Barbie Nadeau Movie “Face Of An Angel” Wins Rave Reviews; Knox Defense Freaks
Cara Delevigne is a student similar to Meredith who enables the truth after Meredith’s death
Can we expect more conniptions from Knox? In the movie, Genevieve Gaunt portrays her fictional double as humorless, self-absorbed, and dull.
There is no Meredith part at the core of this BBC-sponsored commercial film. Instead Barbie Nadeau (to whom we owe many past posts) and director Michael Winterbottom have hit on a brilliant story device.
Melanie, played by the British supermodel Cara Delevigne (image above) is a British student in Siena (northwest of Perugia, Siena is a similar walled town and university) and guide to Simone, an America reporter (Kate Beckinsale), and to Thomas, a documentary film-maker (Daniel Brühl).
Thomas has come to Siena supposing that the story he wants to capture is the one that we all know (which was told pretty competently back in 2011 by Lifetime TV in which a plodding “Knox” also ended up looking dull, as a bright and funny “Meredith” ran rings around her in every way).
Thomas in light of his discussions with Simone and especially with Melanie finds himself refocusing his project on who the murdered victim really was, and on the cynical sharp-elbowed wars between various reporters and various media outfits who come storming in. He concludes they mostly had focused 180 degrees the wrong way.
A local blogger, an opportunist Frank Sforza surrogate, comes out looking particularly bad.
By the end of the movie, the face of the angel in the title is very much that of the talented, funny high-achiever who a jealous, bullying mean-girl may have caused to pass away.
And most of the media don’t exactly look good.
The movie was unveiled at the Toronto Film Festival a few days ago. This is from the positive Hollywood Reporter review.
The action can be roughly divided into three parts following Dante’s Divine Comedy. In the early scenes Thomas arrives in Italy and meets the lovely journalist Simone, who like Dante’s Beatrice becomes his guide through Hell. She introduces him to the international reporters hanging around Siena hunting for scandal, and to an ambiguous local man (Valerio Mastrandrea) who frightens Thomas with his claims to know a lot about the murder.
In the central part, Purgatory, he meets the pretty student, part-time waitress and party girl Melanie, played like an overly exuberant teenager by Delevingne. Finally, as the film progresses to Heaven, Thomas identifies her with the purity of the dead girl. Anybody confused?
There are many good things in the swiftly-moving narrative, filmed with a hand-held camera to give a documentary look. Wandering through the narrow Medieval streets of the city, the hero is assailed by ghostly voices and monsters in moments of coked-up paranoia. Harry Escott’s score heightens the poetic-exotic atmosphere of Hubert Taczanowski’s lensing, particularly in the final scenes that read more like a tone-poem than narrative.
The UK Guardian (which had joined in the sliming of Italy and over-exposure of Knox more than any other newspaper in the US or UK) actually has a good first-hand report by Tom Kington and a good review by Paul McInnes.
Amanda Knox’s lawyers threaten to sue if the movie taints Knox’s good image.
What good image? Whose to taint? Nobody who actually knew her has ever had much good to say of Knox. And besides Italian TV has not purchased the film yet.
And sue who? The BBC? Good luck with that. The lawyers for Barbie Nadeau and the BBC will know that the 2011 Lifetime movie portrayed a pushy loudmouth at front and center for over an hour, and from that many viewers in the US and UK concluded Knox seemed a loose canon or worse. The same Perugia lawyers’ legal threats back then went nowhere fast, and the movie didnt affect the (Hellmann) court.
Let the Knox lawyers worry about the dozens of people Knox slimed in her book. And the Italian and US prosecutors who may take her down for the world-record bloodmoney she has gained. And for the highly illegal stalking of Meredith’s family by Knox and the vicious harrassment pack she leads around by the nose.
Harrasment and stalking of victim’s families is an imprisonable offense, in Italy, the US and the UK.
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Thank you Peter, I cannot wait to see this film! I am certain Mr Winterbottom has done a very clever job of letting everyone know his true feelings without leaving himself open to any comeback. Like you say, Knox ruined any good reputation she once had years ago.
I agree with MHILL4 and want to see this movie. Meredith inspired so much creativity, the 12 books Ghirgha mentioned and the 2 films, now this Winterbottom movie. How perfect when the face of an angel turns out to be Meredith’s in a movie like the Divine Comedy.
I’m catching up on posts after driving hot interstates visiting several areas since August 28th. Whew! glad to be home, be it ever so humble.
SeekingUnderstanding’s suitcase dream where she packed evidence against Knox who then removed it while charming her with distractions felt surreal and relevant as I repacked suitcases.
The movie will keep Meredith’s memory alive long after the legal dust settles. Her Kristian Leontiou video was just the beginning of her ethereal stage presence, our little Meredith angel the messenger of truth. Lyle Kercher has given his consent. That is good.
‘Re-packed’...Hopeful, -that’s interesting.
Re-packed is exactly what Knox does do, to concepts, to information. She re-packs them with her own wrapper, and ties them with pretty bows, but with a hard knot…so that they cannot be unwrapped again and seen for their truth, their content.
Genevieve is an interesting choice for La Knoxa, and it would seem that her mouth is the most her own, and not of the character we’ve seen in the interviews. It will be interesting to see her in the film, and to see whether any of those micro expressions or fleeting,empty, one-sided smiles come through.
