A September night not unlike tonight

but tomorrow and 21 years ago

Every year, around this time, I rewatch Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. It takes place in September and that is the best time to watch it. The opening credits were filmed in Northampton, where I now live; they show George and Martha (Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) walking home across a dark college campus, which is Smith College. Mike Nichols apparently spent a long time looking for the perfect campus on which to shoot this scene but later said he shouldn’t have because it added nothing to the movie. It adds something to MY viewing of the movie, however, just like keeping an eye out for George and Martha makes me feel more at home in Northampton. 

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf starts when the night should have ended: at 2AM with everybody plastered. Martha announces she’s invited guests over, and more drinking and mind games ensue. The games involve the guests, who have a ruinous night, but George and Martha are really only interested in playing with each other. “They can’t leave each other alone,” said Joe the first time he watched it, and that is exactly it. The script by Edward Albee (mostly unaltered) is perfect, and the chemistry between Burton and Taylor sets everything on fire. Taylor was only 34 when it was filmed, still in her heyday. Nichols filmed in black and white to make everyone look more haggard, especially her. The lighting is unforgiving. Sun starts to creep in the windows; George turns off the lights.

Good, better, best, bested

We know the story is set in September because Martha tells of another “September night, a night not unlike tonight, though tomorrow and 21 years ago.” I won’t say more in case you haven’t seen the movie, but I love how Martha describes the night as occurring simultaneously in the present, future, and past, which is kind of how parenthood makes me feel. I was putting a lot of pressure on September this year, since it meant so many things: the end of a long, hot summer; Eva starting school; a more sustainable routine. As it turned out, we had to wait a little longer for most of these things, since we all got Covid. Only now does it feel like we’re getting a rhythm going, which is why I’m sending you this newsletter on the last night of September, and it’s mostly hazy thoughts about movies. 

I watched a lot of movies when we had Covid. Godard died, so I rewatched Contempt. I used to think I was really into Godard but now realize I was equally into Anna Karina, Brigitte Bardot, and Jean Seberg, who are the main reason I watch Godard movies. Godard may be more responsible for my internalization of the male gaze than any other director because he filmed it so beautifully. RIP Godard.

Then Joe and I watched the HBO remake of Scenes from a Marriage, which I didn’t realize had been remade. Watching it with a partner is essentially couples therapy. It felt even more intense to me than the original, maybe because I’m American and not Swedish. There’s also a gender flip, which I appreciated, although I’m not sure it adds anything. I’m halfway through the movie version of the Bergman one and can’t yet say. I watched the original in my twenties and didn’t really get it, but now I do. I guess I’m entering my Bergman era, by which I mean middle age, by which I mean autumn. 

Also 1966, a great year for outfits. (ETA: I said in the email newsletter this was after Who’s Afraid, but it was actually the same year!)