Tuesday, November 28, 2006

I try always to think of what my husband would do, and do that

As usual my brain is jelly having spent all day chained to the kitchen and school table. However, I thought I might be able to engage in a spot of film criticism. Matt and I recently subscribed to Netflix in a desperate attempt to have at least one night a week of no church. So this week we watched Mrs. Brown with Judi Dench playing a bereaved (at the time of the movie it’s been 3 years since Prince Albert died) and reclusive Queen Victoria. Judi Dench, as always, is fabulous, even in horrible black Victorian fashion, the rest of the cast is fine, and the movie over all basically good.

But most particularly interesting, to me, was how unmoored Queen Victoria (or Judi Dench’s Queen Victoria) was without Prince Albert. Several times in the course of the film she said, ‘I tried always to be guided by my husband’ or ‘I try to think of what my husband would do, even though he is not here, and do that’. She was unable to cope, or rather refused to cope, with every day life. In other words, she was unable to govern herself. In an effort to bring her out of her grief, her staff brings one Mr. Brown on the scene to at least get her out of doors. Mr. Brown is Scottish and aggressive and essentially forces the Queen back into public life.

This rather surprised me. If anyone should have a hold of themselves, I would have thought it would be Queen Victoria (I shouldn’t really be writing, I haven’t read a thing about her, although now I’m going to). And probably in the recesses of my mind, I thought of her as the quintessential ‘feminist’, in the old sense of the word, as in, strong independent woman—after all, she got to be queen and her husband was never allowed to be king. And even more I would have expected a modern interpretation of her life to have skipped out lines like ‘I try always to think of what my husband would do, and do that’.

Modern feminism is really the opposite—find out what your husband wants to do and then do the opposite, or belittle him, or rule over him, or just generally be in charge of everything. The very idea of being guided by another person, particularly a man, is contrary to the modern woman, at least in her conscious mind. But I would wager, even a small amount of money, that if the man she rules would wake up one day and just not take it any more, she might, very much like Queen Victoria, make the best of it, and actually be a lot more relaxed and happy about life as a result. Knowing, of course, as I write this, that I’m liable to be disagreed with in the strongest of terms.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should see if you can rent 'Keeping Mum' if you haven't seen it already. Be warned, it's very black humour, but I think you may find it amusing (but don't get any ideas!). We were going to see if we could find and send it, but then realized you probably don't have a universal player . . . (all our DvDs are hopelessly mixed up now).

~R

Anne said...

I have added it to my que. Have also noticed that we've signed up for 'Nacho Libre' which has only 2 and a half stars.

Anonymous said...

Ironically enough, we just watched Nacho Libre this evening! It is a very bizarre film.

~R

Anne said...

Bizarre in a good way? Like Napoleon Dynamite bizarre? Or terrible bizarre?

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite, but according to the maternal 'rent, it's equivalent in that ND is about an American geek, and Nacho Libre is about a Mexican geek (& is a very Mexican film). Bizarre in a good way, I suppose. I'd rather see Nacho than any number of other recent films I've unwarily subjected myself to. ;) Worth a shot.

~R

Anne said...

Napoleon Dynamite has a samll but fanatical cult following in our church (by small I mean 3 or 4 people). Matt had to explain most all of it to me because I missed the 80 due to being in another country. Found it funny but felt like I was missing some hysterical inside joke. Matt (child of the 80s,as it were) was crying with laughter