To continue a thought from earlier this week: Divination. Movies. This summer I ran into interesting bits wherever I turned -- click here to read on and see more clips...
I don't really understand astrology at all, and while I think our unconscious mind's influence over our fine motor skills is fascinating, you won't catch me twirling a pendulum in the supermarket trying to figure out which brand of breakfast cereal to buy. I don't personally endorse or employ any divination tools other than Tarot cards. But since I think all forms of divination are culturally interesting, I've got no problem sharing some of the choice moments I ran across. (Just promise that you will never ask me to read your palm.)
The scene above has always stood out as a favorite moment from Grey Gardens. I didn't figure out why until this summer when everyone (at least, everyone in my demographic) was all riled up about the Drew Barrymore version. Looking back at this, you can see it's really some pretty talented editing. In the clip, Little Edie dreams of the organized "Libran male" who will rescue her from the mess she's made of her life. When the Jerry (the young handyman) arrives, she's quick to point out that he's an Aquarius, signifying to the Maysles -- and to her audience -- that she has absolutely no interest in him as a suitor. And yet the filmmakers want us to see that Edie can't resist acting coquettish with him, she's too starved for male attention to resist.
That's the miracle of Grey Gardens -- all the key points remain unspoken. Edie tries to play it like she's an open book, but the on-screen persona she affects is perfectly presentational. This has the strange effect of making her unconscious thoughts even more apparent somehow. If you fall for the Beales' act and take the them at their word, then you're missing the real show.
I'd love to be able to embed this clip from the 1990 film Jacob's Ladder, but since Lionsgate is so stingy with their terms of use, you'll have to click to watch this amazing palm-reading scene. I don't know who this actress is (IMDB doesn't list a credit for the role, so if you can tell me who she is I'llbake you a cake) but she's phenomenal. My friend Nathaniel described this as a flirtier, friendlier version of Robert Blake's scene with the telephone in Lost Highway (see below). Both of these characters are examples of the classical role of the specter at the feast -- they disrupt their protagonist's comfortable illusion of reality and hint at the greater forces at work upon him.
What next? Oh yes. Harvested this little nugget from a movie that's itself considered by many to be prophetic, 1976's Network. I like that they mention Tarot cards specifically, but clarify that the psychic in question makes predictions based on "trance-like episodes." (And yes, if you haven't seen the movie, the network does go on to give Sybil her own segment during the evening news hour.) I don't know how Faye Dunaway does what she does, but I'm sure grateful she did it while she could. Every single syllable of her performance is struck with precision. Incidentally, I'd say that consulting the Tarot cards in search of stock tips is probably going to point you in some interesting directions, but unless you have a lot of money to piss away on silly experiments, you're probably better off consulting an actual broker.
Finally I have this scene from the largely forgotten (though not what you'd call forgettable) Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her. My friend Eric showed me this scene years ago, but I never got around to watching the movie until recently:
This scene is bizarrely realistic on a couple of levels. So many of the incidental details of their awkward, intimate meeting remind me of various readings I've given or received. And also, Calista Flockhart's reading is obviously scripted to strike with deadly accuracy (I love that we somehow know it's prescient even though no details of Glenn Close's character have been revealed), but still, a good reading really does feel like that sometimes -- the information seems to come from nowhere and speak right to us. However, you'll note that Flockhart barely even looks at the actual cards -- is she just cold reading? I don't really see how her interpretations line up with the few cards that are highlighted, especially without any input from the querent. Still, a great scene that will probably make you want to see the rest of the movie.
Alright, that's it for now. I could trot out Jane Seymour's Tarot scenes in the Bond movie Live and Let Die while I'm at it, but I think I'd better save those for next summer. Besides, the opening credits are so much more entertaining.
