When I read this passage in Hunchback of Notre Dame “All at once the head of Phoebus she saw another head, – a livid, green, convulsed face, with the look of a soul in torment;” it always brings to mind one immortal face; The Grinch
Today we’re going to look at Anne Meson.
Meson has played both Esmeralda and Fleur de Lys. Other Actresses who shares this distinction are Julie Zenatti, Chiara di Bari and Jessica Grove. She is one of 10 actors that have been in two casts that are in different languages (Garou, Daniel Lavoie, Bruno Pelletier, Luck Merville, Natasha St.Pier, Matt Laurent, Robert Marien, Chiara Di Bari, Dennis Ten Vergert and Tim Driesen)
Meson when she was younger was the French Disney ambassador and sang songs for Oliver, Little Mermaid and Chip and Dale, Rescue Rangers. She sang Part of that World on the Little Mermiad 1990 sound track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FZdkvzguus
Recently I found her website and I wanted to share the Notre Dame bits;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVorTyvVzmA&list=FLCmjM77B5AUW7TzpJKcHnYg&index=1&feature=plpp_video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAC2Wb8bDWY&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rgUEigAu0Q&feature=plcp&context=C3469516UDOEgsToPDskL21ee98ty58pY_5zh9yd5P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCnu-Oyk0tw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6F8wB6YI88
I wish I could have seen more of her performances.
Today Fan-Art is by FluidGirl82. It’s Phantom meets Hunchback. With a little anime style to it and I also love the names of the actors and crew. I don’t know about you but I would see the movies though I don’t want to give Hollywood any ideas. After all they’re making Hunchback into an action-adventure movie that’s also as ridiculous as making Snow White a warrior in armor on horseback; Oh Wait they already did that in Snow White and the Huntsman. Anyway enjoy the Fan-art
A few years before I was a Hunchback of Notre Dame fan, I was very into Phantom of the Opera so when I saw this I had to post it. I still like the Phantom of the opera in fact I just saw the the Australian DVD of Love Never Dies and I liked more than I thought I would. I loved how cinematic it looked. Kind of makes me wonder how Notre Dame de Paris would look if it was professional shot in that manner. Anyway there are a lot similarities between Phantom and Hunchback and I’ll do come comparisons between the two stories sometime.
Today’s Question is Who would win in a cat-fight, Esmeralda or Fleur de Lys? To answer this excellent question we must first identify who are the Fleur de Lys and Esmeralda in question. Since Fleur de Lys gets the most characterization in the musical Notre Dame de Paris version we’ll choose that one and for consistency well take out cue from that Esmeralda as well.
Okay we have are Fighters, Let’s look at the stats;
Neither of them have good strength. Esmeralda has excellent dexterity and agility that helps her evade attacks. She has excellent charisma but doesn’t help in this fight. Fleur de Lys has a Constitution so she can endure a fight longer. She also has high stats in wisdom, perception and luck.
Mmm… they seem to be evenly matched. However we can’t forget personalities. Esmeralda is sweet and I don’t think she much of a fighter and Fleur de Lys is a ruthless, calculating bitch. She strikes me as someone who fights dirty while that notion wouldn’t even cross Esmeralda’s mind.
I would say that the winner would be Fleur de Lys, Esmeralda won’t even know what hit her.
I think the 1923 version of Hunchback of Notre Dame is the best depiction of Esmeralda in an movie. She captures the original charm of Esmeralda from the book. She is young, sweet, free-spirited, innocent, romantic and a bit shallow. Let’s face it, Esmeralda is not a particularly deep character. She is not battling her own inner-demons nor is struggling against the social system. She just a young girl who likes to dance and the 1923 version allows her to be that character.
Unlike the Esmeralda of the novel the 1923 version has a bit more backbone and is more realistic. In the book Esmeralda is afraid of Frollo, in the 1923 she seems to ignore him or at most is just indifferent to him. Her behaving this way towards the Frollo character does make their relationship less dramatic though.
Also in the book there is no issue for her about Phoebus’ nobility. In the 1923 version Esmeralda does understand the social differences between them and at one point tries to rejects him however she retracts that very quickly. It may seem like a contrived sub-plot but it does add a bit of maturity to her character that we don’t see in the book.
Much like novel Esmeralda the 1923 doesn’t have lot of depth her characterization, basically her motivation is love and nothing else. I appreciate that movie kept her character simple and sweet like she is in book, it’s a nice foil to subsequent Esmeraldas who are either more mature or have a cause.
Next Time- Jehan a.k.a Not Frollo
This Comic illustrates why people should learn French or any foreign language
Comic from Three Word Phase
Fleur de Lys; Costumes of Notre Dame de Paris
It’s still kind of a work in progress but it for the most part functionally done. the Lens is broken down for components instead of by casts.
Compared to Esmeralda’s costumes, I find Fleur de Lys’ costume a little plain. It’s a nice enough dress but a little lacklaster for the stage. I actully like it when she has a more intricate hairstyle and I like the romantic versions of the costume but with more vibrate saturated pink tone. In a way I prefer the concept design of Fleur de Lys better. I wonder how the different versions would have altered it. But then you have to wonder “what does the front look like?”
Tell me what you think What do you think of Fleur de Lys’s costume from Notre Dame de Paris or the Notre Dame de Paris Costumes in general?
Hopefully I can do at least two more of these Notre Dame de Paris Costume lenses; one for the prison dress and one on Esmeralda’s bonus costumes. We’ll see about the male costumes.
You may not know this but around the turn of 19th century, Quasimodo decided to move out of Notre Dame to pursue his dream of being on the stage. He joined the ranks of Vaudeville where he became a star.
In 1922 he got wind that Universal was doing a movie version of Hunchback and he decided to leave the stage and take the plunge into “moving picture” but he lost the role of Quasimodo to Lon Chaney because his movement were to subtle for the screen and he was just too “nice” in his depiction of himself.
After that he tried to return to the stage but he never reached the same level of stardom and when vaudeville cease to be Quasimodo once again tried the silver screen. He got a few bit roles here and there but sadly all of his films are considered lost. After 1936 Quasimodo went out the public eye. Recently however he was spotted working at a Toll Booth somewhere in New Jersey. Keep a look out for him, you may see him one day.
Asian Tour Pictures from my tenth folder ^^ Enjoy
Today Fan-art is by ayudameavolar
I really enjoy Ayudameavolar’s art work it’s fun, cute and creative. Esmeralda isn’t depicted as cute nearly enough.