MovieChat Forums > Stardust (2007) Discussion > MUCH preferred Victoria to Yvaine - wish...

MUCH preferred Victoria to Yvaine - wish he'd chosen her


Victoria made the movie and Yvaine ruined it -- that's the story in a nutshell.

As soon as Victoria appeared on screen, I was engaged by her character. I was so impressed that the film seemed to be departing from the Hollywood "quirky girl" cliche and instead allowing what I hoped would be the main love interest to be a truly beautiful, feminine, playful, mischievous, charmingly vain (but sweet), dreamy girl, sincerely torn between her "hot" guy and her growing interest in a more eccentric guy, Tristan.

In the scenes between Tristan and Victoria, the two characters had real chemistry together.

As soon as the "falling star" entity turned out to be a female character, I groaned, knowing exactly where the film was going -- resorting to the sickening cliche whereby a guy "learns to love the correct girl after going after the (supposedly) wrong girl."

The Yvaine character was intensely unappealing, the actress was quite homely, and she and Tristan had no chemistry together. Zero.

Victoria showed more spark and charm in her few scenes than Yvaine did in all her tiresome screentime.

The scene where Tristan "dumps" Victoria was sickening, and I had to stop watching the movie at that point. "Grow up and get over yourself"? It was HE who idealized her. She just played along, and the two of them both enjoyed that courtship - the worshipper and the worshipped. He was basically chastizing her for something that HE put on HER. Plus, it made HIM look shallow and fickle, not her.

Beyond that, the rest of the film was kind of an episodic, chaotic mess, but the Tristan/Victoria thread was the one emotional string that pulled the viewer along -- till that was cut, leaving nothing in the movie worth watching.

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Agreed. I wish there was more from Victoria being a horrible person to earn her being "dumped."

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So being a horrible person isn't enough to get dumped?

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victoria was a manipulative bitch man.

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victoria was a manipulative bitch man.

Actually, no, she wasn't -- per what I say in my original post.

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She never even meant what she said abut marrying Tristan. She is just egotistical and loves the attention. She wanted her own star, probably just to show Humphrey, the guy she really was interested in. In the beginning, shes all giggly and excited before Humphrey shows up to her window. She called Tristan a shop boy, and in reality, she said "People like you and people like me just don't fit" or something like that. She never would have gone through with marrying a guy who was poor just because he brought her a star. She probably didn't even believe he would get it. She laughed at him getting thrown down at the beginning, shoved her way in front of the line in the shop as if noone else existed, and when he showed up and the star was small she immediately commented on that---- and then the next second is like you know what I want, but it seemed to be more about lust. She was like "What happened to you?" Because he looked different, was dressed better, seemed more confident. But mostly she could tell he was obsessed with her, and reveled in the attention. And the second Tristan acted like he was going to kiss her but then threw her down and Humphrey immediately showed up she had this huge smile on her face, like "There's my fiance" and when she sees its just star dust she threw it back at him and she was rude and disappointed she didnt get some big shiny thing.

She was playing games with Tristan for her own fun. Maybe she thought he was kinda cute but I truly don't believe she ever had interest in going through with marrying him. He didn't have a job yet or a real plan. Money and material objects obviously meant more to her than anything else. The entire monologue that Claire Danes has when he is a mouse spells it out beautifully, part of it talks about how you shouldn't have to get gifts, or goods or demonstrations of devotion to have true love---she said all she would ask from Tristan was his heart in exchange for hers, because that is what true love is....and getting a gift is Victoria was messing around with. Like "well you need to get me a huge ring or a star" thinking she was a Queen or something. It's clear her character is shallow, manipulative, and not that into Tristan. Just because she is beautiful doesn't make her right for Tristan.


I didn't feel chemistry between them because all she really did was bat her eyelashes and be all playful and manipulatively flirtatious to see what else she could get out of him to compliment her. When she brought up Humphrey proposing, it literally felt like she could care less about Tristan. The chemistry between him and Yvaine was actually way more beautiful. Their relationship developed. I thought they made a really good couple, and Victoria and Humphrey were perfect for one another as they both just care about status and money. At the end of the movie, Victoria was rolling her eyes when he was king, not because she loved him or wished she could be with but because she was jealous--and maybe thinking she wished she could be a Queen with love or no love. She isn't supposed to be a likable character, or the right one for Tristan. That was the whole point. I feel like you maybe need to watch this again. Sienna Miller is pretty but kind of an average actress, but she actually did a great job in this film making me really dislike her. She just acted arrogant, vain, manipulative, self involved, greedy and rude.

Yvaine may have been cranky for awhile but she was a star, who sleeps during the day and lives at night. Of course she would be cranky lol. But her personality changes the more comfortable she gets with Tristan and falls in love with him. And she is extremely genuine and sweet from that point on. A much more genuine person than Victoria could ever be. What I love about Claire Danes, is even if she isn't "conventionally gorgeous" like a lot of actresses in Hollywood, shes always been very pretty in her own way, and her incredible acting skills make her great for any role she takes on and also makes her that much more beautiful. And I personally thought she looked extremely pretty in this movie. It's not all about who's prettier.

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I totally understand what you are saying about the cliche romance between the star and Tristan, but Victoria was no prize.

I thought your post was a joke, but I think you are serious. If you can't see how clueless and thoughtless Victoria was.....I don't think anyone can make you see it. But I will try to give you an example.

When he was working. She bursts into the store, practically pushes the customer at the counter aside (ignoring the fact there are others ahead of her) demands what she wants and simpers her way into making him carry the stuff home.

Like I said, if you can't see how self centered she was in this scene, then.... good luck in your own love life.

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I totally understand what you mean, I watched it again tonight and though Victoria was not completely horrible, as the poster above me said, she was not a prize either. The fact that she used Tristan's infatuation with her to her advantage does not make someone worthy.

Remember, she even tells him "people like you and people like me... don't fit well together" or something like that. In the scene when the star falls, he begins to tell her all of this stuff that he would do to prove his love to her and she only gets interested because of the romanticized nonsense he said he would give her. Tristan wanted love, Victoria only wanted convenience (even then she married a guy who appeared as if he was going to have a thing with Captain Shakespeare). When Tristan returned, she was surprised to see him look dashing compared to how he looked before and yeah that dumping scene can be weird depending on the viewer but I don't think he was really being rude. He was just being honest. If she thinks that she can use people's feelings in order to get what she wants then she does need to grow up and get over herself.

Yvaine may have been a bit cynical in the beginning but obviously she truly loved Tristan later. He may have been a bit naive and innocent but he became a protector in the end. Claire Danes and Charlie Cox also had great chemistry to me, when she would shine around him, I believed that she cared for him due to their chemistry together. I think in the beginning it was off because it wasn't supposed to be Yvaine he was to fall for but when they start to fall in love with each other, that chemistry popped right back up.

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That is so funny! My wife and I just watch the movie and enjoyed it but thought it would have been much better if they had casted someone instead of Clair Daines in the main role! Total agree with your review!

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I'm sure that with different casting you would have different opinion. Physical attraction is not "emotional string", well, not the real one .

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Victoria didn't care about him at all

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Absolutely agree.Wish they had simply switched parts...Danes as the obnoxious girlfriend would have made more sense and the other one as the beautiful star would have worked perfectly.

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I would think a star has an "otherworldly" look about her. Claire Danes definitely is different looking, I think she's pretty in an odd way and she fits the "otherworldly" appearance. Sienna Miller is also very pretty but she's the "girl next door" which is what she was in the movie. That fits.

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