Hedda Gabler

(Court House Theatre, 27 July 2012)

The play is an argument for a social order in which there is no one to blame but oneself.

Powerless, one seeks the environment whose safety is signalled by its natural beauty. Free, one strives for the perfection that is man-made beauty. Obsession with beauty is thus found at the extremes, in desperation and in inspiration.

Humans enslave themselves to ideas or, more commonly, other humans. A well-designed society at least ought to provide one with the freedom to choose what or who to enslave oneself to.

Death in Venice (1971)

Into the visual mumblecore, arrives a mute protagonist afflicted by unmerited boredom, corrected by means of a belated departure, on the islands populated by the refugees unblemished by the Renaissance, sitting out the Industrial Revolution.

Wild Strawberries (1957)

Art typically evokes emotions, which then trigger intellectual response. By contrast, Bergman's picture, devoid of emotion, just reasons. Interpretations age faster than dreams.

Bergman's understated tone promotes Ingrid Thulin, whose looks require little acting upon and little backstory, and Gunnar Björnstrand, an actor.

The characters in need of transformation are dead, so one settles for their alteration instead.

To Rome with Love (2012)

Woody Allen does not base his movies on true stories. Much that is worth knowing about life does not present itself as a story. Besides, one does not need to deal in facts when one's ambition is to inspire the audience to depart from the received life stories.

Realism convinces by deception. Allenism seeks consenting audience. It then speaks to one in seven, as good poetry does, appearing foreign to the remaining six, but never insincere.

Not to be intense is not to be. One can be more if offset by an appropriate hue of red.