Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: BELLE

Here at NineteenTeen, we occasionally gather for a virtual tea-party, and discuss a historical film.  Please join us today as we discuss the gorgeous drama "Belle"!

Filmed in several of England's stately homes as well as Pinewood Studios, "Belle" has a true story as its kernel.  Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race daughter of a captain in the British Royal Navy, is orphaned, and then sent to be raised by her grandparents.   An ordinary-enough story, except that her grandparents are aristocrats -- and they live in an England which still had the slavery in its overseas colonies, and made great profits off the slave trade.

"Belle" starts with the few facts known about the real Dido Belle, and then creates a fascinating story of what her experiences growing up in England might have been.

 

The cast is full of well-known names.  Here are a few, to help your memory during the discussion!

Belle:  Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Lord Mansfield:  Tom Wilkinson

Lady Mansfield:  Emily Watson

Lady Ashford:  Miranda Richardson

James Ashford:  Tom Felton  (beware Slytherin!)

John Davinier (the love interest):  Sam Reid

Elizabeth Murray (the cousin):  Sarah Gadon

 

This film deals with issues of race, of class, of women's freedom and power, of justice, family, and love.  And of course it has those costumes!  And those gorgeous gardens and country houses.  Pretty much everything a person could want in a movie, if you ask me!

   

But we're not asking me, we're asking you!  Have you seen Belle?  What did you think?  What did you like, not like, want more of?  Did you like the way it handled serious issues?  And which hat would you like to wear?

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: "Belle" in March!

Young Bluestockings are those shocking young persons who like...to READ.  (Gasp!)  Yes, we are all of us bluestockings, and proud of it!

And sometimes, we branch out into the other arts, such as that delightful new invention known as "cinema."  (Some of us modern young creatures call it "the talkies" or even "the movies" -- for the figures on the screen do indeed talk and move!)

And sometimes, we Young Bluestockings all watch the same movie in the same month, and then come back to discuss it with our bluestocking friends here at NineteenTeen, while sipping virtual tea (or actual tea).  Well, it's that time again!   (Drumroll, please....)

Please join us one month from today, on Tuesday March 24, when we will discuss the lovely historical film "Belle"!  (It's available on DVD, Blu-Ray, instant video, and various streaming services).

An excellent time will be had by all.   

So please join us!

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: PERSUASION (1995)

Welcome to "Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema" at NineteenTeen! Today we're discussing the 1995 Jane Austen adaptation Persuasion, starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds!

(As an aside, can I mention how magical the mid-1990s was for Jane Austen fans? We had one fabulous adaptation after another...delightful!)

Ah yes, Persuasion! Lost love, pride and class, vanity, and lots of dashing naval men.

So, whether you watched this movie recently or long ago, please tell us what you thought of it!

Did you like the cast? Did you root for Root, or sigh for Wentworth?

Did you like how the director gave us the silences and low-indoors-lighting of the period, to really put us in that world? Or were you frustrated by that, finding the movie slow, or low-energy, or even at times hard to follow?

If you've read Austen's novel, what did you think of this interpretation of it? Did you think it captured the soul of the original? Did you mind any changes?

And if you have any other comments or insights, please share!!! We bluestockings love to discuss things while sipping our tea (and perhaps enjoying some caraway cakes and ratafia biscuits...)

And to aid the discussion, here are the major actors and creators:

CAST AND CREW:

Director: Roger Michell

Screenwriter: Nick Dear

CAST:

Anne Elliot: Amanda Root

Wentworth: Ciaran Hinds

Lady Russell: Susan Fleetwood

Sir Walter Elliot: Corin Redgrave

Elizabeth Elliot: Phoebe Nicholls

Mrs. Clay: Felicity Dean

Mary Musgrove: Sophie Thompson

(Interesting fact: Sophie Thompson had a role in another Jane Austen movie--she played Miss Bates in the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma! She is also the sister of Emma Thompson, who played Elinor (and wrote the screenplay) for the 1995 Sense and Sensibility. Austen royalty!)

Charles Musgrove: Simon Russell Beale

Louisa Musgrove: Emma Roberts

Henrietta Musgrove: Victoria Hamilton

Captain Benwick: Richard McCabe

Admiral Croft: John Woodvine

Mrs. Croft: Fiona Shaw

Mr. Elliot: Samuel West

So....what did you think? All opinions welcome!

Young Bluestockings will discuss Persuasion!

