#anyway… Rampling

[hagenwo43]

[hawkepockets]

okay 👏 @glamfellens meet fisher!

just off the dome, here’s the gist of them—

they grew up rambling around the mojave, raised by a single mother who was also a courier in her time. their mother was solemn and practical to the point of nastiness most days, but had just a touch of the romantic in her—she loved pre-war songs and stories, and if you caught her in the right mood, listening to the right old record or having just found an intact book in the ruins of a shop, she’d tell you abour her fantasy of living the high life in new vegas, going to the movies once a week and drinking her fill of ice cold filtered water from a tap whenever she pleased. she named fisher after reading about the sea in moby dick.

fisher inherited her love of the radio, but didn’t share her dream of escaping the desert to live between air conditioned walls. they loved the mojave and the troubled hodgepodge of societies it cradled. they took up photography as a kid, and have always wanted to document the colors of the landscape and settlements and prove that the “wasteland” isn’t a waste.

when fisher was a teenager, their mother ran afoul of a deathclaw on her delivery route—which is to say, a stranger ran afoul of a deathclaw, fisher and their mother heard the screams, and instead of rushing to “help” (die) they followed their well-made protocol, turned tail and split up to better their chances. fisher zigged, their mother zagged—and ran straight into the first claw’s hunting partner. she took a hit to the face, dislocating her jaw and slicing through her lips, cheeks, and tongue, before losing the claw in a maze of slot canyons.

in case of separation, fisher and their mother’s routine was always to meet up at the nearest ncr ranger station. fisher made it to the rendezvous point. their mother almost did—but as she staggered toward the outpost, moaning and wailing out of a ruined face, a jumpy sentry mistook her for a feral ghoul and shot her dead. without taking a single second to process what had happened, fisher shot the ranger in the back. and double tapped.

fisher didn’t think they could ever take a job for the ncr after that. but they got off with a light sentence (temporary insanity), couriering was what they knew how to do, and they were hungry. so courier 6 they became.

when benny shot fisher 10 years later, the bullet ripped through their brain’s language center. they’d always been kind of a quiet, dour person, but after that they didn’t speak at all. they could understand others, but just didn’t have the words to respond, out loud or in writing. it was beyond frustrating to grasp for vocabulary that simply wasn’t there. they weren’t fortunate enough to know sign language previously, either. to communicate, they used their big brown eyes and their photographs—they tracked benny by showing every kindly stranger they met a piece of checkered shirt cloth cut into the shape of a little suit, tacked on to a cutout of a male model.

when they did find benny, they shot him before he was done talking. it didn’t cross their mind to do anything different until well after the fact, while they talked with yes man. they’d been so single-minded, considering themself a dead body animated purely by the need to kill the fucker who’d killed them. temporary insanity again, this time for weeks on end. they thought. in truth, the desire to redistribute electrical and political power among the people of the mojave and fuck house, the legion, and the ncr had gradually built up, and was waiting to catch them once benny was dead and they ran out of track on revenge. fisher had a reason to live before they accepted that they were still alive at all.

so they blew up the dam.

their closest relationship was with boone—despite their cool ambivalence toward the ncr, the two were riding the same wavelength of thinking of themselves as basically revenants, and then starting to shake off the grave dirt and face the future. boone taught them a few basic ncr military hand signs. and he even tried to make a replacement wife out of them once after hoover dam, gifting them colored pencils and carla’s old dresses in the vague hope that they would turn artsy and domestic for him. and fisher gamely tried it all on! but they’re not fanciful or feminine. it just didn’t work. it felt violating for both of then. and honestly, these days, the silent, surly butch photographer/gunslinger might be?? more to boone’s taste??? who said that?

fnv was my first fallout game, so i didn’t have the background knowledge to play a character with strong ties to any faction or settlement yet. but i did love the desert map, so that’s what i put into em! i feel like fish & harriet would be great foils honestlyyy 👀

[usagimen]

I actually managed to make a pretty significant dent in my reading list lately, I've been softly falling in love with Anne Rice's lesser known works which has ramped up muse for all my blogs. I'll be answering things slowly, you can also find me on @kyoshiiki && @reqciems. It just feels very nice to be energized to give it my all lately with my muses! So, I highly encourage any plotting or screaming about our blorbos together.

