The Legendary Pope and the Infamous Courtesan

Pope Joan is a 2009 movie about the crossdressing female pope who may or may or may not have existed in the middle ages. I thought it was pretty good and the lead actress in particular excellent. Unlike many of these biopics about historical women, it didn’t feel the need to make her all about the men in her life. Since part of her legend is that she was discovered when she went into labor in public, Faramir from Lord of the Rings is there as the obligatory love interest, but is far far less obnoxious and intrusive than the norm. And points to her for telling him to accept her choices and either support her or hit the road. That said, I had to deduct some points from the movie for the depiction of his wife and her relationship with Joan/Johanna in the early part of the movie. Warning for sadly-historically-common domestic abuse early in the movie.

Trailer (I actually watched it in English, but didn’t find a trailer in English.):

Hwang Jin Yi, meanwhile, is a 2007 movie about the titular Joseon Gisaeng. The movie was incredibly beautiful, but could have been better than it was. While I would expect a movie about a courtesan with famous love affairs to at least somewhat also focus on the men in her life, this really was mostly about the Boyfriend and her being a tragic figure. While Hwang Jin Yi’s famous intellect is present, we only really get glimpses of her wit and poetry, and there’s nary a dance or other artistic endeavor in sight. And…well, it isn’t fair all to compare 2 ½ hour movie to a 24-and-change hour movie, but I couldn’t help but regularly compare it to the 2006 TV version, which is one of my favorite kdramas, and possibly the best kdrama I’ve seen. And, of course, I couldn’t help but think about how, there, the men are present, but it was really a story about a woman and her love for her art, which she could only really have in her life the way she wanted it if she was a courtesan.

Which is not to say that the movie isn’t still pretty good, but it could have been better.

Trailer (I would not have chosen most of these scenes myself. The sexual assault at the beginning of the trailer is actually an attempted rape of her maid that Jin Yi stops.):

ETA: Fun tidbit for those following the current kdrama season: Hwang Jin Yi's working name-both historically and in in both versions I've seen-was Myung-Wol.

The Phantom of the Opera

A few months ago, I read The Phantom of the Opera and though it was fun in an overdramatic way, but wanted it to be more about Christine and less about...well, the opera owners and Eric.  (I am entertained by Eric and his Drama, and find him fairly sympathetic, but he's way too much the controlling obseesive stalker type for me.)  Then I watched the 2004 movie today and was pleased to discover that it was basically reworked to be completely "Christine's Musical Gothic Adventures With A Side Of Swashbuckling," and that the roles of Meg and her mother were expanded, and all the bits in the book that didn't interest me as much were gone.

Anyway, this is my absolute favorite scene.  (Well, almost.)

See, it isn't enough for Eric that he live in a house in the middle of an underground lake in a giant candle-filled cavern that's conveniently located under the opera house.  No.  Somewhere down there he keeps a horse stabled.

(And while I do not ship Christine/Raoul particularly I am firmly convinced that "guy who says he will go anywhere you want to go and do anything you want to do with you and doesn't want you to be afraid or controlled" >>>>>>> "guy who basically brainwashes you and drags you to his underground house and wants to control you and has a nasty habit of hurting anyone who interferes with his plans for you."  Though I have a bit of a beef with how Raoul tends to be stubborn about not realizing that Christine has a good reason to be afraid or that Eric has basically brainwashed her into thinking he's superhuman.)