this is slightly embarrassing but i dont really care what people think. this summer a friend (and die hard anne of green gables fan) screened this film for me (initially i resisted standing by my claim that besides duchamp/mondrian/picabia/braque/hemingway/brancusi/and fitzgerald i am strictly interested in only post-war culture) i have to admit that i fell really hard for the story of anne and mostly for the amazing performances by megan follows, collen dewhurst and richard farnsworth. this past weekend came a newspaper article by the creator of anne of green gables' granddaughter where she reveals that her grandmother l.m. montgomery actually committed suicide in 1942 and that it was covered up due to the stigma attached to mental illness.
here is the article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080919.wmhmontgomery0920/BNStory/mentalhealth/
in the article the author cites a very telling line spoken by anne: "my life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes." - i would like to point out that this news and the later suicide of the actor richard farnsworth who played anne's adoptive father and who was the initial sympathetic character in the film adds another poignant note to this coming of age tale. anne is a sensitive soul in a cruel world, much like all of us. the sad point is that if l.m montgomery was the real life alter ego of anne, it pains me to think that at some point even her notable pluck and determination wasn't enough to keep despair at bay.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Anne of Green Gables
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