[broadwaydivastournament]

Audra and Bebe and Bernadette and Christine: The Good Fight

Diane Lockhart:

After slapping the shit out of Julianna Margulies in the series finale of The Good Wife, Diane Lockhart became the star of her own spin-off series The Good Fight. On the eve of her retirement, Diane finds out she's dead broke due to a series of financial schemes perpetrated by friend and client Bernadette Peters' husband (whose name I don't care enough to look up). Following this disastrous turn of events, Diane becomes a partner at a Black Chicago-based firm, and is later upgraded to named partner.

She's also a fashion icon, so jot that down.

Throughout six seasons, staunch-Democrat Diane spends her storylines addressing the social and political climate of the day. She handles cases revolving around fake news and the MeToo movement, briefly joins an underground anarchist group because Katie Finneran tells her to (understandable), gets SWAT-ed, has a few breakdowns, and enjoys the fun of microdosing. In short, she's living her best life.

Liz Reddick:

In the second season, Liz Reddick-Lawrence joins the gang at Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart. Formerly a U.S. Attorney, and Boseman's ex-wife, she joins the firm following her father's death. Initially, she and Diane get off to a rough start with their professional and personal differences. White name partner, Black firm... You can understand why. They spend the series butting heads as often as holding hands, and when the chips are down, they'll support each other.

Liz, another fashion icon, has a young son, divorces her cop husband, has a romantic liaison with Wayne Brady, has another affair with her ex-husband (and perjures herself when asked about it in court), and fucks a workplace subordinate (a white man, which is the real crime here). She and Diane briefly put aside their fight-of-the-week to lean into the rumor that they're lesbian lovers in order to win a court case. And we didn't even get a fake dating kiss out of it, so if anyone wants to join my class action lawsuit for emotional harm, let me know.

Judge Claudia Friend:

Judges on The Good Fight, often have a fun little schtick that recurs throughout their guest appearances. Judge Claudia Friend is cursed to always preside over cases where the lawyers see fit to bicker like children the entire time. She is...so tired. (Hence why my multi-story saga about this minor character started with her getting absolutely railed over her desk by another judge--as played by Joanna Gleason).

In addition to three appearances in The Good Wife, including Audra McDonald's single guest appearance where they shared a scene, Claudia Friend presides over two episodes/cases in The Good Fight. And I, for one, would have liked more of this exhausted and exasperated judge in my life.

Lenore Rindell:

Mother of early-series protagonist Maia Rindell, Lenore is a co-conspirator of the ponzi scheme that makes Diane flat broke season one. While her husband fucks off to some island to avoid prosecution, Lenore has to stay and face the music. She's also having an affair with her brother-in-law, so there's that.

Okay, sucks for Diane and all that, but take a look at this woman and tell me you wouldn't let her do whatever she wanted? I support women's wrongs, and I really support the costume department putting Bernadette in this pretty little nightie. Anyway, Lenore is eventually prosecuted for her part in the whole financial scheme and her character is written out of the show.

Other Divas who appear on The Good Fight include: Brenda Braxton (Madeline Gilford - 16eps), Andrea Martin (Francesca Lovatelli - 6eps), Mary Testa (Amy Ann Howard - 3eps), Katrina Lenk (Naftali Amato - 3eps), Jayne Houdyshell (Renee Rampling - 2eps), LaChanze (Julius's Wife - 2eps), Carolee Carmello (Judge Eve Sebald - 2 eps), Linda Emond (Judge Leora Kuhn - 1ep), Katie Finneran (Valerie Peyser - 1ep), Judith Light (Deidre Quinn - 1ep), Joanna Gleason (Judge Carmella Romano - 1ep), Kelli O'Hara (Deirdre Kresteva - 1ep), NaTasha Yvette Williams (Juror - 1ep).

