Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Helena Bonham Carter

In Room with a View--before she took on character parts.


































Has there ever been a prettier woman so willing to not appear so?
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20 comments:

Chad said...

Maybe I'm the odd man out, but she doesn't absolutely nothing for me.

3:44 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Not even the early HBC in Room with a View?

4:02 PM
Anonymous said...

I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder because I agree with Chad. I like her acting (sometimes) but don't think she is particularly pretty at all.

Jeff M.

4:04 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Okay, do you two find Audrey Hepburn pretty?

4:07 PM
Dana King said...

I agree with Patti. She has a rounder face than the current definition of beautiful, but I've always thought she was gorgeous, though she actively fights against that perception with her choice of roles.

Fine actress, too, with excellent range. Hard to believe it's the same woman in THE KING'S SPEECH and FIGHT CLUB.

4:22 PM
Chad said...

Yeah, I like Audrey Hepburn.

I don't think finding HBC unappealing is really a body type thing, though. I think Christina Hendricks on Mad Men is gorgeous. Same with Monica Bellucci.

4:25 PM
Anonymous said...

Audrey Hepburn, yes, of course.

Too skinny but beautiful.

Jeff M.

5:57 PM
Anonymous said...

Jackie agrees with the women that she is indeed pretty. She suggests Charlize Theron (who won an Oscar for it) as an answer to your question.

Jeff M.

6:04 PM
Todd Mason said...

HBC is much less worried about not being glam than most pretty actors...she's mentioned that she doesn't see traditional glamor as particularly interesting (which helps to explain her life with Tim Burton). Of course, since Patti and I are two of about 23 people to have seen CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN, we've been among the few to see her in that casual, not anti-glam light as a more mature woman, as well.

7:33 PM
Todd Mason said...

I'll suggest Elaine May as a better example than Theron, though May apparently actively resented being conventionally pretty, at least in certain ways.

7:37 PM
Richard R. said...

No, she's not pretty, though she is attractive in a sophisticated, intelligent way - and I'm speaking of the woman in Room With A View and the other Merchant Ivory films she did, not the actress in all those more recent films.

And of course there is a huge difference between pretty and beautiful, and sexy is a different thing, and they are ALL in the eye of the beholder.

Yes to Audrey Hepburn, very pretty indeed.

8:41 PM
Yvette said...

She was so beautiful in ROOM WITH A VIEW. But I think she has the right view of acting and films. It appears the part is more important to her than appearing as the lovely leading lady. More power to her. Although I have to say that her taste in men leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, Tim Burton.....yuck! Maybe it's the brain thing going on.

Her willingness to accept parts on their merit seemingly without regard to her own favorable appearance probably means that she will keep working until a good old age. Something that eludes many actresses these days.

She's smart.

8:52 PM
Todd Mason said...

HBC in Conversations with Other Women...a bit too much makeup in this still, but still...

9:18 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

I wonder if women have an entirely different view of beauty than men. I know Phil is always surprised on who women find attractive. He doesn't fine Audrey beautiful but he does HBC.
I find intelligent men attractive and thusly all the men who comment here!!!

10:35 PM
Todd Mason said...

I suspect we don't. We just have rather a range within all the genders. I also find HBC better-looking than AH, and better-looking the closer to her "actual" look we get (and both better looking throughout their mutual careers than Elizabeth Taylor...and less so than Sela Ward or Angela Bassett or Michelle Yeoh)...I will try to blush intelligently.

12:32 AM
George said...

Loved Helena in WINGS OF THE DOVE. Since that movie, she's turned into a chameleon.

9:34 AM
Richard R. said...

I didn't give an example of whom is, to me, a beautiful actress. Liv Tyler (in LOTR and elsewhere).

12:44 PM
MP said...

I find Tilda Swinton absolutely beautiful, and she doesn't seem to care very much how she looks in movies.

1:10 PM
Stephen D. Rogers said...

Hey Patti,

How about Nicole Kidman in the THE HOURS?

Stephen

8:00 PM
Erik Donald France said...

Yes, HBC is pretty, cool, all that.

My q. is: what's the varied response to Chloë Sevigny? Is there a gender split on her, or by some other variable?

4:41 PM

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