13 Comments

Sounds like I should make an effort to see this film!!

Loved how you've presented this insight about work and meaning as well:

"It is an unusually powerful anaesthetic, not only because it meets with approval — no, worse, it can seem to resolve life’s deep paradox. It's addiction at the level of meaning; an addiction at the level of the self."

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Thank you so much for commenting <3

I was particularly proud of those lines also

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Rachael, I cannot stop re-reading the part about neglect in relationships. I gasped when I read this, just like you did when you wrote it. In some way, your posts speak to me and help me fill gaps in my way of thinking in a way that no therapy, meditation, self-help, or prayer has been able to do. I know this is highly personal but you're a highly personal kind of person. I am grateful for your presence. Twitter is good sometimes :-)

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Thank you Nicole, I'm so touched and honoured by this comment. <3

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Rachael this is beautifully written and has absolutely derailed my weekend plans (ie metrics pset)

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Eni if it was any other pset i would say good fuck it but since it’s metrics please i humbly ask u to reconsider

also thank u for the comment!

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This immediately goes into my list of substack classics. I love that film, and it’s apparently a perfect vessel to teach me things I never would have noticed.

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Thank you so much for the lovely comment, Karl. This film is SO underdiscussed, I got instantly obsessed with it (obviously) and I'm very pleased to know that you're its fan.

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I was under the mistaken impression that everyone loved it.

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i think film buffs rightly regard it as one of the greatest films of all time but essentially nobody outside of cinephile circles has ever heard of it or seen it

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Black Narcissus, also great.

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SO GREAT it's just amazing

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I enjoy a surprising amount of current product— often but not always produced in countries I don’t live in— but films like these two really bring out my film snobbery. These movies are better than most art, I think, and they’re a helpful reminder that film can be that great.

Another point— I’m not always the most grateful reader of analysis featuring gender subtext, but with films like these, I welcome it. Films like these, and writing like yours, makes me feel like maybe I’m not so much intolerant as impatient.

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