A star is born is the rare remake that works Bradley Cooper



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Viewers often reject Hollywood's penchant for redoing old images as a lack of imagination. But given the radical changes in the role of women in society and in their marriage over the past century, we should consider ourselves fortunate that a filmmaker comes every 20, 30 or 40 essence of A star is born. What happens when a woman's career rises when her romantic partner is sinking? Should she feel obliged to unite in a smaller and more compact unit to protect the dignity of her man? And where can she go without getting lost completely?

Maybe that's why A star is born is reborn again and again: we may think that we have gone beyond certain notions about the tensions of power and success in a relationship (and of course, there are not always only men whose egos are threatened). But as society evolves, the conversation deserves to be explored and the melodrama – a genre that cradles every version of A star is born, including Bradley Cooper's novel, author-director – is a great way to share ideas that we do not always want to talk about. Insecurity, envy, generosity in love that nevertheless has the potential to disintegrate into egocentric or destructive acts: melodrama allows us to contemplate the darkest corners of our lives and our relationships. Even in the deliberate and agitated exaggeration inherent in melodrama, there is always a fine gradation of truth.

In this news A star is born, Cooper plays the role of a country star of alcohol, Jackson Maine; Lady Gaga is Ally, the woman he loves, a discreet singer-songwriter who becomes a powerhouse of pop thanks, in part, to this love. The framework is new, but we can follow the basics of George Cukor's 1932 framework. What Hollywood price?, adapted from a tale by Hollywood scribe Adela Rogers St. Johns. In this film, Constance Bennett plays an aspiring actress who works as a waitress at the legendary Brown Derby in Hollywood. it is there that she meets a powerful film producer (Lowell Sherman) who, although he drinks excessively, is motivated by decency. He helps his protégé become a star, believing in his unqualified talent. And even if he loves her, he departs from the first time she was courted, then married, by a dashing polo player; he fears that his alcohol problem will tarnish his career.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in the role of Jackson Maine and Ally in

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as Jackson Maine and Ally in "A Star is Born".

Peter Lindbergh – Warner Brothers

Although the details of the plot are not exactly the same, What Hollywood price?– a story of human sacrifice so intense that, given the fragility of its male ego, it can no longer be maintained – laid the foundation for William Wellman, 1937 A star is born. In this picture, Janet Gaynor's sensitive sweetness is the balance between Frederic March's fanatical drive. There is a potentially delicate problem with the base Star is born Model: The men are charming and lively drunkards, they have a lot of fun and the actors who play them often threaten to eclipse their co-stars without even trying. They give us pleasure, at least initially, while women offer principled empathy. the Men are the queens of the drama, while the women remain firmly reasonable. Pauline Kael was aware of this problem in her article on the lamentable 1976 A star is born, quoting what she saw as a loophole in the whole concept. "There is a trap built in the history of A star is born, and although almost everyone who has worked on the different versions must be aware of it, each image falls in turn, "she writes. "The story is about the marriage of a discolored, watered-up male star with a rising woman, and while the man is glamorous, tragically self-destructive, Cinderella's heroine is so hardworking, loyal, and insensitive to the heat that she is unbearable.

Kael is right at one point: the male sacrifice in every version of A star is born East tragically glamorous, and the dewy disinterestedness of the co-directed woman sometimes turns to masochism. But then, this type of hyperfictionalized masochism – a representation of love has swung into overdrive, to the point where one partner is so entangled in each other's problems that she can not tell where she left off and where it started – is that of melodrama the most dramatically useful threads. (It's also one of those things that do not try at home: nice and even cathartic things in fiction, but not in real life.)

Bradley Cooper as Jackson Maine in

Bradley Cooper as Jackson Maine in "A star is born".

Warner Brothers

And you can not really group all the A star is born The actresses belong to a single category of monotony or blind loyalty: Gaynor, for example, is verve beyond all the sweetness expected, even if it is the month of March – first dashing, then totally destroyed – that you really feel. As performers, these two are relatively well matched. The version of A star is born This followed – Cukor's 1954 review of documents he had previously discussed – is a more complicated case. This time, Judy Garland gets up and James Mason falls. This is a fascinating duet, but complex and exotic: each surpasses the other in different ways. Garland is captivating, but she's so aggressive, even in her quivering vulnerability, that she's doing some kind of hostage-taking of movie entertainment. Mason's approach is more varied in color: he plays with his Shakespearean nobility the generous wife, although imperfect, and treats his partner with a meta-discourse on the mysterious nature of talent. "You're better than you know," he told him definitively, with that typically warm, half-cold, tarnished Masonian voice, and his message was a roar of tenderness. Mason wins the soul of the movie, even though Garland has taken her jugular. Both are great.

The big failure of all Star is born Adaptations is Frank Pierson's 1976 version, in which Barbra Streisand turns Kris Kristofferson into a literal and figurative assassin: his grand gestures crush his sweet perception as if it were an insect. (He's so good, though, that the movie is worth watching just for him.) Who knows if she agrees, but Cooper A star is born Kael's problems with the basic material can be unintentionally corrected: Cooper gives a great and attractive performance in the company of Jackson, who "stole" the voice of his brother, an even more talented performer, played by Sam Elliott . (Cooper plays the entire movie in a vocal range that mimics Elliott's smoke.)

Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand on the set of

Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand on the set of "One Star is Born".

Sunset Boulevard / Corbis via Getty Images

Cooper's performance follows the lead of his predecessors: the generosity of his character dissolves into an unhealthy mess in our eyes. But Gaga takes a different, more rugged path. She has none of the sweetness inherent in Gaynor, nor the perpetually vibrant false naivete of Garland, nor the dictatorial swagger of Streisand. Her ally is patient with Jackson, depending on the nature of the material. Gaga, larger than life, descended to Earth to play the role of a mere mortal, and she does it so well. And like all other versions of the character, she categorically refuses to marry that drunkard until he promises to put his affairs in order. You believe that it means business.

Yet Jackson's protection by Ally has a fire that has not been seen in previous versions. It's almost as if, in this role, Gaga stresses that this kind of conflict – a situation in which a woman, through her hard work and will, becomes more famous and earns more money than her husband relevant than ever. This is certainly much less a novelty now than in 1933. The pay gap between men and women may be narrowing, but there is still a gulf and women again work hard to be recognized in a world dominated by men. That's why Star is born This scenario seems perfectly plausible in 2018. Success can still impose on women a price that men do not have to pay. But if we have deserved it, we must recognize it – and melodrama, a kind of ecstasy and suffering, of ups and downs, is a matter of possession. If we find it difficult to create new melodramas, at least those that are not derived from comics, we can also reinvigorate some old ones. The model is already there. why not reuse it?

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