|
Post by roverpup on Jun 11, 2018 2:02:32 GMT
Another comment: How raw and disturbing was the delirium tremens scene? Probably my reaction was the same I had when I watched The Lost Weekend for the first time and I was only 13 and didn’t have any idea what DT was then! Again great and very realistic physical acting by BC! I found those scene in At Last more harrowing than any in the other episodes. It was breathtaking acting on his part! And as for his physicality in his drunk scenes... I've lived through way too many occurrences of a close friend behaving in that state and I know those mannerisms totally and BC'S portrayal was scary good! Really, really scary good. Shudderingly brilliant! :-))
|
|
|
Post by sgev1977 on Jun 11, 2018 2:39:58 GMT
I’m sure he was very fit while filming those scenes but at the same time I didn’t see any vanity in him. He clearly used prosthetics on his face so I guess the intention was suggests he was fatter! And even when he still looks thin compared to normal population I think he was disturbingly a very realistic drunk and again without any vanity from his part.
The same with Jennifer Jason Leigh. I’m not sure the make up was that convincing but her posture and gestures were and there was a little detail: at the beginning when she is on her hospital’s bed we can look a little of her tummy between her blouse and the sheet. I guess it suggests she is wearing diapers. I don’t know but that detail was devastating for me to watch. Very realistic. Then in the next scene her son is shown discreetly covering her when the doctor go to visit her. It’s just a detail but it made the scene and situation very real and again the actress here has any vanity! She and he are very committed to the roles and just go all the way!
|
|
|
Post by miriel68 on Jun 11, 2018 6:55:38 GMT
His physicality was excellent throughout, especially during the DT scenes. But he was in pretty good shape for a middle aged alcoholic, lol. Lol, indeed. They did what they could with his face - the makeup was really very, very good - to show the waste caused by drugs and alcohol, but they couldn't possibly wreck his body. Make up department did an excellent job with all the actors, btw.
|
|
|
Post by mllemass on Jun 11, 2018 11:18:07 GMT
I think with Benedict they wanted him to look thin and pale (like himself!) for Bad News, to show the effect of drugs. And if he didn't quite look like he was in his 20's, well that's what drugs do to you! For Some Hope they began with prosthetics to make his cheekbones less sharp to show that he was clean and sober. And that continued with Mother's Milk, where they started giving him wrinkles around the eyes, too. And for At Last, they gave him cheekbones again to give him a thinner, frail look of being older. He said in an interview that the hair, though, was all his throughout every episode!
Jennifer Jason Leigh said in an interview that they didn't use any aging makeup on her for her elderly scenes. They only did something to her eyes. But that's so true - women are so used to appearing with makeup that NOT wearing makeup can make us look old and decrepit! That's so unfair!
|
|
|
Post by ellie on Jun 11, 2018 23:02:52 GMT
Just started watching PM tonight. I’m not generally one for gushing but, flamin’ ‘eck BC was brilliant. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
|
|
|
Post by roverpup on Jun 12, 2018 12:49:27 GMT
Just started watching PM tonight. I’m not generally one for gushing but, flamin’ ‘eck BC was brilliant. 👏👏👏👏👏👏 Glad you are able to enjoy his brilliance now ellie! It is well worthy of gushing over! :-))
|
|
|
Post by roverpup on Jun 12, 2018 20:07:37 GMT
Just watched it again and still the overwhelming feeling is that of being completely blown away by this episode. My heart is cracking with seeing him so emotionally overcome by his mum's betrayal as a parent. And I think that is why he found a harder time getting past his feelings about her part in his childhood trauma. He didn't have any illusions about what kind of monster his father was from very early on, but he was counting on his mother to save him from his father's abuse (indeed he begged her repeatedly to take him away from him) and so it was a very difficult thing for him when she appeared to be an fellow sufferer and an ally of his (she would say she loved him and sympathized with his plight) and yet turned out to be a sort of co-conspirator. She was someone who knew David was definitely a monster but chose to abandon Patrick (made a conscious decision) leaving him alone to face his father, in order to save only herself. She never did rescue him from his father - he had to finally stop him himself. How heartbreaking it would have been for anyone to realise that their own mother would spend loads of time, effort and money to "rescue" others but not do anything for her own son! It must have been a double form of abandonment for him to face.
And then to find her narcissistic tendencies so in play when he told her at last about how his father had raped him when he was just a child.
The look on his as he realised he would get no comfort from her. He just looked totally adrift in a sea of despair.
Poor Patrick!
I just wanted to reach out and hug him!
😢
|
|
|
Post by ellie on Jun 14, 2018 11:58:09 GMT
This thread is long so apologies if this has been mentioned before but I thought the final shot of the series was brilliant. The juxtaposition between the image of the dark doorway to his father’s room that haunted Patrick all his life and of him finally exiting through a white doorway into the light and ending with the light just shining through the glass in that white doorway was really powerful. It suggested that he was finally really moving on from the horror of his past towards a happier future and I found it very uplifting.
|
|
|
Post by sgev1977 on Dec 5, 2018 12:32:53 GMT
I was thinking how the long traveling shots in episode three were barely mentioned by English speaking critics when The Haunting of Hill House’s episode 6 was widely acclaimed based in its own long traveling shots. Maybe the Netflix series was much more obvious about them and they were present in the whole episode but still, they both were technically brilliant but it seems Patrick Melrose’s technical brilliance is being overlooked. I don't know. Most of the reviews were originally based in just the first two episodes and I guess a lot of reviewers who are lauding The Haunting.. didn't even watched PM. A few of them seems to be film sites so maybe they are into Netflix but not into Showtime TV series. And again, a story of traumatic childhood because ghosts are much more easily to watch than a story about a traumatic childhood because incestous rape!
I just think it's sad to see comments that PM main strength is BC's performance and just BC's performance when everything there is just in another level and much better than a lot of supposedly more deserving of awards series. For example, the adaptation is sublime and a very difficult task to do right but maybe it's easy to noticed if you have actually read the books beforhand; the cinematography is stellar and it's crazy how it has been ignored by awards.
|
|
|
Post by sgev1977 on Dec 5, 2018 14:53:37 GMT
By the way, a few days ago I read a Tha Haunting of Hill House review in Spanish that said that it was disappointing how bad the actors were! He thought the only ones doing a good work were Carla Gugino and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. He said that kind of spoil everything.
I don't think they were all bad! Just not very charismatic or with a strong presence. They were selling the ghost story and yes, the director's technical brilliance so they didn't care (and maybe didn't need) a strong leading actor/actress to make things interesting.
|
|