For the class on 4-16-2007.
I forgot to write a point in my last post so I’ll write it here; it was supposed to go at the end of the previous post. Arne is the example of not “playing the game” so to speak, and he has a major impact on Eben; but Jennie seems to prevail in this matter. Not fully mind you, because Eben still paints landscapes; but Jennie opened him up to new possibilities.
I believe Jennifer Jones was David O. Selznick’s Jennie. He actually goes on to marry her a year after the debut of the film. Selznick was madly in love Jones and I feel he might have been venting his feelings for her out across the screen.
I didn’t like the fact that we saw the portrait before Eben had finished it. Jennie’s arms were not there and maybe a few other little things. The majority of her body had been done, though, and when you see the final piece that really doesn’t seem to be much of a difference. When I saw the finished product later, I wasn’t as anxious because I had already seen it. When we watched the clip of Eben finishing the portrait, we didn’t even get to see it right away; Jennie and Eben have a conversation with each other first. But I wanted to see the portrait, I wanted to see what was so amazing about it. That moment in the film, unveiling the Portrait of Jennie for the first time, would have had this moment of awe, especially if viewers had seen the book’s cover and were hoping for something better. I just feel like that could have been an even greater moment in the film if I hadn’t seen the portrait earlier. Basically, they blew it.
I need to point out that while Eben is signing the portrait, with an incredibly silly look on his face, he looked like Stephen Baldwin; but the latter looks like that all the time, not just when sign things.