luninosity:

Back from the We Have Always Lived in the Castle premiere at the LA Film Festival!

Some comments (I’ll try to keep this non-spoilery):

–no Seb at the premiere, obviously, since he’s still in Greece

–the movie is excellent – atmospheric, eerie, very fairy-tale feeling (in a good way)

–loved the cinematography, colors, music

–all the actors are really good too – intense, committed, occasionally quite funny, really great at subtle reactions and expressions even while delivering purposefully stylized performances (Taissa, Alexandra, Sebastian, Crispin – all of them)

–so much aggressive/pointed/emotional eating of food!

–speaking of, I have never seen anyone drink milk with as much petty spite as Seb does in one scene (yes: more scenes involving Seb and milk…)

–having read the book, I knew the ending, and I’d be interested in how someone who *didn’t* know would react

–VERY IMPORTANT: there is Sebastian in a bathtub! bathing! naked! (you don’t see the Full Sebastian but he is clearly, y’know, naked in there) and then getting out of said bathtub and walking around shirtless! (There is no shirtless wet Charles in the book, as I recall. Someone at some point said, “you know what this movie needs? shirtless wet Sebastian Stan, that’s what” and we all owe that person much appreciation) (also Alexandra Daddario’s character’s reaction in the scene is PERFECT.)

–love love love the use of names and naming – it’s so subtle and so well done (without spoilers: pay attention to who uses what names, who gets to or tries to name or rename people, and dynamics of power…)

–as was discussed during the Q&A, it’s a surprisingly and disturbingly relevant film: about power, about patriarchy, about reputation, about ostracism, about secrets, about protectiveness both good and bad

–and you should go see it!