The Arthur Saga From The Female Perspective
The Mists of Avalon (2001): Starring Angelica Houston, Joan Allen, Julianna Margulies, Michael Byrne, Edward Atterton, Samantha Mathis, Michael Vartan, Hans Matheson, Mark Lewis Jones, Clive Russell, Ian Duncan, David Calder, John Comer, Tony Curran, Karel Dobry, Biddy Hodson, Noah Huntley, Klara Issova, Edward Jewsbury, Christopher Fulford, Hugh Ross....Director Uli Edel...Screenplay Gavin Scott.Based on the popular novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley, "Mists of Avalon" was adapted into a successful, cable mini-series that nevertheless strayed from the original literary source but turned out to be a grand cinematic affair, complete with a superb and talented cast, stunning visual effects and artistic direction. The familiar legend of King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table is approached in a radically different manner. It has been revised so as to appear closer to the historical period where the myth of Arthur developed, the time of the warring Anglos and Saxons, as well as revised so that the female characters that figure in the legends are even more significant. Angelica Houston delivers a strong performance as the spiritual, matriarch figure "Lady of the Lake Vivien", the High Prietess of Avalon. Avalon is an eternally beautiful island, hidden in the mists, where the ancient, mysterious, primeval Goddess is worshipped. She has under her tutelege two women- Morgaine (Julianna Margulies) who is the most qualified to succeed her as High Priestess, and the darker, more ambitious sorceress Morgause (Joan Allen). While much of the same content from the old legends remain intact - i.e. Uther Pendragon beds Igraine to conceive Arthur, Arthur grows up to be king after receiving the sword Excalibur, Lancelot and Guenevere are accused of committing adultery and treason, Mordred battles Arthur, the wounded and dying Arthur is transported to Avalon - the events are manipulated behind-the-scenes by the cunning magic and influence of the women, each who have wills of their own and envision a Camelot of their own making. Morgaine and Arthur commit incest without knowing it during a pagan fertility ritual, the result of this union is the evil Mordred, who is himself reared to be king by the evil Morgause. King Arthur (Edward Atterton) finds that he loves both his friend and champion knight Lancelot (Michael Vartan) and his wife Guenevere who is bitter because she cannot bare his children. The result of this- a threesome between the three of them. Guenevere (Samantha Mathis) finds that she cannot have children, cannot have a proper husband in a king with too many loads on his back, nor a lover in Lancelot, so she retires to a convent. Morgaine learns to value spiritual matters over material ones, and throughout the film grows as a woman. Despite the attempt at a feminist version of the Arthur saga, the women cannot take matters into their own hands and instead scheme and use witchcraft to do their work, far from true feminism in which a woman proves herself worthy on her own. But even with this turn-off, the film is excessively beautiful and contains a magical, mysterious quality that takes you to another world and time. With music by Lee Holdrige and Loreena McKennitt, a popular Celtic-blooded singer of the late 90's, this is a story of interest to women, Arthurian legend lovers and Wiccans whose rites, like Beltane as depicted in the movie, are still very much a part of their religion. This movie is powerful, emotional and perhaps the only real fault is that, as many viewers have noted, the series stray from the original novel.
score 10/10
FloatingOpera7 27 July 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1432168/14691
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