She’s been fired by every acting agency in town, refused an invite to Vanity Fair’s Oscars bash, even pimps wouldn’t fund her films … so how is Julie Delpy still making movies?
Was the 90s really the ‘decade that style forgot’? Hadley Freeman thinks not:
However, as I said, despite all the pain I suffered, aurally, visually and mentally, I will defend the 90s, style-wise, and my evidence for the defence is the most 90s of all movies, Reality Bites.
From the archive 27 April 1982: Celia Johnson’s exquisite artistry
Michael Billington was among those who praised her first Shakespearian performance for 20 years, applauding the way in which she was “not the usual wilting voluptuary but a distraught, untidy maternal figure caught up in events beyond her comprehension.” She regretted, she told me, that she had not played more Shakespeare. John Gielgud, a great admirer, suggests that a most unsuccessful early performance as Juliet damaged her chances of being such an ingenue.
“If I do what you tell me, will you love me?” Hitchcock is sometimes accused of misogyny, but while the central point of view in Vertigo is that of James Stewart’s lovesick detective, the film quite clearly sides with the female characters, looking on helplessly as he pines for a suicidal blonde who doesn’t exist. Tells you all you need to know about romantic obsession. Do men fall for the down-to-earth dame with the sense of humour? Do they heck.
Anne Billson discusses ‘Five things Alfred Hitchcock’s films taught me’. Read more here
The first time I became body-conscious was when I was nine and went to the water park with my cousin. We were having a blast going down the slide when this dude at the top goes, “Sorry, man, pregnant ladies are not allowed on the slide.” The first five people behind me were like, “Heeheehee!” I went and put my shirt on… for the rest of my life. Film-maker Kevin Smith on life being fat
As part of Amnesty International’s 2012 death penalty campaign the Guardian and animators from Sherbet tell the extraordinary story of Mohammad Mostafaei, a lawyer who has saved 20 of the 40 juveniles he has defended from execution in Iran. Actor Paul Bettany speaks the lawyer’s words
Filmmaker James Cameron completes a record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands
Photograph: Murray Close
Thinking of seeing The Hunger Games?
If sport is violence by other means, then reality TV is cruelty, envy, spite and group hate … by exactly the same means. The Hunger Games is an exciting dystopian fantasy-thriller on this theme, taking place in a world of circuses but no bread. It is directed by Gary Ross, and based on the 2008 young-adult bestseller by Suzanne Collins, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ross.
A selection of stories, photos, quotes, video and audio from guardian.co.uk, curated by Stephen Abbott, Laura Oliver, James Walsh, Hannah Waldram and the Guardian's editorial team
Mars Rover Snaps Stunning Self-Portrait
NASA put together this artsy image of Mars rover Opportunity getting a glimpse of its own shadow on the...
