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Current Talk '24 I / Re: And Yet Another New Slideshow
« on: June 24, 2013, 09:06:00 PM »
I have to respectfully disagree - even though apparently much of her stuff ended up being cut, I still think HBC's performance as Julia was fully realized even as the film stands. Even just taking into consideration what's been covered in the slideshow so far, HBC's fantastic work as Julia is clearly on display in both the dining room scene in which Vicki is first introduced to the family and in the current scene in Julia's lab. As I've been working on the slideshow I've noticed that HBC seemingly steals every scene she's in - even against Michelle Pfeiffer, whose performance is certainly one of the strongest in the film (and when they're together in a scene, it's sublime).
Of course, one thing that probably goes without saying is that HBC's Julia is not quite the same as the Julia most fans eventually came to know as she evolved on the original series. But I would say that she is still fascinating to watch because her characterization is in many ways true to the hard edged Julia as she was first introduced - the Julia who was not simply driven by a desire to get to the bottom of things, but also the Julia who was only too willing to drive Sam and Joe away from Windcliff without much consideration of their feelings. But then inspiration for many of the characters in the film seems to have been taken back to the characters' earliest inceptions, just as much of the film itself seems to have been inspired by the '66 and early '67 storylines of the original DS.
The bottom line is that I've come to discover that as I watch/study the film for the slideshow, I can't take my eyes off of HBC because I'm always wondering what she's going to do next. Hers is definitely a performance that repeated viewings of the film can only make more fascinating. (But then, as others have also said, the entire film seems to become more enjoyable with each repeated viewing.)
Of course, one thing that probably goes without saying is that HBC's Julia is not quite the same as the Julia most fans eventually came to know as she evolved on the original series. But I would say that she is still fascinating to watch because her characterization is in many ways true to the hard edged Julia as she was first introduced - the Julia who was not simply driven by a desire to get to the bottom of things, but also the Julia who was only too willing to drive Sam and Joe away from Windcliff without much consideration of their feelings. But then inspiration for many of the characters in the film seems to have been taken back to the characters' earliest inceptions, just as much of the film itself seems to have been inspired by the '66 and early '67 storylines of the original DS.
The bottom line is that I've come to discover that as I watch/study the film for the slideshow, I can't take my eyes off of HBC because I'm always wondering what she's going to do next. Hers is definitely a performance that repeated viewings of the film can only make more fascinating. (But then, as others have also said, the entire film seems to become more enjoyable with each repeated viewing.)