Snow White, Paloma Picasso and The Quest for Eternal Youth
Post a Comment
This theme of sustaining youth through taking young women’s lives is not new, as Charlize Theron portrays in her role as the Evil Queen in “Snow White and the Huntsman.”
In 1974, Paloma Picasso played the Countess Elizabeth Barthory, who murders young girls to capture eternal youth by bathing in their blood. A naked Paloma took a bath in pig's blood in director Walerian Borowczyk’s “Immoral Tales,” which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
As I was staying in Cannes while waiting for my fiancé, Claude Picasso, to settle the Picasso estate and to inventory his art in nearby Notre Dames Des Villes, I had the opportunity to see this film. Paloma was radiant in her performance, which showed her desire to shed any restraints put on her by the family. Paloma Picasso did not care about public opinion, and I laud her for this.
And I laud Kristen Stewart for portraying Snow White with such a feminist spirit in “Snow White and the Huntsman.” Stealing the crown away from Charlize Theron is no easy feat, but finally she is outdone by the raw sincerity of Stewart, who steals your heart -- and the film.
Most of us know the story of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” yet somehow I was on the edge of my seat at times wondering what would happen.
The film begins with Snow White's mother (Liberty Ross) giving her and Prince William (Sam Clafin), the son of a nobleman, the happiest of castles for a home when suddenly the mother dies. Meanwhile, King Magnus (Noah Huntley) is overcome by loneliness until one day in the forest he comes upon a beautiful damsel dressed in rags, but with the most stunning face surrounded by golden hair.
Ravenna (Theron) possesses powers of witchcraft and enchants the king. Within a day he marries her, and on their wedding night she stabs him in his heart as she says, "Men use women, and when they are finished, they toss us aside once our youth is gone. First I'll take your life, and then I'll love you."
After murdering the King, she talks to a gold mirror-like symbol on the wall, stares into it and asks who is the fairest of them all. The mirror morphs into liquid and a figure taller than Ravenna says, 'You, my lady. Take the heart of a young woman in your hand and you will never age."
After her father's murder, Snow White is imprisoned in the top of the castle. Prince William is able to escape. Alone, Ravenna enlists the help of her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) to tend house, and one of his duties is to supply young girls to the Evil Queen so that she can steal their youth by sucking it out of them.
Years pass, and one day the mirror tells Ravenna that there is one who could be a threat to her immortality escapes. Snow White. Finn tries to bring her to Ravenna, but Snow White
(continued below)
(continued below)