Other Divas who appear on The Good Wife include: Mary Beth Peil (Jackie Florrick - 49eps), Anika Noni Rose (Wendy Scott-Carr - 14eps), Vanessa Williams (Courtney Paige - 4eps), Joanna Gleason (Judge Carmella Romano - 3eps), Linda Emond (Judge Leora Kuhn - 3eps), Jan Maxwell (Camilla Vargas - 2eps), Debra Monk (Tracy Mintz - 1ep), Julie White (Selma Krause - 1ep), Susan Blackwell (Professor Jolie - 1ep), Tovah Feldshuh (Lena - 1ep), Karen Ziemba (Lina Banner - 1ep), Ann Harada (Isabel St. Jean -1ep), Donna Murphy (Judge Alice Adelson - 1ep), Victoria Clark (Shannon Janderman - 1ep), Jackie Hoffman (Judge Maria Felletti - 1ep).

And pretty much every other Broadway actor you can think of.

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

"I should have been French”: Rebecca Ferguson, the secrets of the heroine of Dune

MEETING - After taming Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible, the flamboyant Swede is starring in the second part of the adaptation of Dune, the famous book by Frank Herbert, by Denis Villeneuve.

A great director knows how to give depth to a secondary character in just a few shots; a great actress, she knows how to restore this substantial marrow by exploiting these moments - even the briefest - which are granted to her on the screen. A feat that Rebecca Ferguson accomplishes several times in the second part of Dune, piloted by Denis Villeneuve. A necessary know-how since she takes on by far the most complex and mysterious role in this cinematographic fresco adapted from the inexhaustible original work of Franck Herbert: Lady Jessica, a woman capable of controlling the actions of others through simple intonation of her voice, being able to decide the sex of the child she is carrying while being able to communicate with him.

However, she is surrounded by a cast that would make anyone's head spin (Timothée Chalamet, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgard, Josh Brolin, Charlotte Rampling...), but this 40-year-old Swede manages to make her memorable performance. Nothing suprising. Ferguson went to a good school. The best, perhaps, for learning to flourish without being stifled by such a team assembled in the middle of one of the biggest productions of the year.

In 2015, then unknown to the general public, she was cast alongside the biggest Hollywood star in one of the most famous franchises on the planet: Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible. A complete unknown, she must replace Jessica Chastain who refused the role of Ilsa Faust - a spy supposed to rival Ethan Hunt, played by Cruise, in muscle and charisma. Where the “James Bond Girls” left their mark in just one film, Ferguson established herself as the equal of her imposing partner in three episodes of Mission: Impossible and won the hearts of the public.

“It’s romantic, it’s sexy”

As we have understood, the Nordic woman is not afraid of taking on hot-blooded roles. “Please don't ask me how it feels to play powerful women,” she begs, taking off her heels before sitting down on the sofa at the Bristol in Paris, where we meet her. Teasingly, we ask her this question. She counters with a knowing and amused “Oh, fuck off”.

Then stops to order food. A green salad with the dressing on the side and “some protein, like fish or whatever.” Sad menu. Necessary, no doubt? She has to catch a train just after the promotion of Dune to join the filming of the second season of Silo, an excellent series produced and broadcast by Apple TV - but shunned by the audiences (like all the Apple brand's productions). And a bowl of fries,” adds the actress. Phew

So as not to completely forget powerful women, we ask her questions about the continuation of this career which is taking off like a rocket. “I would love to play in smaller, more intimate projects, where we have a little more say in the development of the story or the characters,” admits the actress. "The kind of project that many studios no longer want to support.”

