I've had this fascination with Isadora Duncan and her tragic life and freak death for a long time.
I'm haunted by the very last image in Karl Reisz's film ISADORA (or, "The Loves of Isadora"), starring Vanessa Redgrave, where her new beau picks her up from a fabulous party, she waves to the guests and shouts "Adieu mes amis, je vais a la gloire!" (Goodbye, my friends, I am off to glory!) and she and her lover speed off in his 1924 Bulgatti. The friends are still waving as the car rounds the corner, when Isadora's long flowing red scarf gets caught in the spokes of the wheel. There is a quick cut to a close-up of Redgrave's face contorted in strangulation and then the screen goes black and credits roll.
Her death prompted Gertrude Stein to write: "Affectations can be dangerous."
3 comments:
I knew how Ms. Duncan died but had no idea it happened as she was leaving a party! After reading this, I also took note of the long, dark scarf at the foot of the nude model in the picture I posted. Gerry's ascot and the bloodied white handkerchief also come to mind.
I wonder if another subject of posting might be costumes... or perhaps the list of character names could link to a description of what they are wearing...
yes that would be cool...
am i crazy, but what time period is this supposed to take place in? the 80s? or just a deliberately abstract, pan-trendy vortex?
Well, the copyright is 1985 but I can't for the life of me find anything that nails it to that period... so it's not period specific. If anything, it feels contemporary to the time it was written only so everything up until the 'present' is being jumbled together.
There is something about the setting that is more like a museum... a big weird absurd gallery containing byzantine art, landscapes, old and experimental dramas. And as the book goes on, both Gerald's memories and desires seem to dislodge from their natural narrative structure and become confused with what is going on at the party itself.
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