Katherine Hepburn was only 47 when she made this movie (about the same age as Jennifer Aniston) but she seems like the spinster the movie is about. (to me Hepburn seemed the same age for about thirty years). Would anyone call Aniston a spinster?
A teacher, on summer vacation in Venice alone, meets an antiques dealer (Rossano Brazzi) and perhaps they will fall in love. Directed by David Lean in 1955 this is a poignant and lovely made film. The scenes of Venice alone are worth the trip.
10 comments:
I haven't seen this in a long time but I remember the scenes of Venice. Yes, 47 was definitely a "spinster" then.
Jackie reads the books of Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz) set in Victorian England and she plays off this to great effect. In most of her books the heroine is a "spinster" who has reached the advanced age of 25 or so without being married.
Jeff M.
Jennifer Aniston is talented, but she picks bad movies to appear in. Her fame resides on gossip sites and gossip magazines.
I remember seeing this one in a theater when I was young. I'm now imagining a remake with Jennifer Anniston.
Ack! What a thought.
I could see someone like Cate Blanchett, maybe.
Jeff M.
They could reframe it as a recently divorced woman. They would never let her play the role she plays in real life in reel life.
My parents' marriage certificate (from 1956, when my mom was 21) lists "spinster" under her name. Perhaps it just meant unmarried woman then.
Also, when I read your post, I thought of two things. One is in the novel Gone with the Wind where Scarlett thinks pityingly of "poor India Wilkes--already an old maid" (India is about 19 at that point). I also thought about "Sunset Boulevard" where William Holden tells Gloria Swanson that "there's no shame in being fifty, but you have to accept that you ARE fifty," like fifty is the absolute end of the line for a woman.
When I turned forty, I had two kids in college and I thought it was over. Now 40 years olds are just getting started. It changes all the time.
I was 40 when a "surprise" pregnancy led to an even bigger surprise: twins, born when I was almost 41. I'm always the oldest person at PTA meetings and am occasionally asked if I "have custody of my grandchildren." I used to get a bit affronted, but I AM old enough to be their grandmother. Of course, it means that I'll have kids in college when I'm in my sixties, but so be it.
Deb--I was almost 42 when my first daughter was born and the second came 14 months later. It was tough keeping up with them.
I heard that while Hepburn was in Venice she was pushed or fell into a canal--perhaps as part of the movie--but those open sewers are full of bacteria and she got an infection that bothered her for years.
And for you Dapateers, our dear friend from NYC declared herself a spinster when she turned 30 and was unmarried.
That story about her chronic eye infection is true. It was in her autobiography ME: STORIES OF MY LIFE. The scene that led to that condition is shown in the video clip Patti posted.
Why is there no word for a man who remains unmarried "past the prime"? Bachelor doesn't fit at all. It's always accompanied by adjectives like "lifelong". Lifelong spinster is redundant, but so too I think is lifelong bachelor.
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