January 8, 1965
Ho Hum! We saw "Lili" tonight it's an old movie - 1953, but it's good. It was awfully short, though. When I got home I was awfully cranky -somehow it felt good. I want to be an actress someday and revive movies like "Lili" - no deep psychological motive, just a boy meets girl plot and some catchy music. A happy movie. Movies nowadays are too complicated. They have to mean something. Bah!
January 8, 2006
An evening I remember well. Pity that each page in my diary was only 4 1/2 inches long, with 20 lines per day. I could fit 3-5 words per line, so about 100 words a day. My LiveJournal entry would have been much longer.
My father, mother and I saw the movie over in Millbrook, New York, at some artsy theatre that specialized in old films. "Lili" was, indeed, short -- 81 minutes. It won the Oscar that year for best picture, and featured Leslie Caron ("an American in Paris", "Daddy Long Legs" "Gigi") in a sweet little love triangle with Jean-Pierre Aumont and Mel Ferrer.
A viewer in IMBb comments, "I do remember being entranced and a bit haunted by the movie Lili. I was easily able to relate to Lili's encounter with the puppets that became her confidants and friends when the adult world became too hard to handle." In fact, Lili adores the magician (Aumont) but he is distant and unavailable, as well as charming. Ferrer plays the crippled carnival owner/puppeteer who loves Lili but can only speak to her through his puppets.
So after seeing this beautiful little movie, and singing the title song all the way home in the back seat of our Chevy, feeling happily enchanted, I walked into the kitchen and KICKED THE TRASH CAN ACROSS THE ROOM. My parents were shocked; I was mortified. I picked up the trash and went to my room and wrote in my diary.
It's hard to say where I got the comment about movies being too complicated. In the previous year, I had seen "Dr. Strangelove", "Mary Poppins", "My Fair Lady", "Becket", "The Chalk Garden", "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte", "Hard Day's Night" and "Goldfinger". It strikes me know that I was just changing the subject away from the uncomfortable message in "Lili"'s sweet little love story -- that sometimes happiness means losing the charming magician and falling for the crippled puppeteer.
Oops, a correction. "Lili" won the Oscar for best musical score. It received nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay. My favorite award for the film: a special mention at Cannes "For the charming acting". c'est vrai.
More about "Lili" can be found on Wikipedia (of course). Among other factoids, it mentions that publicity for the film included the first known use of emoticons: a smiley, a frowny and a heart.
January 8, 2023
I still have no idea where that kick came from, even now that another 17 years have passed. But these words came to me:
Still Waters
Yes, they do run deep.
Deep and troubled,
Beneath the winter ice.