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I saw these films recently ... one at the local theatre/library centre, while the other was put on by one of the local organisations ...
"Hedy Lamarr" and "Maudie" Lewis are the 'stars' of these two films ... one an obvious exotic beauty with brains, and one with a crippling autoimmune disease whose imagination paints pictures ...
The Lamarr film (2017) has just been released and will be available elsewhere soon ... it tells the life story of Lamarr, who was stunningly beautiful, yet had a brain with a flair for invention, becoming a pioneer in the field of wireless communications.
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| Hedy Lamarr 1944 |
It was booked out, so I sat in row A in the middle ... my head was bent back onto my spine ... but I am looking forward to seeing the film again - as it was quite difficult to read the captions or see the collages - part of the way the film is made ... and also to take cognizance of all the details ...
In fact her inventions ... not recognised nor acknowledged in WW2 saved many lives, yet today using "spread spectrum" technology underpins our wireless communications: cell phones, blue tooth, GPS et al ... now worth billions.
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| George Antheil |
She has recently been acknowledged, along with co-inventor George Antheil, the avant-garde composer, who have through their inventions made the world a better place, by being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
"Maudie" (2016) ties in to one I saw with our film society in Eastbourne that also brilliantly portrays a struggling artist: "Seraphine" (2008).
Sally Hawkins superbly portrays Maud, who has led a troubled life, while Ethan Hawke, a surly fish peddler, is her employer until they sort of decide to marry - the story line as they move through life, she as his housekeeper of a one bedroom shack ... makes for some interesting personality skirmishes ...
We find out a lot about Maud's background and the mal-treatment that she has endured ...
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| Nova Scotia |
She starts to paint in the house ... slowly, then adds more ... which is not appreciated by her employer/husband ... she then starts painting small cards on rough paper or boards found around the place ... which are bought and supplement their impoverished lives ...
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| Maud Lewis at her home |
After a while her art gets recognised just as her disease takes a real hold - Hawkins' portrayal of the rheumatoid arthritic Maud is amazing ... and at the end of the film we are given a quick glimpse of the real life Maud and her husband ...
When I read a review of Maudie in the Guardian ... the Seraphine film is mentioned - and they do tie in together ... I'd recommend both.
Maudie is set in the 1920s era, while Seraphine with its French and German links falls into the WW1 time frame ... Maudie finds a can of paint for her floral folk art, Seraphine uses nature's offerings ... soil, bark, blood of a dead animal ...
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| c/o Art Pondering - Seraphine's art work |
They are both intriguing films showing ways of life we will not have known - our parents and grandparents might have told us ...
So the three films - Hedy Lamarr with her passion for various hobbies and inventions after her film work finished for the day ... the two films about women who had remarkable talent for painting ... eventually after struggles becoming recognised in the art world.
We go from Austria and war, to America with Hedy; we see the poverty ridden area of a near closed society in beautiful Nova Scotia with Maudie, while Seraphine takes us back to France and WW1 with its devastating ups and downs for the population of Europe at that time.
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| Maud Lewis (1903 - 1970) |
I do hope you'll be able to get to see all three of these films ...
Another link - America's Inventors ... which details the devices enabled by Hedy and George's inventions ... and perhaps a better overview of her life ...
Encyclopedia of Canada article on Maud Lewis ...
Encyclopedia of Canada article on Maud Lewis ...
Hilary Melton-Butcher
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