS stuff I learned about the movie. The fact that Bette chose Mary for the role because she thought she was the most accomplished actress and fought hard (enough that she got laryngitis while arguing with the director) for her to get it. That Bette preferred acting with powerful actress that challenged her to be better. That the actresses bonded immediately and then re-wrote most of their dialogue together.
+ Like I think all movies from this time period there were occasional moments of, let's say, gender issues that bugged me. Also the portrayal of the black characters left me uncomfortable.
+ There is no fic for this movie which isn't unexpected but is a bummer because I really want some. AU where Maggie and Sandra fall in love during the pregnancy. Post-movie fic where Sandra sends a letter while on her tour and they begin to correspond and eventually become friends via the letters and then in their old age after Peter has died Sandra returns to Maggie's home and they live the rest of their days as occasionally squabbling but genuinely fond roommates. Pre-movie fics exploring their past.
