The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button yesterday, the film that got 13 Oscar nominations.

It’s the tale of a man who begins his life as a senior and, living his life in reverse, slowly becomes younger.

It’s a fairy-tale, a love-story, a film about time and mortality. It’s melancholy, with wonderful images and it differs considerably from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s orginal which you can read here.

I liked the old-age-part, the first half of the film best, when Benjamin Button discovers himself in an old people’s home in New Orleans in the 1920s, growing up with residents from all walks of life, talented ones, difficult ones, funny ones, talking with them, learning from them, and finally taking up a job on a ship.

The second parts centres around the love story and the small window of time the couple will have together. Inevitably, she will become older as he becomes younger by the day. The clock is ticking, and it doesn’t matter if death meets us in old age or, as in Benjamin’s case, in physically young age with all the symptoms of an old man.

There were two strong, and contradictory, messages in „Benjamin Button“:

a) nothing lasts forever
b) it’s never too late.

The second can be seen in Benjamin Button’s writings to his daughter: “I hope you’re proud of who you’ve become, and if not, I hope you have the strength to start all over.”
This is also expressed in Elizabeth’s (that’s the woman Benjamin has a short affair with, played by Tilda Swinton) repeated efforts to cross the British Channel by swimming, and finally suceeding, at age 68.

Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt were great, but I thought Tilda Swinton was just marvelous!

The special effects for the rejuvenating of Brad Pitt were amazing.

Here’s the trailer (but it isn’t very good, just to get a glimpse..)

Scots of Note - Tilda Swinton

Tilda SWINTON
Originally uploaded by VEGAFI

When I started this little sequence of posts on Scots of note, I already knew: Tilda Swinton is a must!

I was prepared to do the Swinton post today. And guess what I came across in my favourite German newspaper, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, this morning? A feature on Tilda Swinton on occasion of her nomination as President of the International Jury at the Berlinale 2009.

Tilda Swinton was born in Durnfermline in Scotland. She has taken part in more than 40 films, and acted in a wide range of roles, female as well as male, in arthouse productions as well as blockbusters.

She has received numerous awards for her work, including an Oscar for Best Supporting Acress in „Michael Clayton“. Swinton started out in 1986 in Derek Jarman’s „Caravaggio“. The real breakthrough came with „Orlando“, where she played an Elizabethan courtier who lives for 400 years while changing sex from man to woman.

I’m fascinated by her versatileness, her radical and quick change of expression and looks, her androgyny and her overall intensity.

I've only seen Orlando, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Broken Flowers. Her latest appearance is in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which I hope to see this week.

There’s an Interview with Tilda Swinton where she talks about her films and about her unusual private relationships.

Here’s a star interview on Youtube with Swinton.

Excerpt from Orlando



Trailer of Michael Clayton