When other young ladies and gentlemen doze on the sofa or stare admiringly at their reflections in the looking-glass, young bluestockings gather together with like-minded souls and have merry debates about novels, ideas, and that delightful (yet futuristic) invention, the cinema.

So please join us here next month (November 19) for our next "Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema" virtual outing, which will be...

(drumroll...)

The 1995 film of PERSUASION, starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds!

Ah, yes.  Jane Austen!

Young bluestockings do love Jane Austen, with her wit, her wisdom, and her romances.

This version of Persuasion is a gorgeous, atmospheric movie, and if you haven't ever seen it, you're in for a treat!

But don't let me influence you -- what we're asking for are your honest opinions on the movie.  (What did you like, or dislike?  What would you have done differently?  Which home would you most like to live in?  Which actors or actresses are the most swoon-worthy?  Did you spot the person who later played a relative of Harry Potter?)

So please stop by here on Tuesday, November 19, and join our lively discussion!  We promise to brew you a fresh pot of virtual tea when you arrive...

Please join us!

 

The 1995 PERSUASION is available through Netflix, iTunes, Amazon (DVD or digital), and quite possibly at your local library.

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: LITTLE WOMEN (1994)

Welcome to the Young Bluestockings discussion of the 1994 film LITTLE WOMEN!

I rewatched this last night, for the first time in a long time, so I have a lot of excited opinions that just want to make their way out.  Particularly because I was absolutely obsessed with Alcott for years (and I still love her.)  At one point I got to the end of Little Women and just started right back in at the beginning...

So...whether you just watched the movie recently, or saw it ten or fifteen years ago just once, please join in the discussion!

Here are some of the cast & crew, to help the discussion along...

Director:  Gillian Armstrong

Marmee:  Susan Sarandon

Meg:  Trini Alvarado

Jo:  Winona Ryder

Beth:  Claire Danes

Child Amy:  Kirsten Dunst

Adult Amy:  Samantha Mathis

Laurie:  Batman   Christian Bale

Mr Brooke:  Eric Stoltz

Mr Bhaer:  Gabriel Byrne

Aunt March:  Mary Wickes

Mr Lawrence:  John Neville

So....what did you think about...the casting?  The script?  The changing the March family to be more like the Alcotts?  The hair and costumes?  Anything else?

All opinions welcome!

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: April Movie!

Here at NineteenTeen, we LOVE books (and if you don't believe me, I'll show you a picture of all the walking paths in my home totally blocked by stacks of books)...and we also love movies based on books.

Or, at least, we love talking about them. ("The book was better!" "The movie made the characters live!" "Those costumes were bizarre!")



When we get together to talk about movies based on books, we call it "Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema"! (We're bluestockings because we're all love books so much that we risk being called bluestockings by all the dandies out there, and we don't mind one bit!)

Our next movie:  drumroll, please!   Is
LITTLE WOMEN from 1994!  To be discussed on April 23!

Based on perhaps the most beloved and influential book about teen girls ever written, this movie stars everyone from Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, and Kirsten Dunst to CHRISTIAN BALE!  Yes, Batman is in the house, but he's young...and he smiles.  In fact, sometimes he even laughs.   (Special effects were really good in those days!)



So all you need to do is watch it (or remember it, if you've already seen it), and stop back in here on Tuesday, April 23, when we'll all discuss it!

Please join us!


The 1994 LITTLE WOMEN movie is available on DVD, Netflix DVD, iTunes HD, Amazon Instant Video, and quite possibly from your local library.

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: "Sense and Sensibility" (1995)

Welcome back to

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema!

Several times a year, NineteenTeen invites you to join in a discussion of a movie set during the Nineteenth Century.
Today we'll be discussing the 1995 movie Sense and Sensibility!

Whether you saw the movie yesterday or years ago, please join in the discussion!

Here's a little background about the movie, to get things started:



Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel, came out in 1811.

Likewise, this movie of Sense and Sensibility was the first time Emma Thompson wrote a motion picture script.  Most famous as an Oscar-winning actress (for Howard's End), Thompson (who played Elinor) got another Oscar nomination for best actress, and actually won the Oscar for best screenplay for Sense and Sensibility!  (Pretty good for your first time out, I say!)

The film was directed by Ang Lee, who was then a well-respected but still fairly new director from Taiwan. Lee has since become an Oscar-winner himself, and is up for another directing Oscar this year (for The Life of Pi.) 

With a total of seven Oscar nominations (and one win), it's the most award-winning Jane Austen movie out there!

But that's what they think.  What do YOU think?

