Death & "Disgrace"

Image by svanes via Flickr

Adult excursion yesterday with T. Dropped Alex off at Celia's and then, light and free, skipped north in sunshine to Newtown. Picked up a couple of gratis tickets @ Better Read than Dead for the Dendy. The adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace" ( Dir: Steve Jacobs; screenwriter: Anna-Maria Monticelli. ) Go here for a review of the book.

I wondered whether it would be two hours well-spent. These days, as the years race by, I'm more frugal of my time. I know, since the deaths of Mum & Dad, that my life is finite and unsustainable. We "understand" about death from childhood: I started dreading bedtime at 12 when my cousin, Roz, recited the prayer: ". . . if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." But I didn't really understand death until I saw Mum gasp her last breath.

Sandra Hall in Spectrum gave "Disgrace" 31/2 stars: mediocre; I hadn't seen Margaret Pomeranz and David Stretton's rating. Hall's star count wasn't stellar: "Makovich's essential iciness means the tragedy eludes us". But she's wrong. It's a beautiful film, and I did care about Malkovich's character, David Lurie, by the end. Jessica Haines, who plays Lurie's daughter Lucy, is absolutely right in the part. Compelling, tragic. I would have given the film 4 stars, and when I got home I caught the rerun of "At the Movies". Happy to report Margaret Pomeranz and David Stretton agree with me.