Her Face
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This face was and stays a phenomenon. It has beguiled and captured people of both sexes, men and women in equal measure, young and old, they have all been enchanted by that face in its absolute symmetry and purity, in its indescribable perfection of the sublime. That face could hypnotize, attracting us like a magnet with magical appeal. At that time as today and today as tomorrow.
No other woman of the silver screen had been able to manage that before her, no other woman will succeed after her because the beauty of her face is singular and not replaceable. Garbo had received a gift from God which surpassed those of the gods and demi-gods of Mount Olympus. Having such a face she became the embodiment of supernatural beauty which couldn't even get exceeded in divine Olympus.
Her face is personifying the person. She is not a human being anymore, the actress, the body, the character. She's just THE FACE. Whenever that countenance is illuminating the screen, when the entire surface of the projection area is captured by the tenderness of her face, then the spectators hush due to the impact of her presence. The eyes of the beholder are drowning with the crystal clear eyes of the screen figure. In those moments a noticeable transcendence is given.
A wonderful example for that is the final scene from Queen Christina. The queen is leaving her native land Sweden aboard of her dead lover's ship. She has given up everything, everything has gone lost. While the sails are going to be hoisted and the ship is leaving the harbour, the queen is standing at the prow, just feeling sea wind blowing through her hair, glancing to the horizon with an empty face. The camera is capturing that face, approaching more and more, zooming closer and closer, very slowly until the whole screen is covered by that visage. All emotions can be read in her view, all feelings, all sentiment. Her eyes are symbolizing her soul and voices what her heart is telling. We are suffering with her because her eyes invade our own souls.
Her Beauty
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Garbo's beauty. Let's try to explain and understand it, starting from her birth to her end. Witnesses of her time will speak, having worked together with her or people who have accompanied her on common ways. Directors, cameramen, photographers, colleagues, friends and companions. Let's listen what Garbo herself is telling us about beauty. Let's show the metamorphosis of a Swedish girl to the point of a luminous screen goddess. Many details have been collected from diverse internet sources and especially taken from the Barry Paris book “Garbo”.
Trivial, profane, interesting and quaint stuff. For all of you who want to understand the enigma of Garbo's beauty. But maybe we will be unable to understand anyway. Because that beauty hasn't been human. Just divine.
Epilogue |
Finally, I would like to summarize my own cogitations regarding Garbo's beauty. For me that beauty doesn't mean figure, feet, arms, height, weight, sex appeal or any other attributes. Her beauty is predominantly given by the one and only manifestation: Her face.
That face! What a composition, what a painting, what a sculpture! A face which twinkles in its unbelievable symmetry and in its almost divine affecting perfection like a beautiful pond covered with water lilies, soft as velvet, white as snow, reminding of precious porcelain and in unique aesthetics similar to an antique relief by da Vinci.
A countenance which paralyses our eyes continuously with amazement. A charisma which beguiles our senses. An aura which melts enormous joy in our hearts because that visage sparkles like morning dew on a meadow or is mysteriously fading like veils of fog in a transcendental traverse deep down our souls.
Almost unreal because it's so supernatural and incomprehensible, not possible to conceptualize. A face which can be associated with the scent of roses and which might belong to an innocent angel. Divine and unachievable with clarity like marble and alabaster. A visage which is going to addict like opium, banning views and glances in its absolute purity as incarnation of beauty.
That face which is going to get desired in deep dreams and activating a certain smile in touched souls. It gleams with silence, peace, harmony, sometimes melancholy as well but always hope. Gazing at it is similar to a lovely music, a symphony, quite majestic, accompanied by sublime melodics.
What a face! Dream or reality? Either one. Because we are capable to see it a n d to feel it simultaneously. T.S. Eliot wrote: Poetry is communicated before it is understood. That's consistant with my conviction. You can't explain Garbo's beauty. But you can feel it. Perception with eyes a n d heart. It is projecting our own desires. Because we do place our own emotions in that face, all possible dreams… In that immortal face…
Sources |
| Barry Paris – Garbo
Karen Swenson – A Life Apart |
