Age of Consent & A Matter of Life and Death (Sony)

[tryavna]

I think our attitudes toward AMoLaD is a matter of degree, not of kind. We both seem to agree that the courtroom sequence does not hold up, no matter which way you look at it. What I was trying to get at, however, is that it's placement as a tangent so far into the movie speaks volumes about its apparent importance to either Powell or Pressburger. So perhaps I'm simply trying to rationalize my distaste for that sequence, but at least looking at it this way makes it bearable. At any rate, I agree that it is a huge mis-step in what might otherwise be P&P's finest achievement. But as the finished film stands, it inches below IKWIG, Red Shoes, etc.

I was indeed referring to Mirren's character as the Ariel figure and her mother as the Caliban figure. I'm not trying to argue that there's a 1:1 ratio at work. Clearly, AoC is not simply a modern-day reworking of The Tempest. However, I was thinking of Mirren's role as a muse or medium for Mason's revitalized power. Also, I do tend to view Mirren's monstrous mother as a Caliban-like figure. (Though if we view Mirren as Miranda, then Ted's assault on her in the boat makes him Caliban.) Ultimately, all I mean is that The Tempest seems to inform AoC quite a bit, and that aspect of them film gives it greater resonance. It also makes me think of AoC as more in tune with other aging directors' late films (since The Tempest is, of course, one of Shakespeare's later plays).

[Tommaso]

So perhaps I'm simply trying to rationalize my distaste for that sequence, but at least looking at it this way makes it bearable. At any rate, I agree that it is a huge mis-step in what might otherwise be P&P's finest achievement.

Well, I don't think it's THAT bad; it's unnecessary but at least it's very well made. But of course I would have liked a drawn-out discussion about the importance of love etc. much better, though the film then would have shared quite a few things with IKWIG...

But as the finished film stands, it inches below IKWIG, Red Shoes, etc.

I always thought so, too, but I'm not sure whether this is only due to the courtroom sequence. AMOLAD in my view is as a whole perhaps a too well-planned film, with much of its effect depending on the sets and the technicalities, and for me it isn't as emotionally engaging as "Canterbury", IKWIG or indeed "Red Shoes" are. My favourite scenes in AMOLAD are indeed those where we see the village life, the loving couple and the discussions of Niven and Goring on earth rather than in heaven (which probably is one of the points of the film, i.e. that these aspects are supposed to be much more important than the staleness of heaven).

I fully agree with what you say about AoC being only generally informed by Shakespeare's play, though I found it funny to try out how far the analogies go and where to place the individual characters. But it never fully works out; and if we accepted Mirren as Miranda and Mason as Prospero, this would throw a whole new light on the Shakespeare play as well (though I suppose there are scholars who have read their relation in the play as somewhat incestuous already).

Also, I do tend to view Mirren's monstrous mother as a Caliban-like figure.

Well, even if we view Mirren as Caliban AND Ariel, her mother still must be Sycorax (considering how Sycorax mistreats Ariel this would even make sense). But as I said, all this assigning of characters ultimately leads nowhere, but it may indeed be that the Shakespeare connection is one of those factors that raise the film above the level of pure Sunday afternoon entertainment, apart from the magic of its images, of course.

[starmanof51]

But the connection to The Tempest is pretty clear

You know, I remember pretty clearly that in Vol 2 of his autobiography, Powell addressed trying to get a film of The Tempest off the ground somewhere around this time - maybe later. It was to star James Mason, who was all for it according to Powell, but it still didn't come off. One of many heartbreaking non-starters for him in later years. At any rate, perhaps either he sublimated his Tempest-making desires in AoC, or making it put him on the scent of a Mason/Tempest that never was.

He must have been a big Mason fan, he tried to get him to do IKWIG before settling for Livesey.

[Antoine Doinel]

I'd love to hear some more opinions about Age Of... This film was completely unknown to me prior to this release and am curious what if any the consensus is around here on it.

I'm watching it right now and I'm finding it to be a very trying experience. I was going to turn it off completely, but I figured coming here was a good compromise instead. The film's attempted mix of a dramatic arc with bizarre camp moments just doesn't work, while Mason's supposedly burnt out painter is hard to care about. But yes, Godfrey and to a lesser degree Mirren rise above this thoroughly wretched outing.

[HistoryProf]

Good manners should be rewarded...

I'm glad someone else posted alternative shots as the handwringing over this was way out of line imo. This is my favorite film and I was ecstatic when the Sony disc was released, ordered it immediately, and watched it the day it came and a few times since - never once did the color seem off, but quite the opposite. I know this is long after the fact, but tommaso threw out a reference to the horrific transfer in the Tales of Hoffman thread and I couldn't resist countering the overwrought hyperbole in here. I can attest that on my calibrated panny 42" HDTV the colors are far closer to this than Gary's....I don't know what he did to screw them up, but they are definitely not right and the Sony disc is 100% fine - and certainly better than the frightfully garish earlier releases.