Did you like it?

Did you find it funny, romantic, suspenseful? Boring? Confusing?

What did you think of the cast?

The costumes?

If the story was new to you, were you surprised when Marianne and Colonel Brandon ended up together?

For those of you who've seen the TV show House, did you recognize Hugh Laurie as the man behind the newspaper?    :-)

All opinions welcome!

CAST:
 Emma Thompson: Elinor Dashwood
 Kate Winslet: Marianne Dashwood
 Hugh Grant: Edward Ferrars
 Alan Rickman: Colonel Brandon
 Greg Wise:   Willoughby
 Gemma Jones: Mrs. Dashwood
 Emilie François: Margaret Dashwood
 James Fleet: John Dashwood
 Tom Wilkinson: Mr. Dashwood
 Harriet Walter: Fanny Dashwood
 Elizabeth Spriggs: Mrs. Jennings
 Robert Hardy: Sir John Middleton
 Imelda Staunton: Charlotte Jennings Palmer 
 Hugh Laurie: Mr. Palmer
 Imogen Stubbs: Lucy Steele

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema: January Movie!

Hello there!  I'm Cara King, back again to announce the second installment of NineteenTeen's "YOUNG BLUESTOCKINGS ATTEND THE CINEMA," the four-times-a-year gathering of the young and young-at-heart to talk about interesting movies with 19th-century settings.

So... (Drumroll, please!)

Our next movie will be:  SENSE AND SENSIBILITY!

Of course, there are many different adaptations of Jane Austen's first published novel. The one we'll be discussing is from 1995, and stars Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and Greg Wise.

Our discussion will be on Tuesday, January 15.  So you have a month to beg, borrow, buy, or check out from the library a copy of the movie, and see what you think.

Because what you think is really the whole point of this. This is your chance to be a movie critic, and tell everyone else what's good or bad about the movie. And it doesn't matter whether or not you've read the book -- the more perspectives we have, the more fun for all!

So please join us here on January 15!

All images copyright Columbia/Tristar Pictures.  

Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema

Welcome to Young Bluestockings Attend the Cinema!

Do you like to read? To think? To talk? Then you're a Young Bluestocking!

And because Young Bluestockings enjoy attending the cinema (wearing white gloves, of course), NineteenTeen's Young Bluestockings have decided to have an online "cinema club" as well as a book club.  You are invited!

All you need to do is watch the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice" (the one with Keira Knightley) sometime during the next month. (You can find it through Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and quite possibly your local library.) Then on the fourth Tuesday of October (October 23), you get to chat about what you liked (or didn't like) about it, with others here who also watched it!  

(Of course, if you've already seen it, you are welcome to join our chat without rewatching the the film, if you'd rather!)

Now, for those of you who don't know the story, and aren't sure if you'd find it interesting, here's the set-up:

Our heroine is Lizzy Bennet (played by Keira Knightley, of "Pirates of the Carribean" fame). Here she is, in brown.

She's smart. She's fun.

But there are some folks around her who think a young lady in Regency England should not be quite so smart, or laugh quite so much...unless she has a lot more money than Lizzy's family does.

So what is she to do?

Lizzy's older sister, Jane, is the pretty one.

Jane's also really sweet, and everyone loves her.

But it's possible that she's just a little too trusting....

Lizzy's youngest sister, Lydia, is an absolute brat...

....and their mother likes her best, and spoils her rotten.

You'd think it was Lydia's mission in life to humiliate Lizzy in front of people.

And by people, I mean....

cute guys!

Ahem.  I mean...handsome gentlemen.

(As you might guess, I failed my deportment lessons.  My apologies.)

And these handsome gentlemen are dressed ever so nicely....

and have courtly manners....

and they ride horses...

and dance well...

and did I mention that some of them are fabulously wealthy?

(Not that such things matter, of course. Ahem!)

And some of these utterly fabulous men are dashing soldiers....

in uniform...

with brooding stares...

and cheekbones to die for....

Ahem!

(I apologize for coughing repeatedly.  Dreadful manners, I know.  It's just that every now and then I get a bit...carried away.)

So be sure to stop by here on October 23 to discuss the movie!  Your hostesses, Regina Scott and Marissa Doyle, have asked me (Cara King) to lead the discussion, probably because I love historical movies almost as much as I do historical books.  (And, as I'm sure you've guessed from all the coughing and exclamation points, I get very enthusiastic about things!)

So please join us!  We will all have a delightful time...

All images, copyright Focus Features.