Like those in which his costar from Dune, Thimothée Chalamet, debuted? “Yeah!”, replies the one who doesn’t speak French, but naturally places words from our language in the conversation. “I should have been French, anyway.” For the fries? “No, for the language, its movement, its sensation… there is an attitude. It’s romantic, it’s sexy.” It's never too late, Rebecca.

translated from french for @rebeccalouisaferguson

[stuff-diary]

45 Years

Movies watched in 2024

45 Years (2015, UK)

Director & Writer: Andrew Haigh (based on a short story by David Constantine)

Mini-review:

45 Years is yet another gem from Andrew Haigh. It's quiet and low-key, but surprisingly intense. In a way, it almost moves like a psychological thriller, slowly giving you the pieces so that you can form a mental picture of what's going on. There's this sense of foreboding and tension that builds along the way, keeping you hooked from beginning to the end. But the main reason why it works so well is the stunning performances by Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay; their work is so nuanced and real. Anyway, with this movie, Haigh keeps climbing my favorite directors list.

[itssmerafecameron]

*i moan into your mouth as you kiss me biting my lip at your words* rafey we cant be doing This right here my brother Will kill you if he sees..but okay Then you Wanna Come with my to tell Them Then? Or are you not coming in? I mean its okay if you dont it was a stupid idea Anyway..*i say starting to rample as i get nervous pulling away from you a little*

-🐹

I kisses you softly**

Lead the way sweetheart and stop worrying baby you know your brother doesn’t scare me .

[siberat]

On the asset store, there's a free brush called "Crisp Webtoon Pen" by Pluvias that might work for you! Or NOHO's "NOHO PEN".

I will try that- however, at the moment, if I try to log into the asset store, it doesn’t recognize me. Right now I’m using the month free trial, so I hope that’s why. I am able to download brushes from searching on google.

right now I’m coloring in another piece of art just playing around. Sadly, I am missing my assortment of brushes in procreate.

clip studio was recommended by several other artists, however, I really like procreate. What I don’t like about procreate is it’s not a true cymk program, so a read a lot of people have issues if they ever print out their stuff, color shift is an issue. Plus, what my art looks like on my tablet in procreate sometimes looks greatly different on my laptop. I know all comps will show things slightly different, but I’m talking about my darks get really washed out, and this was another complaint with procreate due to not true cymk.

anyways, congrats, you got a Rampling post for no reason. But I do want to give clip studio a fair shot, I just hate learning new programs.

thanks for your recommendations I will look into them

[denimbex1986]

With his first feature film “Weekend,” Andrew Haigh not only impressively began his own career as a director, but also promptly wrote himself into queer film history in 2011. He later achieved something similar with the series “Looking,” but the Brit also directed works as diverse as the hetero-marriage drama “45 Years” with Charlotte Rampling and the whaling miniseries “The North Water” with Colin Farrell. Now he is back with “All Of Us Strangers”, a heartbreaking romantic film of a very special kind, which stars Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy alongside lead actor Andrew Scott.

Mr. Haigh, "All Of Us Strangers" is based on the novel "Summer with Strangers" by the Japanese Taichi Yamada, whose story you have changed significantly. In your film the protagonist is gay and there is also a love story. What was it about the template that appealed to you?

Andrew Haigh: I was fascinated by the basic idea, which I have now adopted unchanged, namely the idea that as an adult you meet your own parents again, but they are the same age as you. Unlike in the case of my protagonist, mine are alive My own parents still do, but I'm now 50 years old and I also know that they won't be there forever. So I wanted to write a story about loss and grief - and about how much in life remains unsaid and how little we sometimes know about the people with whom we actually have the most important relationships.

But that alone wasn't enough for a film?

I found it interesting to add a gay romance to the story because I see a connection there. Our relationship with our parents and our relationship with our sexuality are connected. And above all, our understanding of love is shaped by our relationship with our parents. What we experience there has an impact on every subsequent love relationship and the rest of our lives. Love is really a strange thing that you have to learn. You have to understand how to give love to a person, but also how to receive it. Of course, familial and romantic love are two different things, but in each case related. Both cases are about compassion and being seen and understood. If you are denied this the first time, it will make things difficult later on.

