EXCALIBUR

"In fact, it was the religion of Calvin of which Sandy felt deprived, or rather a specified recognition of it.  She desired this birthright; something definite to reject.  It pervaded the place in proportion as it was unacknowledged"--The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Merlin (failing to catch a fish with his hands): "Remember, there's always something cleverer than you!"--Excalibur

Tuesday opera rehearsal was back at the Bickford Centre, and we staged the Fidelio finale.  I know most of it, but some parts still need learning.

Thursday I saw John Boorman's curious Excalibur (for the second time--I first saw it on its 1981 release) with the History Meetup.  Irish locations superbly photographed by Alex Thomson, with lots of Jungian symbolism and Wagnerian music, as well as "O Fortuna!" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, which I first heard in this film. There are also several actors who'd later become famous:  Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson.

Oddly, King Arthur (Nigel Terry) feels less like a great man than a man wrestling with great forces.  In this version the real protagonists seem to be rival sorcerers Merlin (Nicol Williamson) and Morgana La Fey (Helen Mirren at her sexiest)--even when they aren't present the movie's about them!  It gets pretty weird in the second half: what is this Holy Grail they're after, an object or a secret or wisdom?  At times I couldn't help thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail! ("Only a flesh wound...")

Just finished The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  Muriel Spark was one imaginative writer! (The movie combined Sandy with Rose and Mary with Joyce Emily.) Those girls were pretty awful the way they treated Mary!