★ 7 / 10
The Great Maiden's Blush is a brilliant
R T
- The Great Maiden's Blush is a brilliant, hot everything. - This is one hell of a movie. I was one of the lucky Americans who was able to view The Great…
- The Great Maiden's Blush is a brilliant, hot everything. -
This is one hell of a movie.
I was one of the lucky Americans who was able to view The Great Maiden's Blush before its United States distribution.
It's a complicated New Zealand story featuring complicated characters, and it left me with complicated feelings. This I know: Maiden's Blush was made with mastery and intense beauty.
The actors stood out first. The film's cast includes real people. You know the kind. They aren't the nipped, tucked, plumped, shaved, gene hoarders that stud the firmament of modern American Hollywood. So that was great.
My eyes locked immediately on Miriama McDowell (The Dark Horse, The Patriarch), who plays Bunny, a convict of an unknown crime who is clearly very troubled. Her screen counterpart is Aila, a pianist and gardener, played by Renee Lyons (Super City, Jake). Aila and Bunny find themselves in a neonatal care unit in a hospital. They're both single women who have each recently delivered babies, but neither of them appears thrilled with their situation.
Cue the crazy.
Piecing together these two women's stories was like watching one of those wacky multicolored potholders being made on a little red plastic loom. It all makes sense in the end and it doesn't have to be pretty.
Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Bunny loves muscle cars and is into drag racing. She also taxis around a famous Russian opera singer in her spare time. Aila is a concert pianist who has a complicated relationship with her piano tuner. And she tends a glorious flower garden full of heirloom roses. She recites their botanical names in French when she needs to relax.
In addition to the immensely complicated relationships inherent in the story, themes like heirloom roses, pianos, operas and cars are so very distinctive; it was almost too much. I couldn't look away. Yet I had to know what happened next. The film was incredibly stressful. There was crying and screaming, and trying to escape from the hospital, and abortions, and lying. I legit broke out in hives.
I even took some pictures: (see link below)
Writing and directing team Andrea Bosshard (Hook, Line and Sinker, Taking the Waewae Express) and Shane Loader (Hook, Line and Sinker) appear to have poured all of their creative energy into this piece and yes-anded each other to the extent that this is quite literally a movie about everything.
(Yes, and. is an improv comedy term where team members engaged in a scene go along with each others' ideas, responding to each new twist with a cooperative "Yes! And?".)
Through all of this, The Great Maiden's Blush touches on women's subjects that are usually left off screen. I truly appreciate that. For example, it's no secret that a great many pregnancies are unplanned. I'd like to posit that The Great Maiden's Blush approaches the idea of unplanned pregnancy in an honest and pragmatic way that discourages shaming. I can get behind a story that, completely without judgement, urges women to make choices that are right for them.
By the time The Great Maiden's Blush ended, I was in impressed awe. This is such a beautiful piece. It's carefully written, gorgeously acted and closes with an open ending that leaves the audience hopeful.
But I also laughed a little at the whole ordeal. Its plot twists are the same brand of silliness you'd find in an American soap opera. I almost don't know if this movie was brilliant or a hot mess. Or both.
I believe this is an important film for both feminists and movie buffs to see. Only a select handful of films have made me feel so much. The story was powerful and the acting gorgeous. The characters were accessible, and I very much enjoyed the New Zealand setting. The editing and pacing were a bit slow for me. While the music and cinematography were perhaps more emotional than necessary, I certainly appreciated the beauty of them.
I'm very much looking forward to finding more of Bosshard and Loader's works floating around in our crazy world.
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This review was first published on Narrative Muse, http://narrativemuse.co/movies/the-great-maidens-blush, and was written by A.C. O'Dell. Narrative Muse curates the best books and movies by and about women and non-binary folk on our website http://narrativemuse.co and our social media channels.
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★ 8 / 10
Fearful symmetry
Pogostemon
I don't want to discuss the story itself in this review, but rather its structure, as that was the more impressive element of the film, and a very interesting…
I don't want to discuss the story itself in this review, but rather its structure, as that was the more impressive element of the film, and a very interesting achievement of the writer-directors.
It is a cat's cradle of a story, with complex symmetrical and interlocking lines leading between the two characters, Bunni and Aila. It is also a rounded yin-yang of a tale, as the two halves fit together with equal strength and balance, with bits of each seeping into the other's persona and story, inducing odd resonances. One is motherless, the other is fatherless; one bears a baby girl and the other a boy; one is dark and one is fair (one Maori, one Pakeha); one is masculine, skilled with driving and automotives, the other more feminine, a talented pianist with a penchant for gardening. Both have key encounters with father-son pairs who touch them on a very deep level; both have kept secret the identity of their babies' fathers. One rides a bus (passively) and the other drives a taxi (actively). At one point, the vertex of the yin yang is manifested as the two characters actually cross paths in the past.
In a less immediate, more echo-y way, the series of symmetries and resonances carries through to the supporting characters. And while their stories remain untold, they are made to come across as fairly complete people. For instance, one seemingly despicable character is given a chance to show his humanity in a 'throwaway' moment, fondly brushing an infant's cheek.
On the surface, the elements of the story suggest an old-timey melodrama of the Douglas Sirk ilk, but the narrative is revealed in small, impressionistic dribs and drabs, with multiple key aspects existing in vague outline. One way of looking at this is to acknowledge that, in the tradition of literary fiction, the power of a story comes from what is NOT said. On the other hand, the withholding of clarity and information feels like a bit of a gimmick. I reckon it is intended to keep you hungry. And thinking.
The low-key realism of the film-making also belies the melodramatic tradition. The present day scenes in the hospital maternity and neo-natal ward are shot in crisp ultra-realist high def, while the theme of memory and past is intoned, at least for Aila's part, in an impressionistic sunlit palette of Chopin and lush roses, along with speckled super-8 home movies. Bunni's past is largely seen in interior and nighttime shots, lacking color and expansiveness. Her character remains something of a puzzle, but an intriguing one.
Still, some of the Sirkian melodrama is maintained, at least in the acting of one secondary character. If you have seen the film, I wonder if you know who I mean.
I record these observations as a way of trying to open up the filmmakers' intentions for myself, and maybe for others. After having watched it last night, I woke up dwelling on the work and its structure, which is always a good sign. All in all, a very engaging film, and quite visually stunning. Plus, Chopin.
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80%
AUDIENCE
7.7/10
45
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Shave on you!