The protagonist Adam is, by the way, even in the original, a screenwriter...

Of course I didn't want to change that, especially since I was trying to make the story as personal as possible for myself anyway. The author of the novel is also a screenwriter himself. So it's no coincidence that the film now feels like an act of writing in which you retreat into yourself. Just as I try to create a world with this story, my protagonist also creates a world in the encounter that is not entirely real. We both examine our own lives through art.

You have now gone so far that you have actually chosen the house in which you once grew up as the backdrop for Adam's youth house. Wasn't that almost too personal?

I made the decision more instinctively because when I was writing the script I always had my own childhood house in mind. Even though I hadn't been there for 40 years, I remembered every detail. In my gut, I decided to see if we could actually shoot there. However, I hadn't considered how strange and emotionally wrenching the experience would be. Standing in my parents' old bedroom or my former childhood room with Andrew Scott, who ultimately also plays a version of me as Adam - that was really strange, but somehow magical. The little boy back then would never have dreamed of earning a living doing something like that.

Was there anything cathartic about the experience?

Yes, much more than I expected. It was only when I was working that I realized how much these topics I wanted to talk about would resonate with me personally. And how much honesty the film would demand of me. That's why I'm very relieved at how well the film now seems to be received by audiences. The catharsis would probably have evaporated if everyone hated him. Instead, I recently sat at the London premiere with 2,000 people in the Royal Festival Hall and felt clearly that “All Of Us Strangers” also seems to have a cathartic effect on others. That was a very, very special moment.

You had probably already shared the film with your husband or your parents, right?

My husband has seen the film over and over again as it was being made and it means a lot to him. The film is very special to me, so it is to him too. And in a way it's about both of us, so we have our own, shared relationship with All Of Us Strangers that we don't share with anyone else. As for my parents, things are more complicated. My father is not feeling well and unfortunately he won't be able to see the film. I showed it to my mother in advance, which was certainly not easy for her. My childhood was not uncomplicated; my parents separated when I was nine or ten years old. All the personal elements that are in the film naturally touched her in a completely different way.

You've already briefly mentioned your lead actor, Andrew Scott. What made him the right person for this role?

Normally I'm not one of those people who insists that queer characters have to be played by queer actors. But in this case it was actually important to me because it's about extremely specific experiences. I felt like I needed someone for the role who had experienced what it was like to find their sexual identity in a homophobic time when gay men were dying of AIDS everywhere. Someone who, perhaps like me, grew up with the feeling that coming out was actually unthinkable and that you would have to live a lie forever. Whatever you do, until at some point it no longer works. I share this pain, this trauma, with my entire generation, and Andrew and all other gay friends my age have these experiences in their bones to this day. Of course, all of this can be explained and made clear to other people. But only those who have experienced it themselves can fully understand it.

Even the moment of coming out, which Adam experiences much later in the film, is ultimately something that is difficult to understand unless you have gone through it firsthand, right?

Absolutely. Of course, coming out is different for every person, but many things about this experience are always the same and still apply today. This procrastination, sometimes for years, and the fear that it builds up - it somehow becomes part of your DNA. Which isn't surprising, because the moment you come out to your parents, you say something that fundamentally distinguishes you from them. You tell them that you are different than them, and so you confront them with something that they will never 100 percent understand. Unless, of course, your own parents are also queer, then the situation is completely different.

Given all of the experiences I just mentioned, would you say that there is such a thing as a specific queer loneliness?