I look forward to it - it sounds as if it has been approached creatively and thoughtfully.
I should mention I saw the movie today, and my view of it is different than the early bird reviews, Peter 😊
I’ll post my impressions tomorrow.
Hi Ergon
Perhaps our level of satisfaction is dependent upon which yardstick we are using.
This will not be the last word on the evidence and the strong case made, it was mapped out a year ago before Judge Nencini ruled on RS’s and AK’s appeal, and it started out with the director’s premise that for once the focus should not primarily be on the over-exposed perps.
That the Kercher family like it and allowed it to be dedicated to Meredith shows it is one step in the right direction.
If Cassation rules as expected in further confirmation of the Massei verdict, and legal constraints are removed, we should finally see some no-holds-barred books and movies.
So Luciano Ghirga has threatened to sue. Fat chance since either they are working pro bono or, (and to quote Knox book waiting to be paid.) Lawyers are not cheap by any means since they will usually charge 10 cents for one sheet of blank paper so where is the money coming from? Point is that for Knox to remain out of sight then her money will dry up and grandmother Huff is already into a second mortgage.
The idea that Knox will disappear is quite feasible but as we all know that takes money and since it has become a cause cerebra I doubt it will happen. On the other hand I’m sure that they have formulated contingency plans when the sentence is confirmed. We will have to wait and see. I love to point out that her sentence will only start from the moment she goes into Capanne. Time is passing after all and Sollecito and Guede will not remain silent for very long.
Hi, Grahame, true, I would add that at this point the perpetrators are probably forgetting *why* they killed Meredith and that life would have been wonderful had they not done it - remorse must be kicking in quite strong for ruining their own lives, not just Meredith’s.
I should clarify, when I say “forget” I mean forget their intense, sick, hatred they felt when they committed the murder, a sensation that - like everything else - dissipates in time, and the murderer is left wondering why he did it in the first place. That is, if the murderer is remotely human (Guede and Sollecito may qualify in this life, not so sure about Knox).
There is a condition called ‘blood Simple’ which occurs to the killer immediately after they have killed. This is why Knox and Sollecito ran for it and only afterwards went back because they realized in their drugged state that they had done something evil.
It was only later that Knox, being the sociopath she seems to be, took over from Sollecito who probably panicked. It was Knox who convinced Sollecito that she could fix everything probably reminding him of his sister and his family.
She was maybe convinced she was OK because she was American and seemed to believe she was superior to people who have a different skin color or who speak with a different accent. As the court has concluded it was Knox anyway who struck the fatal blow.
The vast silence from Knox and company now may be an attempt to anesthetize public opinion. I’m sure they will milk all the sympathy and thereby monetary funds they can from a North American public who believe anything they are told. For example consider the TV programs such as ‘Mantracker’ where men on horseback track two others on foot. This does not mention the two camera crews plus the caterers plus the makeup artists plus the transportation that go along with this. The translation is gullibly stupid.
Or perhaps ‘Here comes Honey Boo Boo’ These are the uneducated who consider Knox to be innocent. I won’t mention the word think because that is beyond their capability. Too bad for them that we are here, because unlike Susan Anthony we are not going to give up until Knox gets the jail time coming even if it takes years.
There is a price to pay for moronic TV: you get a rude awakening when you step out of the bubble, and more and more shows have to be produced for that goody-goody feelin’
(William Irwin Thompson - an American - wrote a fun-to-read book in 1991, The American Replacement of Nature, where he calls these guys electro-peasants, nice).
Yes youre right of course.
I had occasion to be made aware of the following. A little girl of about a year or maybe two years old was given a book to read. She didn’t know how to open it but just kept on hitting the picture on the front cover in order to open the computer program.
Ah the future of the dumbing down of Western civilization, if you can call it that. The Chinese are just waiting for the eventual collapse.
I differ slightly on this. My own experience is that most Americans take very easily to working together with themselves and non-Americans and bettering their lot, if things are managed right.
Plus they have the huge advantage most other countries dont have, that English is the global language now. You’d be surprised how in the dark most people in most countries are just because of this.
Very large parts of the US are comparatively poor, and I encounter dozens who say they would like for example to go to New York or further afield but it wont happen in their lifetimes because the money isnt there.
The two core problems I see are:
(1) the worldwide tendency for initially efficient but increasingly inefficient systems to get locked in - as we are seeing now with the Italian justice system, see the post above; and
(2) the tendency especially in the US but also in China, Russia, etc, toward winner take all, which means more and more money ending up in fewer and fewer hands.
This money is usually invested very cautiously, and only rarely in the areas that could produce the fastest growth.
The knowhow to get beyond this is not (yet) taught in schools but it really should be.
Everybody should be able to “see” the systems that impact their lives and do something about them. Everybody should be invited in to local processes of which visioning for a better future is a part.
It aint so hard, but we are just not there yet.
The US political system among others makes it hard for these non-zero-sum games to work. A giant system problem holding us back. But there is a way round. Processes have to be driven essentially bottom-up.
The internet could have a very, very big role here.
Where next:
Click here to return to The Top Of The Front PageOr to next entry The Milestone Book By Dr Andrew Hodges On Knox’s Driving Psychology “As Done Unto You”
Or to previous entry First Excerpt From Will Savive’s “Study Abroad Murder” The Best Book Yet On The Hard Evidence