Enchanted Serenity of Period Films: frances o'connor

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Iron Jawed Angels

IRON JAWED ANGELS recounts for a contemporary audience a key chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), the film shows how these activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920. Breathing life into the relationships between Paul, Burns and others, the movie makes the women feel like complete characters instead of one-dimensional figures from a distant past.

Although the protagonists have different personalities and backgrounds - Alice is a Quaker and Lucy an Irish Brooklynite - they are united in their fierce devotion to women's suffrage. In a country dominated by chauvinism, this is no easy fight, as the women and their volunteers clash with older, conservative activists, particularly Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston). They also battle public opinion in a tumultuous time of war, not to mention the most powerful men in the country, including President Woodrow Wilson (Bob Gunton). Along the way, sacrifices are made: Alice gives up a chance for love, and colleague Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond) gives up her life.

The women are thrown in jail, with an ensuing hunger strike making headline news. The women's resistance to being force-fed earns them the nickname "The Iron Jawed Angels." However, it is truly their wills that are made of iron, and their courage inspires a nation and changes it forever.[Synopsis from HBO]

Although I am not American, I was deeply moved by this film and inspired by how these women and those in other countries fought for our right to be treated equally.

Watch Trailer

IMDb

Full Cast:

Hilary Swank as Alice Paul
Frances O'Connor as Lucy Burns
Molly Parker as Emily Leighton (fictional character; a senator's wife)
Laura Fraser as Doris Stevens
Lois Smith as Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
Vera Farmiga as Ruza Wenclawska, also known as Rose Winslow
Brooke Smith as Mabel Vernon
Patrick Dempsey as Ben Weissman (fictional character)
Julia Ormond as Inez Milholland
Anjelica Huston as Carrie Chapman Catt

Madame Bovary

Based on a novel by Gustave Flaubert.

A young woman in her late teens, a reader of novels and with high hopes of romance and passion, marries a widowed country doctor. Although he dotes on her, she is soon bored and discontent. First, she gives her imagination to a law student in town, and next she takes a lover. When he refuses to run away with her, she takes up again with the law clerk. Her spending on dresses and furnishings mounts; these debts and her ill-advised professional counsel to her husband bring his ruin. (Written by jhailey @Imdb)

Starring:

Emma Bovary: Frances O'Connor

Charles Bovary: Hugh Bonneville

Rodolphe: Greg Wise

Léon: Hugh Dancy

A 2007 poll of contemporary authors, published in a book entitled The Top Ten, cited Madame Bovary as one of the two greatest novels ever written, second only to Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Frances O'Connor

Ahhh....Hugh Bonneville

Hugh Dancy

PBS Masterpiece Link for 2000 film

"The lady's going to faint, break the windows"
a funny video clip from the 1949 film with Jennifer Jones

The Importance of Being Earnest

Two young gentlemen living in 1890's England have taken to bending the truth in order to put some excitement into their lives. Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) has invented a brother, Earnest, whom he uses as an excuse to leave his dull country life behind to visit the ravishing Gwendolyn (Frances O'Connor). Algy Montcrieff (Rupert Everett) decided to take the name 'Earnest' when visiting Worthing's young and beautiful ward, Cecily (Reese Witherspoon) at the country manor. Things start to go awry when they end up together in country and their deceptions are discovered - threatening to spoil their romantic pursuits. (Written by Scorpiessa imdb)

Based on an Oscar Wilde novel.

Mansfield Park

At 10, Fanny Price (Frances O'Connor), a poor relation, goes to live at Mansfield Park, the estate of her aunt's husband, Sir Thomas (Harold Pinter). Clever, studious, and a writer with an ironic imagination and fine moral compass, she becomes especially close to Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller), Thomas's younger son. Fanny is soon possessed of beauty as well as a keen mind and comes to the attention of a neighbor, Henry Crawford . Thomas promotes this match, but to his displeasure, Fanny has a mind of her own, asking Henry to prove himself worthy. As Edmund courts Henry's sister and as light shines on the link between Thomas's fortunes and New World slavery, Fanny must assess Henry's character and assert her heart as well as her wit.
-Written by jhailey IMDB

>>>>Video with clips from movie