Oh, that's an interesting thought. In principle, of course, everyone can be lonely, regardless of their sexuality. Just because you're straight doesn't mean your life is automatically uncomplicated. And it's not the fact that you're gay or queer that makes you lonely. But it is often the reaction of the world around you to you as a person that leads to your loneliness. How the environment deals with queerness, the feeling of being different, emotions such as shame that have been internalized over the years – all of this can of course be at the core of loneliness, which then perhaps actually becomes a queer experience on a very individual basis. Even if, from the outside, the symptoms are the same as those of a lonely heterosexual.

Finally, we have to talk briefly about the music in the film. “The Power of Love” from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, for example, plays a special role. Why?

I have a personal connection to every song in the film, from the Pet Shop Boys to Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I was ten years old when “Welcome to the Pleasurdome” was released, I think it was my first own album. “The Power of Love,” this incredibly epic pop song about love, played on a constant loop for me. Of course, I didn't know at the time what a great queer band they were, but it makes my childlike enthusiasm for the song even more interesting. Because I now understand the longing that was addressed in me, I simply had to use the song in this story.

It's really fascinating how gay British pop was back then. In addition to Frankie Goes To Hollywood or the Pet Shop Boys, “All Of Us Strangers” also briefly pays tribute to Erasure...

There was never again a time like the first half of the 80s. It's incredible how much queerness was on screen back then, from Culture Club to Wham! to the Communards and Bronski Beat. Was there anyone back then who wasn't gay? (laughs) But then AIDS came along, homophobia spread with a vengeance in society again and everything changed in pop. At least in the UK. This musical queerness never existed in the USA anyway.'

[leliosinking]

20th anniversary is probably my favorite of any cover run for the chronicles. I currently have Interview, Armand, and Pandora from this set but it drives me absolutely insane how Armand and Pandora weren’t printed at the same scale as the first four books, or that afaik Memnoch never received this cover treatment despite it continuing through TVA.

Anyway I’m just quietly praying for a new full series cover run for IwtV’s 50th anniversary (and the larger chronicles by extension) in 2026. Like. Give me new special edition hardcovers, give me a reissue of the vampire companion, give me reprints of the original short story and also Interlude with the Undead and Master of Rampling Gate, give me box sets, give me reissues of the Innovation comics prints (maybe that’s impossible but make it happen). Like.. hello?

I finally tracked down a 20th Anniversary Edition of The Tale of the Body Thief, which I'd been trying to get my hands on since the editions came out. I found the first three pretty much immediately but ToBT always eluded me until now! I finally have it! It's on my shelf! Which is great because it's always been one of my absolute favorite Vampire Chronicles. Sometimes even more than Queen of the Damned.

Why? Because it's awesome. It's insightful. It's about regret and loss and grief and coping with the things you've done and the life you've lived. It's about how being a person is messy and complicated. It's about accepting yourself for who you are, not the person you think you should be.

I'm actually working on a whole post about TotBT and Lestat at the moment, but for now, I just wanted to share my excitement to finally have my hands on the legendary Mojo cover!

[hagenwo43]

Stop him! 🦎

[camscendants]

Heh. I’m not a simp-

[glitteratti]

i want new inks i want new pen i want new boot i want new bag i want new earring!!!!

[astarel]

Also that the girl I'm sort of into right now has left me on delivered for like 12 hours now so.

[7dys]

i just want u

repost....... suffer with me once again 

word count: 545

a/n: hello again. don’t read if u dont like kissing jeno but also unfollow me if u dont like kissing jeno 

ps exceptions will b made........... maybe

you’re not an overconfident person, but you’re pretty sure you know everything there is to know about lee jeno, inside and out. you know about all his little quirks and habits, you know the exact shape of his eyes when they scrunch up into little crescents and the exact shade of the blush on his cheeks when you kiss him just a little too intensely(not that he’s complaining).

