I have so many problems with Mel Gibson’s Hamlet, but the fact that he plays “get thee to a nunnery” as a warning to Ophelia that shit’s about to go down is so fantastic and effective.
Like why do productions insist on the abusive brothel connotation when it’s infinitely more powerful and gut-wrenching delivered as Hamlet trying to take care of Ophelia without giving himself away.
Reblogging myself to say that I saw a live Hamlet production the other day that did Gibon’s interpretation of the nunnery scene and the audience nearly cried it was such a good, emotionally moving, and logical interpretation of the scene.
Destroy Fuckboy Nunnery Interpretation 2K17.
I read Olivier as doing the same thing. He performs Fuckboy Nunnery Interpretation(™ @dark-haired-hamlet) loudly and passionately for the listeners he knows are there… and then kneels down and all but strokes Ophelia’s hair and very gently, with tears in his voice, repeats: “To a nunnery, go,” and I dissolve. Updated with link to conclusion of scene because godddd Laurence Olivier.
YES OKAY and I HATE Olivier’s Hamlet (just…don’t get me started) but that line is always SO POWERFUL.
Honestly, if I was directing, with my love of the “eyes of Elsinore are watching” interpretation, hamlet in this scene would be loudly yelling his misogynistic threats so that Polonius & Claudius can hear, but then switching from them into a soft voice that they cannot hear, trying to tell Ophelia – “leave! We’re in danger here, this is a poisonous place. They’re watching. Get thee to a nunnery!” and then returning again. The two “views” of hamlet’s insanity almost.
It brings a whole new dynamic to the scene and element of hamlet’s character…makes both of the characters more human and highlights the perilous position they’re both in – pawns in a game that is trying to manipulate them towards the players’ own ends.
I FEEL YOU 1,000% I think Tom had the rights to TOBT so he could star in it, even tho that’s the bodyswap episode at best, and all this other soggy mess at worst… I think the 90′s audience and reviewers being all IWTV was “TOO GAY”/”NOT GAY ENOUGH” really soured him on the whole series, but he has always kept Lestat in his heart ❤ (Brad, not so much)
I would love it if Tom were consulted on his opinion re: casting, and then when they do cast a Lestat, Tom could train/advise him personally. BC PLENTY OF PPL WHO NORMALLY DISLIKE TC ADMITTED THAT THEY LIKED HIM IN THAT ROLE.
Brad’s advice to the new Louis would probs be “You’re going to be miserable, just don’t hold back with that… You do get like 2 scenes to take out your aggression when you get all fiery so take full advantage of that.”
My not-so-secret casting fantasy would be to have Tom back to play the Marquis. LIKE HOW PERF WOULD THAT BE?? He’s old enough for it… more villain roles for TC! *bangs fist on table*
I also made a wallpaper of Louis running the fuck away after throwing a lamp at Lestat
his fuckin face makes me laugh every time
alternate caption: me running from my responsibilities
This interaction is one of the MANY reasons why I love this (Asta Nielsen’s) version of Hamlet.
So yes, that is Hamlet (left) and Horatio (right), and in this version, Hamlet is secretly a woman who was raised as a man to protect the royal family’s legacy.
The movie, in a vain and desperate attempt to avoid any implications of homosexuality, goes w the idea that Hamlet was secretly in love w Horatio (which…yea), and only pretended to love Ophelia for the sake of appearances.
And that would be all well and heterosexual, but Nielsen’s performance isn’t really that of woman pretending to be a man.
Honestly, this Hamlet feels way more gender fluid than *just* male, or *just* female. There’s flashes of both femininity and masculinity in the performance, making the whole thing waaaaay unintentionally gayer (always fun).
So, in this version, we actually get to SEE Hamlet and Horatio meet at Wittenberg.
Like, they get this whole little meet-cute scene where Horatio drops his quill and they both go to pick it up and their heads bump together, like in a romcom (I swear I’m not making this up, you can watch it on YouTube if you don’t believe me), which then leads to the part your seeing above this, where Hamlet basically just eye fucks Horatio for an entire scene.
What a piece of work is man, indeed.
There must have been a time when I had an image of Santiago that was not movie!Santiago but it evaporated the very second this scene happened 😉 So this is all you get for him 😉
I’ve never made a film that I didn’t believe in, you know? However the picture turns out, I’ve always given everything to it. That’s kind of how I approach life. I can’t help it. There’s no part-way with me on anything in any area of my life.
I-want-my-IWTV 