02 | February | 2013 | Through the Shattered Lens

EVA GREEN

This week saw the announcement from The Weinstein Company and Robert Rodriguez’s studio that the most important role in the upcoming sequel to 2005’s Sin City has been cast. The actress cast for the role of Ava Lord, the sequel’s “A Dame to Kill For”, wasn’t the expected Angelina Jolie who had been 0ft-rumored to be Rodriguez’s first choice as the femme fatale for the sequel. When Angelina Jolie’s name wasn’t announced and another was instead the reaction from fans of the original comic book source wasn’t one of disappointment. The reaction from fans at this certain performer’s name being called instead was one of near-universal approval.

Eva Green, she of Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, Campbell’s Casino Royale and Starz’s own Morgan Le Fay, was going to play Ava Lord and Sin City fandom mightily approved.

Her smoldering eyes and classic femme fatale looks makes her an almost perfect fit for the role of Ava Lord. Ms. Green is not new to the role of dangerous and darkly, beautiful women who uses their sexuality as weapon to attack and defend what they want and have. She easily encapsulates the notion the idea of why the femme fatale continues to be such a tempting role for actresses. It’s a role that demands from it’s performer that they be able to pull off being someone’s dream but also their nightmare in equal amounts. I think I’ve heard someone else very close by being called that.

This is why Eva Green is the latest Hottie of the Day. Like one a certain someone with mismatched eyes and hair to match her personality, Eva Green is easily a man’s dream…but also can be his nightmare.

PAST HOTTIES

Occasionally, I like to use the Shattered Lens as a place to share old educational films from the 50s, 60, and 70s. This is because 1) these films serve as time capsules to a past that often seems implausible to us today, 2) occasionally they still have important lessons to teach, and 3) they make excellent filler whenever I find myself running behind on whatever else I may have been planning on posting.

Take, for instance, the following film from 1950. In Control Your Emotions, we watch as a creepy psychologist discusses why a typical teenager named Jeff is incapable of controlling his rage. Watching the film today, it seems pretty apparent that Jeff’s main problem is that he’s kind of stupid and just a jerk in general. However, that really doesn’t seem to set him apart from everyone else in this short film. Whether he’s dealing with his insensitive friends or a family that seems to have little use for him, it’s obvious that Jeff is doomed to live a life of disappointment and simmering resentment.

Let’s just hope that he can control his emotions because, honestly, Jeff looks like he’s about to snap under the weight of emotional repression and suburban conformity…