so it’s fair to say you were rather caught off guard when he burst into your bedroom this morning and took your face between his smooth palms and smashed his lips to yours. jeno loves you, and you know he loves you. but he’s also very shy regarding affection and pda beyond kissing. he has no problems being clingy and wrapping his whole body around you but there’s just something about kissing you that has his heart beating out of his chest and his fingers trembling. now though, his hands are still moving but in the best way possible, roaming through your hair and trailing down your arms to take matters into his own hands and wrap them around his shoulders. you’re still in your pajamas -one of his shirts and a pair of underwear-  and your bedhead is raging but when you pull away to whine about it he whispers against your lips,

“don’t care. i just want you,” and then takes your bottom lip between his teeth when he leans back down to connect your lips again. his palm flattens against the small of your back and presses you close enough to feel his heart beating irregularly against your own and the ridges of his lean torso pressed to your softer one. your lips part so you can gasp for air but he just takes the opportunity to press kisses into your parted lips and press his tongue just past the seam of your mouth, tender and yet still passionate. you’ve given up trying to understand him and instead tighten your arms around his neck to push up on your tip toes and lean your weight against him. one large palm raises to tilt your jaw whichever way he likes and something deep in your stomach quivers at the subtle dominance of the gesture.

he finally parts from your lips only to trail a path of kisses and hickeys down the column of your neck, biting down on a tense bit of muscle tenderly and soothing it with a gentle press of his lips. both of your chests heave against each other as you wind down and his kisses get lighter and lighter until he’s just brushing his lips along your sensitive skin. they send tingles down your spine with every gentle touch to your neck, the curve of your jaw, the apple of your cheek, and your closed eyelids, ending their path in a chaste press against your mouth.

“what was that for?” you pant against the soft skin just below his bottom lip.

“didn’t i already say i just wanted you?” he smiles and then crowds into your personal space, backing you against the edge of your bed and then following you down when you sit down and crawl back to lay your head on the pillows.

“and i still do.”

[shinelikethunder]

also saw Benedetta, an interesting movie undercut to its core by ONE dumbass aesthetic choice

Because the whole thing hinges on the question of Benedetta's absolute sincerity: To what extent does she really believe that nothing she has done is wrong and that the judgements she casts come directly from God? To what extent is she a con artist and/or grandiose repressed sadist who's committed to the bit SO hard that she'll face death before admitting that "God works through me" is a knowing means to an end?

And when Virginie Efira is the ONE actress on set with an obviously-fake bleach job, mascara, and a fuckload of bronzer over a beach tan while everyone else is going au naturel (or made up to look like they are), that really puts its thumb on the scale. In the direction that's IMO way less interesting.

Like... that's a choice. If the whole thing turns around the axis of sincerity vs knowing artifice, and you're styling everyone else to look like pasty makeupless 17th century nuns, and styling your protagonist to look like she has a face that knows what Instagram is... that's going to tell us something about the central ambiguity here. Whether we consciously realize it or not; whether you meant it to or not.

If they made that choice because they just wanted their lead to look 21st Century Hot, that's a pathetically dumb reason to do something with such a dramatic knock-on effect on the story being told. If they made that choice to deliberately imply "doesn't she look a bit tarted up? a bit fake? do you really trust her credibility here?" then that's vile. Either way, WHY.

(It does have a good 75% of an interesting movie in it though. I've seen some "scheming battle-axe" takes on Charlotte Rampling's abbess that honestly read as misogynistic in their eagerness to dismiss female characters as misogynistic caricatures, or trivialize conflicts between them into petty "catfights." Meanwhile the movie is not even subtle towards the end about presenting it as a genuine clash of worldviews, divine madness vs commitment to a certain earthly order of things. And again: it's more interesting if you take it at face value that, against the odds and despite the lurking shadow of repressed motivations, both of these women are adhering as scrupulously as they can to the version of conscience that matters to them. Stop making it harder for me to suspend my disbelief in the interesting version, movie.)

Anyway, in conclusion, if Verhoeven wanted me to take him seriously that he's creating artistic nun softcore that's more philosophical than your average 'sploitation flick, he should've fucking committed to the bit. And also let Charlotte Rampling show titty too. Coward.