And it's still a splendid piece of film making...a movie that moves me in so many ways, but I can't ever fully give words to. I just plain love it

[HistoryProf]

I think our attitudes toward AMoLaD is a matter of degree, not of kind. We both seem to agree that the courtroom sequence does not hold up, no matter which way you look at it. What I was trying to get at, however, is that it's placement as a tangent so far into the movie speaks volumes about its apparent importance to either Powell or Pressburger. So perhaps I'm simply trying to rationalize my distaste for that sequence, but at least looking at it this way makes it bearable. At any rate, I agree that it is a huge mis-step in what might otherwise be P&P's finest achievement. But as the finished film stands, it inches below IKWIG, Red Shoes, etc.

I was indeed referring to Mirren's character as the Ariel figure and her mother as the Caliban figure. I'm not trying to argue that there's a 1:1 ratio at work. Clearly, AoC is not simply a modern-day reworking of The Tempest. However, I was thinking of Mirren's role as a muse or medium for Mason's revitalized power. Also, I do tend to view Mirren's monstrous mother as a Caliban-like figure. (Though if we view Mirren as Miranda, then Ted's assault on her in the boat makes him Caliban.) Ultimately, all I mean is that The Tempest seems to inform AoC quite a bit, and that aspect of them film gives it greater resonance. It also makes me think of AoC as more in tune with other aging directors' late films (since The Tempest is, of course, one of Shakespeare's later plays).

You do realize of course that the courtroom sequence is the reason the film exists right? It's absolutely germane to the very basis of the story: an American servicewoman falling for the British airman....her just happening to hail from Boston, the birthplace of the Sons of Liberty and the agitation for freedom from the tyranny of King George. The English public was not happy with the boisterous obnoxious Americans seemingly everywhere in 1944 and 1945, who also seemed rather arrogant in their superman role of coming to save the day - which the English saw more as 'what took you so long.'

The Trial is thus a fascinating insight into the deep feelings of resentment across the UK homefront and how P&P were commissioned to try and soothe them. Here in the states, WWII has become this rather sanctified moment in history where America rose to the occasion in incredible ways and our men sacrificed so much for freedom - while generally ignoring (forgetting?) the abject suffering the citizenry of the UK, France, etc etc etc had to endure. We love patting ourselves on the back for our 'sacrifices' and pretending we suffered right along with our allies, but we really have no clue what suffering through war really is. To have their distant cousins simultaneously taking over local pubs and complaining about the beer during the war must have been too much to bear for so many.

Seeing a segregated heaven in this context is therefore just fascinating, and the entire sequence adds so much depth to the picture for me. It would be easy to simply film an international romance set during the war - and plenty of others did exactly that - but only P&P could conceive and execute a film so ingeniously that was also a historical rumination on the cosmopolitan landscape the United States professed to embrace - but at its heart was patently terrified of - and the debt the U.S. has to it's true founding mother: England. Things were a bit simpler in Europe in terms of who the bad guys were, but America had to send Germans to fight in the Pacific, and Japanese to fight in Europe...and a whole lot of scots, Irish, welsh, and old English to the UK who had learned a lot of bad manners in their generational split from the home country. I still haven't decided what exactly they were trying to say in that whole sequence...but I believe whole-heartedly that it remains one of the most ingenious and fascinating attempts to reconcile the profound differences the two nations have with one another despite being so intimately and literally related to one another.


All that and a love at first sight story too!

[Tommaso]

I know this is long after the fact, but tommaso threw out a reference to the horrific transfer in the Tales of Hoffman thread and I couldn't resist countering the overwrought hyperbole in here.

And while you're entitled to your personal taste, I still think your screencaps are the best proof that the colour scheme is wrong. Goring's face in the third cap and Niven's in the sixth look like the temperature is around zero degrees Celsius... Everything else about the transfer is a great improvement over the Carlton, of course, but I think I'll never be happy with it.

[HistoryProf]

I know this is long after the fact, but tommaso threw out a reference to the horrific transfer in the Tales of Hoffman thread and I couldn't resist countering the overwrought hyperbole in here.

And while you're entitled to your personal taste, I still think your screencaps are the best proof that the colour scheme is wrong. Goring's face in the third cap and Niven's in the sixth look like the temperature is around zero degrees Celsius... Everything else about the transfer is a great improvement over the Carlton, of course, but I think I'll never be happy with it.

fair enough, and of course you too are entitled to your personal taste! It's too bad you can't enjoy it though, because it is such an incredibly lovely film...And I apologize if I came off as too dismissive or antagonistic, I just reacted incredulously to your strong claims of it being 'ruined.' I do sometimes fail to voice my feelings appropriately, so I do apologize if I came off to harshly.

[Tommaso]

No problem, especially as the internet is not exactly the right medium to convey subtleties of tone and mood anyway. Oh, and I'm thoroughly able to enjoy AMOLAD; I just have to watch the old Carlton disc