Tales of luxury lost

Name: Babylon Revisited
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
First published: ‘Babylon Revisited’, 1935; ‘The Cut-Glass Bowl’, 1920; ‘The Lost Decade’, 1989
Published by: Penguin

This slim volume includes just three short stories written by Fitzgerald over a large time span, all of which contain themes of past decadence and reformed characters struggling to gain the trust of others. Fitzgerald is famous for his Tales of the Jazz Age, but these are tales of the post-jazz age; an era which hadn't yet dawned upon society at the time 'The Cut-Glass Bowl' was written. Fitzgerald is often praised for his eerie powers of foresight, and this tale is one such example.

Charlie Wales, protagonist of ‘Babylon Revisited’, is a recovered hedonist who now finds more comfort in the presence of his daughter than in alcohol. He has lived a clean and stable life for many years since his wife’s death, and wishes to reclaim custody of his only child from his sister-in-law, Marion Peters. Unfortunately, past events render Marion incapable of trusting Charlie, even though he does appear to be a sensible and loving chap. But it is easy to see why her suspicions are roused, as other less reformed jazz-age creatures are still on the scene, reminding her of troubled times.

 ‘The Cut-Glass Bowl’ opens with a different tone but the similar theme of luxury lost is instantly recognisable. The metaphorical ‘cut-glass age’ is historically placed alongside the Stone Age and Bronze Age in a satirical take on the decadence of this material. Mrs Evylyn Piper received the bowl from a jilted suitor who likened it to her because she was beautiful, hard and empty. But aside from this unflattering character statement, Evie, like Charlie, has seen the error of her ways and is on the verge of regaining the trust of her husband when an untimely occurrence gets in the way. We are not 100% sympathetic, but are able to feel the injustice of the situation, as these characters appear to be serving a penance for actions they long since committed.

'The Lost Decade' is a mere six pages long, so in summarising it I would probably give away a little too much. Let’s just say it fits in well with the other two stories. In my experience, you tend to know what you’re getting with F. Scott, but he does what he does extremely well and knows how to keep those pages turning.

 

No regrets? Really?

Name: La Vie En Rose
Director: Olivier Dahan
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory
Length: 134 mins
Year: 2007

La Vie En Rose is the most recent dramatisation of French singer Edith Piaf’s colourful life. Her early years were spent in the Parisian slums with her alcoholic mother, who struggled to live the artistic life she wanted with a child in tow, so Edith was placed in the care of her grandmother. This was until her father whisked her away to his mother’s brothel for safe-keeping while he went to war.  He then returned and removed his daughter from this relatively stable, if somewhat dangerous, setting and they took to the road with the travelling circus. Not your average start in life.

Young Edith's first performance was on the street; her acrobatic father instructed her on the spot to ‘do something’ to entertain the crowd of people gathered around them. Years later, at the age of 20, her vocal talent was discovered and she was given a job as a club singer.  Edith quickly learnt to survive amongst the bawdy music scene, joining in with the culture of excess that surrounded her. Noticing she could do better, Raymond Asso took her under his wing for professional vocal training, and the result was a woman who sang with her hands as well as her voice.

The film scooped up around 30 awards and a similar number of nominations; predominantly for Cotillard’s stunning performance as the turbulent Edith, but also for costume design, make-up and directing, all of which are definitely deserved.

However, La Vie En Rose appears to focus more on Edith’s sufferings than her career and talent. It is obviously attempting to ‘wow’ audiences into admiring her ability to reach such dizzying heights of stardom despite her various obstacles, addictions and losses.

The real Edith

This is all well and good, but her perceived tenacity is often just rudeness.  The word 'diva' must have been invented for Edith, as she treated those around her with little respect, lived a lavish life that led to her own demise, and to top it off, she regretted none of this behaviour. Is that really admirable?

Some have criticised La Vie En Rose for its fragmentary structure: the various events of Edith’s life are presented as flashbacks in what could be seen as an arbitrary order, which has become something of a cliché in the biographical genre. But this structure - clichéd or not - relevantly portrays Edith’s manic mentality. Placing different aged Edith's side-by-side demonstrates her instability - neither the film nor the woman can keep still. 

This is the story of a gutsy, talented and turbulent woman who refused to give up. Not a jolly film by any stretch, but an inspiring and powerful one that ends on a rather stirring note.