Tristan and Isolde

[peach]

Saw this for the first time not too long ago. My sister said she hated it, too long. It was a bit slow going at first but I stuck with it, glad that I did. Great perf by Sewell (what else is new?)
Franco, a bit dull for my taste. Love Ruf in short hair. but prefer the curls. Sigh....

[tipou]

NOTICE: EXTREME FAN COMMENTS BELOW !!!

OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD

i think i am still crying... how beautiful this movie is. to think that i had not seen it when it came out, because of the critics... damn the critics...

well... i can understand a little... james franco has all the expression of a potatoe.. and the pretty miles girl, she is not bad, but i could not help but think they chose her because kate winslet was not available... she looks so much like her, like a twin, i felt so weird when i saw her, i could not find why, and danny was looking for the dvd box, saying " hey, that is winslet!"... no she was not bad, little sophia, cute as a button, but she does not come close to our dear kate, does she.

you know i think that rufus was great, because by now i doubt that he will ever be bad again, he may have been less competent as a younger man, now, the tables have turned. but to tell you the truth, all the rest of the cast, except for the hero, were great. just the right thing.

why franco why him, this could have been a masterpiece???!!! (this is from danny, from the other side of the room).

and rufus... what can i say. what a king. you can believe him, believe in this character, you do believe, every second of the movie. you know i bought this movie because of him... but i can safely say i forgot rufus, i saw mark (yes, danny, this is true, don't argue with me!) which is no small feat, believe me. but you know what i mean.

every breath, every word, every move, every gesture, every look, all was P - E - R - F - E - C - T that came from THE MAN.

comment from danny: OK, LET ME PUT IT THIS WAY: if ever someone would ask me the difference between a good actor and a lesser actor, i would show this pic. sorry for tristan, but i would have to say, "don't do that". and how to be great? i would ever so slightly bring attention to rufus sewell (but i think it would not be necessary to do so) and i would say: "you do exactly like that, that is acting".

comment from me: rufus sewell is the very definition of eye candy. i thought i loved his hair... i could do without it. be still my beating heart. somehow the screenplay was not much believable to me. how can a woman in her right mind overlook such a splendid piece of manhood perfection, and chose a potatoe instead, i could not get it. you know, danny is starting to feel not so good about my new devotion to rufus, but at one point in the movie (when isolde is going from potato to marke and back to potato), he asked me: "really, sweetie, i dont get it, is she blind or what?" in fact, at the end of the movie, danny even told me that, had he been tristan, he would have turned gay! not funny anymore!!!! but please dont tell him i told you.

enough said. the man is a god. period.

[ambra]

I so agree with you! My God, there's just no comparison in any way, shape, or form between Franco and Rufus! Good grief, Isolde, do your "wifely duties" for your new hubby and thank the stars you didn't get stuck with someone like the brute your father first betrothed you to! You won the lottery, sweetheart! You not only got a man who is physically gorgeous but who also wants nothing more than to make you happy and treat you like, well, a Queen! And you want to throw it all away and plunge the country into war for the other guy? I know the point was this was a tragic love triangle, made even sadder by the fact that Marke was a decent person who is betrayed by the ones he loves the most. In fact, I love the confrontation scene towards the end when he seems most hurt by the fact that Tristan, who he saved, losing a hand in the process, betrayed him than he does by the betrayal of his wife, who he would've given the world to. But still, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around why any woman would make the choice Isolde made, not just based on the looks of the two men, but also based on the consequences if they got caught.

[dirtygirldiva]

When I first saw this movie, I wasn't a Ru fan yet...I just like medieval movies. I always liked it. I even like Franco *gasp*...what can I say? He's got kind of a James Dean thing going for him. Even before I was a fan of the Ru, I thought that Isolde should have stayed with Marke. And I could actually see that she loved them both in her own way. I thought maybe she would stay with Marke after Tristan died, he probably would have fogiven her in time, but no...she has to go and mope until she dies.

