Monday, August 16

Pentimento by Lillian Hellman and the movie Julia

This is how Lillian Hellman starts her novel Pentimento, that was inspiration for the movie "Julia", 1977:
"Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimws becomes trasparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child manes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter "repented," changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again.
That is all I mean about the people in this book. The paint has aged now and I wanted to see what was there for once, what is there for now."
The movie starts with this words being said by Jane Fond who is Lillian. I like it very much. I will publish an example of pentimento on a canvas tomorrow.