Ambiguous (Anti)-Heroines --- Days 14/29, 30 & 31

Walks:  Hood, Presidio

Distances:  4.5 miles daily

San Francisco Ballet Manon

So it turned out Ciwt spent time yesterday watching two cultural offerings about ambiguous women. One was San Francisco Ballet's production of Manon and the other the 13-Oscar nominated movie Emilia Perez.

For the over two hour running time of Manon, Ciwt never resolved whether she had any sympathy for the title character.  Was Manon a desperate woman with no money forced by circumstance to use her great beauty for survival?  Or was she absolutely amoral, shifting from one lover to another with utter detachment?  

One thing Ciwt was sure of: Manon is yet another of San Francisco Ballet's superlative productions.  You know when you are watching a dancer's footwork and your brain suddenly says 'that

can't be done!'?  It happens again and again thoughout Manon.  The dance combinations of the subtlest and most relentless technical difficulty are danced with complete naturalness and ease. And the dense action - often multiple simultaneous vignettes - is performed flawlessly with every member of the ensemble knowing and imparting exactly what they are doing at every second and why.  Then there are the sumptous original sets and costumes which capture the opulence and decadence of 18th C France with lavish attire for the aristocrats and ragged, threadbare clothing for the poor.  These work together with the dancers to underscore the thermes of wealth, desire and moral decline.

And speaking of wealth and moral decline, we come to Ciwt's second (anti)heroine of the day, Emilia Perez.  Is she a fundamentally good person who wishes to atone for her past drug lord crimes and use her enormous, ill gotten wealth to give her inner peace and her family a safe and better life?  Or is she a remourseless manipulator, downright villainous character who tries to use her sexual transition and charity work to wash her hands of her heinous crimes and inappropriately capture her family?  Again, Ciwt never resolved that while watching the movie.

Commenting on the rest of Emilia Perez is a complicated and, yes, ambiguous affair for Ciwt.  Given its overall downplay of the ongoing and reprehensible atrosities of the cartel in favor of the relative triviality of transexuality (which also is handled imperfectly), it is difficult to see the movie so honored by the Oscar and other awards.  But, it is a genuinely unique, original, well acted, beautifully shot and crafted movie, so Ciwt has to say it is worthy of nominations in all the categories Oscar has chosen for it.