Game of Thrones and Religion

LA REINE MARGOT

Patrice Chéreau, 1994

"France is torn apart by the Wars of Religion. Catholics and Protestants have been fighting for years... To quench the hatred, Catherine sets up an alliance for peace: she marries her daughter Margot to Henri of Navarre, her Protestant cousin... Margot's wedding, a symbol of peace and reconciliation, will be used to set off the greatest massacre in the history of France."

Those are excerpts from La Reine Margot's prologue. The Catherine they're talking about is not Catherine Zeta-Jones. Not Catherine Deneuve. Not even Catherine the Great. It's Catherine de' Medici, the Adolf Hitler of 16th century. (Catherine was to Protestants as Hitler was to Jews.) Since the king in throne was reportedly a Mama's boy, Valois matriarch Catherine was practically the king and queen of France for quite a long time.

Millennials probably know Catherine from Reign, a CW series about Mary's life. The romanticized show portrays Catherine as a domineering yet sympathetic mommy with quite a good sense of humor — a glaring contradiction to the Catherine portrayed in La Reine Margot, which was marketed as Queen Margot in English-speaking countries.

Who I Think Sent/Made the Videotapes in "Caché"

Although I've said before that Caché's main plot is NOT about who the perpetrator/s of the videotapes is/are, I still like to give my two cents on who might be responsible for the tapes.

(WARNING: Possible spoilers ahead.)

I think these people are the...

(Seriously, you shouldn't read ahead if you still haven't seen the film.)

...these people are the ones that could be responsible for...

(You're still reading. Watch the film first.)

A Hidden Place Called "Guilt"

CACHÉ
Michael Haneke, 2005

My films are intended as polemical statements against the American "barrel down" cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. They are an appeal for a cinema of insistent questions instead of false (because too quick) answers, for clarifying distance in place of violating closeness, for provocation and dialogue instead of consumption and consensus.
- Michael Haneke

The other night I was contemplating on what film I should rewatch: The Exorcist or Caché. Le exorcist ou Caché. The overrated one or the underseen one. I wasn't really in the mood for something Hollywood, so I decided to ditch The Exorcist for Caché.

Fave Movie Quotes: My Favorite Season

"Where is the friend I seek? My longing rises with the sun.
Night fades, in vain I call his name.
I see his traces, I know he is there.
I feel him where the flowers sweeten the air.
Where saplings sprout, and wheat thrives.
He is the breeze that caresses me.
The scent for which I long.
I hear his voice blend into the summer's song."

- Emilie, quoting lines from a song