hearthesilence wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 8:36 pm
Taylor's performance feels too self-conscious, and there's something about it that doesn't sit naturally or organically with the rest of the production, whereas Segal and especially Burton feel wholly natural in their parts. (Dennis's performance feels too mannered, but I think her choices make some sense even if I wasn't completely sold on them.)
I think Taylor’s perf works because, although both she and Burton take their turns playing up the theatrics of their routine, he’s grown tired of it while she’s fighting tooth and nail to keep it alive. Burton appears more relaxed in his part, and “natural” or authentically human, because he is showing more of those relatable expressions of humanity in characteristics we identify with: exhaustion, apathy, anger, condescension. Taylor exhibits these too but is so desperate to hold onto self-delusion that she’s in full-ham mode, even when expressing authentic emotions. They’re almost always hidden behind another sheet of glass, while Burton has shed the majority of that armor already, demonstrating a surrendering soft demeanor that we can access.
So I think I what you mean, but I also think it’s intentional and fitting for the character, who is so incapable of facing ‘reality’ that she’s incessantly inorganic within her social environment. And yet she’s also permanently self-conscious, trapped in a state that is self-alienating, and just aware enough to remain in psychological purgatory destined to be inhibited from that elusive comfort of fully embracing the lie. She’s the most depressing character in the film, which is no coincidence that she’s the toughest one to access. At least Burton is coming to terms with his depression, can take a step back and make their Sisyphean wasteful existence tangible. Taylor can’t, so we can’t make her psychology tangible either- and over the course of the film we paradoxically align with her over this absence of knowledge. Nobody ‘knows’ her, not even herself. Ugh.