Sept_13

RBIT . MEDIA WATCH
Cover
story
She calls herself a “conflicted
feminist”. Yet from this
conflict, fashion designer
64 year-old Miuccia Prada has
crafted some groundbreaking work.
On the July cover of T magazine,
she speaks about everything
from her politics and her work
CLASSIC REPRISE: HOLLYWOOD STARS KIM CATRALL
AND SETH NUMRICH HAVE TAKEN TO THE LONDON
STAGE TO PERFORM SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH,
AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT TENNESSEE WILLIAMS'
BITTERSWEET TALE OF A FADED MOVIE STAR AND
A YOUNG HUSTLER WHOSE WORLDS COLLIDE IN A
SOUTHERN TOWN.
HEARTFELT
Women share a common vocabulary despite differences of culture, country
and, yes, age. That’s the message that resonates through Mexican
filmmaker Natalia Beristain's first feature, She Doesn't Want to Sleep Alone,
which chronicles the connection of Lola, an imperious yet fragile former movie
queen, and her wayward and (initially) indifferent granddaughter Amanda. Concerned
about Lola’s increasingly unpredictable behaviour and spells of disassociation,
her neighbour calls in Amanda, the only relative she is able to reach.
While the granddaughter is very reluctant to step into a life she barely comprehends,
she realises she needs to take charge of the situation—in the process, she
regains control over her own capricious life. “A delicate relationship develops between
the two women,” Beristain tells American magazine Variety. She Doesn't
Want to Sleep Alone is now showing on the international festival circuit.
to ageing. “It is much more of a
drama for women, the business
of ageing,” she concedes in the
interview. “No one wants to age
and I really think we should find
a solution. Especially because we
live so much longer. I think this
question of ageing will define the
society of the future.” And while
she demurs at the idea of putting
silvers on the catwalk, saying
“Mine is not an artistic world, it
is a commercial world...I cannot
change the rules… I don’t have
the courage,” she is brave enough
to question existing concepts of
beauty. “Ugly is attractive, ugly is
exciting,” she insists. “The investigation
of ugliness is, to me, more
interesting than the bourgeois idea
of beauty because ugly is human.”
14 harmony celebrate age september 2013