All this and it could have been better if Tristan had just told Marke about Isolde when they returned. But then we wouldn't have 2+ hours of Ru goodness...lol

[lizap]

Of course I'm in complete agreement with the assessment of the two men, but I don't think you can look at it as Isolde making a choice between them, or even choosing to be unfaithful to Lord Marke (her heart already belonged to another before she married him; I think her failure to tell him this might have been the more grievous offense, since he came to the marriage with an open and vulnerable heart). We can't tell our hearts what to do, and she was already deeply in love with Tristan when she was abruptly thrown into this impossible situation.

Had she encountered both men at the same time and still found Tristan preferrable to Lord Marke and betrayed the latter, then I'd count her as something of a fool, but given the circumstances, I think it was inevitable that she and Tristan would be drawn into their illicit meetings in spite of the consequences, especially given the fact that Tristan could not simply do the honorable thing and go away.

[tipou]

well, you know...
you like james franco because of his james dean thing, i like george clooney because of his cary grant thing.
there is not much that we can do about it.

[rueful]

Very true. We all have our natural inclinations. I'm dating myself, but when I was a young lass there was a movie called Little Darlings in which Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal spent summer camp trying to lose their virginity (how charming!). Kristy's dude was a teenage Matt Dillon, while Tatum's guy was late 20s or early 30s Armand Assante. My friends were just nuts about Dillon, but I could not take my eyes off Assante. I couldn't understand how they could prefer the (I thought) lanky-haired, immature, pouting guy to the handsome, sophisticated, sexy man. My friends, however, thought I was gross for even contemplating such a union. So things haven't changed for me over the last {mumbled number} years; I still prefer a certain type, and I am quite willing to admit that might cast a strong shadow on my opinion of Isolde's choice.

lizap, you also make a very good point about the inevitability of her attraction to Tristan, especially considering who Isolde's prior, undesirable match was. Tristan must have looked like a god in comparison. However, I guess because she acts so young and naive, I think of her as being maybe younger than she is actually supposed to be. And just I remember how quickly those types of passions can die out. In real life many girls in such circumstances might have been drawn to Tristan. But then, after a lengthy period apart from him, and then encountering a kind, brave, intelligent man like Marke, and being raised as a princess to do her duty, and knowing all the consequences and dangers her trysts would have, I might have expected her to lose some of that passion for Tristan.

But maybe I was just extremely fickle at 19, and besides, there wouldn't have been much of a story if she'd picked Marke.

[tipou]

Jan 29, 2009 18:11:01 GMT rueful said:

I'm dating myself, but when I was a young lass there was a movie called Little Darlings in which Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal spent summer camp trying to lose their virginity (how charming!). Kristy's dude was a teenage Matt Dillon, while Tatum's guy was late 20s or early 30s Armand Assante. My friends were just nuts about Dillon, but I could not take my eyes off Assante. I couldn't understand how they could prefer the (I thought) lanky-haired, immature, pouting guy to the handsome, sophisticated, sexy man. My friends, however, thought I was gross for even contemplating such a union. So things haven't changed for me over the last {mumbled number} years; I still prefer a certain type, and I am quite willing to admit that might cast a strong shadow on my opinion of Isolde's choice.
.

oh YEAH. assante was clearly above dillon for me too. there is something about an older man being more... knowing. very sexy. which is why i really did not get isolde at all.

[rueful]

YES! Knowledge is power! You just know he'd know exactly what to do.

Also, I may have mentioned 10 or 20 times elsewhere, for me it's partially the facial hair/five o'clock shadow thing. I figure it's some kind of biological thing, where, to my unconscious, hairy (but not too hairy, and only in the right places!!) = testosterone = I want that!

[tipou]

but it's truly a good question as per this particular movie, though: how can a guy ALWAYS have the 5 o'clock shadow, every day, morning, noon, and night?

i see what you mean, though. the 5 oclock shadow brings on the "rogue" factor - which always work for me.

like, on those photos of rufus with the designer suit AND the 5 o'clock shadow.
i see one and i start biting my nails.

[rueful]

LOL! I never think of technical questions like that. It looks damn good, is all I know.

[tipou]

sure works for me. so why do i feel compelled to ask?

[rueful]

It's the scientist in you.

[tipou]

oh! right. how could i forget.

[rueful]

Don't worry. We're always here to remind you of the science.