MovieChat Forums > La pianiste (2001) Discussion > Peoples emotional perceptions have been...

Peoples emotional perceptions have been corrupted by television

posted 16 years ago by zurichpoet
8 replies | jump to latest

Or maybe most people are just lazy.

As comments about Isabelle Huppert’s character in this movie (and others for that matter) claim she is icy.

Because she doesn’t act like a clown?
Or she doesn’t SMILE broadly and have wild facial expression?
Does anyone ever pay attention to other people?
Do they watch TV and think people literally SHOW their emotions?

It’s truly bizarre.
The other thing is maybe they spent too much time in drama school instead of the world. I’ve noticed people rarely ever smile in reality because they are happy, it’s more a deflective tool. And people’s emotional signs are as singular as their personalities. She’s one of the most emotional actresses, (authentic that is). Sure not of it’s clichéd, and making you try to feel, you have to try to connect, that’s why to me, her performances always create so much emotion.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] spartacus-15 15 years ago

She`s icy. She`s repressed. She has a dark side that she can`t deal with.

That is the character she is playing. And she plays it perfectly. And I`ve noticed a lot of people DO smile when they are happy. It`s the human condition.

One last thing zurichpoet. You say "Do they watch TV and think people literally SHOW their emotions?" This troubles me. In my book, a person who does not show their emotions is showing classic signs of repression.

I got it,I got it,I got it...I ain`t got it

[–] freelings 15 years ago

Zurichpoet, agreed, agreed. I frequently photograph people. I can't tell you how many times they believe they're smiling in photos...but really they're smiling 'on the inside.' Actory actors seem not to have a clue between a subtle performance on film, and the much bigger over-the-top one for the stage.

[–] zurichpoet 15 years ago

That’s marvelous you can not just see but also observe with a knowing context, especially seeing emotions visually via human posturing. Here's something I’ve observed about professional photographers: the subject of the photo is themselves, the photographer. The focus is really on where the photographer wants to go; and what they have to pass emotionally to get there.

Only in amateur photography (really the same at some level as “professional” as professionally taught art school photography is not teaching how to take photos but the paradigm of visual reproduction to placate high end amateurism) is there not this wall of manipulated emotion. This isn’t the professional photographer’s fault, but more they are put in a paradigm of trying to bring out something of their subject. Most of the time nothing is there; or it’s dull; or ugly in a banal normal way; or worst: it’s not really worth visually memorizing. Some of the time there is something; but the context of what is being shot isn’t in control of the photo and where the camera can roam, but more the assignment or the agenda of the photo’s “artist” to prove they can “see”.

I found this photo; it was of a parent’s tots, and the lighting, the film… everything was atrocious, as the parent took the photo right over them and at them: the kids were all in a shadow, alas, it summed up a parent’s legacy, to me, like no other artwork I’ve ever seen in my life. It had genius: the vision was a sincere ignorance of what is disingenuously wanted from others, even from the self.

Also, as for this movie: the book it was based on: the new Grove Press paperback version of this book is out October 1st in the US. The cover art is much better. Maybe that’s superficial, but I’m just a simple dude, going on what I see.

[–] vivalachristow 15 years ago

I think Isabelle Huppert's character can be described as icy. During the film you can make very clear observations: Her relationship to her mother seems somewhat indifferent. In the film you don't see her with one single friend or companion. She often spends time alone in her own masochistic world. Her presence makes her students extremely uncomfortable and her incapability to love a man- (who i might add would probably loved her more than she loved herself.) are more than enough reasons to declare this woman as icy and distant. She even says this to Mr. Klemment: "i have no feelings. get that out of your head." I mean, if that's not icy, i don't know what icy is.

[–] zurichpoet 15 years ago

Her character only has the ability to love; but she doesn’t have the conscience to pity.

Peoples emotional perceptions have been corrupted by television

Peoples emotional perceptions have been corrupted by television