Hello world! Welcome back to another blog! In this blog I will be talking about 3 more films I saw in 2024, one starring the lovely Audrey Hepburn, one which is a Jane Austen classic and the other which is a musical phenomenon.
My Fair Lady:
The first film I talk about is My Fair Lady, starring the late Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison!
This follows to the story of an English merchant who seeks to become a lady with the help of an English professor.
Audrey herself did a smashing job of playing the iconic Eliza Doolittle. You know when you’re an icon when you can do both cockney and upper class. She was comedic when appropriate and was heartfelt when she needed to be. And whoever said she looked like a princess was right, as she looked beautiful at the embassy ball. Her relationship with English Professor Henry Higgins (played by Rex Harrison), is interesting. As when first teaching her, her ways were to me a little but harsh, especially his views on women. But towards the end, he does seem to show a bit of compassion towards her when he seemingly realised the error of his ways.
The other characters in the film had a massive impact on Eliza’s growth to be a lady. These include Corneal Hugh Pickering (played by Wilfrid Hyde-White), who helped Henry with his experiment but also showed abit more sympathy for Eliza, as does Henry’s maid Mrs Pearce (played by Mon Washbourne). Mrs Higgins (played by Gladys Cooper), is a real sweetheart, who tells Henry how it is but also shows compassion for Eliza. And finally Harry Eynsford-hill (played by Jeremy Brett), was besotted the second he laid eyes on her. Despite breaking her upper class English accent, it didn’t seem to phase him at all! The true definition of love!
The songs in there surprised me. I did have a feeling that “Wouldn’t it be lovely” was from this musical, but I didn’t know that “I could’ve danced all night” was also from it! That’s definitely something I’ll remember. And there were two songs which I haven’t heard of but enjoyed! One of which was “A Little Bit Of Luck”, sung by Alfred P. Doolittle (played by Stanley Holloway). It was a very catchy tune I must say. And I also liked “The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly In the plain”. This was also a very catchy tune now if I get overwhelmed I use this famous like to coal myself down.
I think my only downside for me was that it took me a while to settle down. It also started to drag after abit, but then again old musical movies were lengthy. Although I do have moments where I just watch scenes like the Ascot Races and when Eliza "finally gets it".
Overall I would give the film a 4.75. Yes it did start to drag abit, but the songs made up for it, and it’s safe to say I can’t get some of them out of my head.
Emma:
The next film I watched was Emma, based on the novel by Jane Austen, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and a star studded cast.
As stated on IMDb the plot for this film goes as follows:
In 1800s England, a well meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends.
Anya Taylor-Joy really did a good job at taking on the role of Emma. After doing some research, I didn’t know she was born in American but raised in London. And after hearing her speak in a few interviews you can tell she has that American twang, but how she adapted her voice to fit the era, that is what you can a masterclass in acting. I also loved her screen work with Johnny Flynn who played Mr George Knightly, especially that kiss at the end of the film (where if a guy kissed me like that, I would be a very happy girl indeed). And try made it clear that him and Emma clearly liked each other all along but secretly disguised it as hate. Which is quite often the case with people who like each other. I also loved her screen work with Bill Nighy who played Mr Woodhouse. Maybe she was scared to find a love for her own and didn’t want to leave her father on her own, but secretly is glad she has found love with Mr Knightly, knowing they get on already.
There was also a star studded cast. This includes Josh O’Connor as slightly mentally deranged Reverend Elton, Mia Goth who played Emma’s friend Harriet Smith, Connor Swindells who played Harriet’s lover Robert Martin, and Miranda Hart as Miss Bates. I didn’t think that someone like her could be in a classical piece like this, but she does bring some lightness to it. Something which I think is brilliant.
I think my only downside was that because it’s set in a classical era, it does take a while to get your head around the language and what it means in modern translation. But I’m still willing to learn this and watch more regency style films in the near future, as for shows like Bridgerton I do feel as though I’m suited to that era.
Overall I would give the film a 4.75. Yes with classical works like this it does take research to know the story inside and out, but in general I’m all for a romance film in which the power of dance can awaken those feelings, like it did with Emma and Mr Knightly.
Mamma Mia:
The final film I will review in this blog is Mamma Mia, having a star studded line up, including Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfred and Pierce Bronson.
This follows the story of young bride Sophie, who invites 3 men to her wedding, hoping that one of them will be her father. Because I was seeing the stage show version of this spectacular musical (and you can catch a full review of the show here: https://www.theautisticactress.com/post/the-show-that-i-ve-heard-about-before), I had to see the film version first, with it also being one of my mums favourite as well (god rest her soul).
I loved the bond between Donna and Sophie, and Meryl and Amanda really brought it to life. Their duet in “Slipping Through My Fingers” was amazing, and you can tell thy Donna was a hard working woman, making something of herself whilst also being a single mum. And I also loved Sophie’s relationship with her fiancé Sky, who despite a disagreement on why they had the wedding in the first place, they managed to patch things up and become stronger than ever!
The other characters in this iconic film really brought it all! Two of them included Donna’s friends Tanya and Rosie (played by Christine Baranski and Julie Walters), who not only help Donna through her romantic problem, but also put on an incredible performance in their band Donna and the Dynamos. And I can also see why Donna got involved romantically in the three potential dads, in the form of Sam Carmichael (played by Pierce Bronson), Bill Anderson (played by Stellan Skaragard), and Harry Bright (played by Colin Firth) as each of them had their own different personality traits. But you can tell that Donna’s heart belonged with Sam, as in the songs SOS and “The Winner Takes it All” (which I’ll get into in a moment), they both still have feelings for each other .
As the songs were sung by notorious group ABBA, I knew I would bop along to some of their well known classics. One of them being “SOS”, where as mentioned just now. It’s the moment where Donna and Sam still have feelings for each other. There were some I haven’t heard of like “Does Your Mamma Know” and of course the iconic “Mamma Mia”. But I must say, "The Winner Takes it All", really made me well up nearly, as you could see the emotion in Donna when she realises she still had feelings for Sam, but knew that she was too late (or so she thought). I’m also like Rosie during “Take A Chance On Me”, who is literally obsessed with Bill (although he realised he felt the same), and I would love to do a comedy number like that, as I know I’m a very quirky person, abit like Rosie really.
I really don’t feel I have any downsides to it, as it was just so much fun to watch. I would’ve said about finding out who the biological father is, but then equally the end of the film does show that family isn’t always about blood, but about love. And I feel that no matter if the results were unexpected, I feel that Sam, Bill and Harry will each treat Sophie with the love and support she deserves.
Overall I would give the show a full house! It was energetic, fun and of course along with a brilliant storyline, some brilliant song by a legend of a band!
And those were more films I watched in 2024. Let me know what you thought of these if you’ve seen them, and what other films you watched over the festive period, and keep an eye out for my final instalment of films I saw in 2024 in the new year!
See you soon for another blog. Until next time…
This is The Autistic Actress signing off :)
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