Friday 24 October 2014

Face Values

Did you ever see Renee Zellwegger, In Bridget Jones’ Diary?

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The film was made in 2001, and chronicled the life of the eponymous ditsy blonde girl.

The book was written by Helen Fielding in 1996 – and the passage below is quoted in the film as BJ endures her ‘beauty regimen’

Being a woman is worse than being a farmer – there are so many areas to be cultivated and maintained: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturised, spots cleansed, roots dyed, eyelashes tinted, nails filed, cellulite massaged, stomach muscles exercised. The whole performance is so highly tuned that you only need to neglect it for a few days for the whole thing to go to seed. Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if left to revert to nature – with a full beard and handlebar moustache on each shin, Denis Healey eyebrows, face a graveyard of dead skin cells, spots erupting, long curly fingernails like Struwwelpeter, flabby body flobbering around. Ugh, ugh. Is it any wonder girls have no confidence?

I suspect Ms Zellwegger may have overdone her maintenance of late – on the left, in autumn 2013 – and on the right, this month

renee-zellweger-plastic-surgery-experts-say-ftr

I couldn’t see anything wrong with her original face- but it does seem that she’s had ‘work done’. I just find it incredibly sad that women spend fortunes on treatments and surgery in order to feel good about themselves. I realise that in the film industry ‘your face is your fortune’, and many female stars are concerned they will not be offered roles as they age – but nevertheless…

I don’t think that crowsfeet, grey hairs and arthritis have held back these British women very much in their acting careers

maggie-smith-downton-abbey-baftas

judidenchphyllida

Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Phyllida Law continue to delight us with their performances, and revel in the wisdom of their years.

Finty Williams [Dench]and Emma Thompson [Law] seem to be following in their mother’s footsteps with a similarly sensible approach to age&stage.

I think that I am with the apostle Peter on this on – he writes in chapter 3 of his epistle

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

11 comments:

  1. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

    Roald Dahl

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  2. I totally agree. I'm afraid I don't spend hours beautifying myself with this product and that. (I'm beautiful already, of course!)
    xx

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  3. I thought she looked much prettier in the early photos.

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  4. These three women are stunning..more so since they have aged.
    Jane x

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  5. i saw her in the paper yesterday and could hardly believe it was the same person

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  6. I saw this in the paper. Whatever has been done has been done well as you cannot see the surgery however, it would have been a bigger success if she actually still resembled herself.

    You know those ads that say 'you on a good day' well this is 'her only different'....!

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  7. I once had a skin problem which was very visible over half my face and have to say it totally changed the way I felt about myself, people stared on trains and I felt ugly but I learned a lot about other people and found there are plenty who look past what is skin deep and see who is beneath - I myself was one who judged people by how they appeared to me and it changed my outlook completely. Thankfully my face is better now and I have learned a lot from those times.

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  8. But she put on lots and lots of weight to make to BJ movies. Is this not more her usual face? Sad though it may be to the rest of us...

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  9. Who will play all the older woman roles in the future (as much as I'd love it Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are not immortal!) Actresses that get work done may find they get less opportunities in the future!

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