Flowers in the Attic
Feb. 3rd, 2014 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeSo, just how was Flowers in the Attic? Um, not great. But not terrible--but I will admit, I was hoping for much better. They got the atmosphere okay--I liked the claustrophobia of the room and I liked how the attic looked. Chris at least was good looking and could act (sort of), and the twins were cute, and Heather Graham--was a'ight, I thought. She sure looks like Corrine, and she pulls off that vibe of the pretty girl that never had to do anything hard. But I kept getting stuck on Kiernan Sjipka who is just. not. Cathy. She just isn't. You need a girl who is conventionally pretty, and Kiernan Shipka really isn't. Cathy is supposed to look JUST LIKE her mother, and Corrine is the classic gorgeous, rich, WASPy blonde. Also KS's voice is pitched very low for a young girl and it just detracts from the Cathy-look and -feel. Cathy is also a ballet dancer in training (so, she's super-fit with long legs) and she must--MUST--have LONG BLONDE HAIR. She has it when they first enter the house (because her father had always liked her hair) and then they're in there for 3+ years and she says "each of grew lots of hair." Why must the moviemakers always overlook this? This is important not just for her characterization (Cathy's fragile-pretty looks are ironic since she's the strongest and the toughest of the four kids, the only one who stands up to Corrine) but Chris's as well. These characters are not supposed to look ordinary, every day--they're supposed to look like they've stepped out of a fairy tale, because that's the kind of story it is. And that's how they think--Cathy thinks of Chris as the knight who will protect her and save her, and the grandmother is the evil witch.
Also, sorry to say that Ellen Bursten, while a terrific actor, really wasn't playing the grandmother. She was too...how can I say this...kind of messy in her line readings, too...trivial, too openly emotional. The grandmother is a stone cold, absolutely heartless* character. Think Ursa from Superman II--THAT kind of cold. She despises them but she's always, always in control. Ellen looked more annoyed and harried than anything, and it just wasn't right. You need to be able to imagine Corrine growing up with a mother like that so you can understand why she turned out the way she did.
At least the incest hadn't been cut but it was weird--way too romantic, and not rape the way it was in the book. In the book they dance closer and closer to how they feel about each other and they talk about it, in hints. Cathy says "then you do think I'm pretty?" and Chris says yes, "but brothers don't think about sisters as girls." And he kisses her full on the lips when he goes out to explore the house one night, and she thinks "such a peculiar long kiss, to give me the sensation that I was falling down, down, down, when I was already lying down." And he stares at her when she's dancing--it's all very romantic until he explodes and then it's not remotely soft-focus, it's obviously traumatic and violent. And afterward they're horrified at what they've done, they go out onto the roof and stare up at the moon, imagining it to be the eye of God, judging them.
In the Lifetime version they lead up to it fine but instead of him exploding they melt into consensual sex and they even have an AFTERGLOW--which poor Carrie witnesses because she comes in to tell them that Cory is sick! EW!!!! I'm not opposed in principle to changing it from rape since that's a huge TW for a lot of people but it *should* be messed up and weird, NOT romantic. And certainly their baby sister should not have to see them cuddling afterward.
Say NO to the afterglow!
I did like that they had the party. They also showed the Swan Bed but it did not look as I imagined it (wasn't it supposed to be round? I guess round bedding would be difficult to get but hey--THEY'RE FOXWORTHS). I wish they'd explored Cory a bit more--he necessarily gets such short shrift in the series because he dies so soon, but I loved how thoughtful he was and I even loved that he was such a good musican at such a young age. "I wish the night would end/I wish the day'd begin..." Dee-pressing!
Anyway overall I'd say this version was a solid double, as opposed to the 3-called-strikes humiliation of the first movie. And apparently it got good enough ratings that Lifetime is making the sequel, Petals on the Wind! THERE'S a good book, so much plot you need a concordance! And great characters like Julian and Bart Winslow and Yolands. (Although Dr. Paul was gross.)
We lived in the attic
Christopher, Cory, Carrie and me
Now there are only three
*Or is she? There are a couple of hints in FITA that Olivia has some interesting layers and is not completely heartless, and then her character is explored in great depth in Garden of Shadows.
Also, sorry to say that Ellen Bursten, while a terrific actor, really wasn't playing the grandmother. She was too...how can I say this...kind of messy in her line readings, too...trivial, too openly emotional. The grandmother is a stone cold, absolutely heartless* character. Think Ursa from Superman II--THAT kind of cold. She despises them but she's always, always in control. Ellen looked more annoyed and harried than anything, and it just wasn't right. You need to be able to imagine Corrine growing up with a mother like that so you can understand why she turned out the way she did.
At least the incest hadn't been cut but it was weird--way too romantic, and not rape the way it was in the book. In the book they dance closer and closer to how they feel about each other and they talk about it, in hints. Cathy says "then you do think I'm pretty?" and Chris says yes, "but brothers don't think about sisters as girls." And he kisses her full on the lips when he goes out to explore the house one night, and she thinks "such a peculiar long kiss, to give me the sensation that I was falling down, down, down, when I was already lying down." And he stares at her when she's dancing--it's all very romantic until he explodes and then it's not remotely soft-focus, it's obviously traumatic and violent. And afterward they're horrified at what they've done, they go out onto the roof and stare up at the moon, imagining it to be the eye of God, judging them.
In the Lifetime version they lead up to it fine but instead of him exploding they melt into consensual sex and they even have an AFTERGLOW--which poor Carrie witnesses because she comes in to tell them that Cory is sick! EW!!!! I'm not opposed in principle to changing it from rape since that's a huge TW for a lot of people but it *should* be messed up and weird, NOT romantic. And certainly their baby sister should not have to see them cuddling afterward.
I did like that they had the party. They also showed the Swan Bed but it did not look as I imagined it (wasn't it supposed to be round? I guess round bedding would be difficult to get but hey--THEY'RE FOXWORTHS). I wish they'd explored Cory a bit more--he necessarily gets such short shrift in the series because he dies so soon, but I loved how thoughtful he was and I even loved that he was such a good musican at such a young age. "I wish the night would end/I wish the day'd begin..." Dee-pressing!
Anyway overall I'd say this version was a solid double, as opposed to the 3-called-strikes humiliation of the first movie. And apparently it got good enough ratings that Lifetime is making the sequel, Petals on the Wind! THERE'S a good book, so much plot you need a concordance! And great characters like Julian and Bart Winslow and Yolands. (Although Dr. Paul was gross.)
We lived in the attic
Christopher, Cory, Carrie and me
Now there are only three
*Or is she? There are a couple of hints in FITA that Olivia has some interesting layers and is not completely heartless, and then her character is explored in great depth in Garden of Shadows.
