This One Angel In Particular Definitely Has Questions

#Queer Agony

let me wrap my teeth around the world

David Tennant pathetically destroying furniture; screaming in rage. Yass go girl

This is deeply comforting to me. It’s not “wait and see”. It’s “not yet.” It will happen. They will have a happy ending, and live in a little cottage in South Downs together 🫶

Doctor Who | 4.08 Silence in the Library

This is peak comedy

Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton: A Tempestuous Triple Feature by Kimberly Lindbergs

Decades before high-profile celebrity couples like Kimye and Brangelina dominated the spotlight, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ruled the red carpet. The two actors made headlines around the world after their extramarital affair on the set of CLEOPATRA (’63) ignited a flurry of scandalous news reports. Taylor and Burton eventually married, but during their turbulent 12-year relationship they were hounded by the paparazzi wherever they went. Liz and Dick, as they were often referred to in the press, graced countless magazine covers and every move they made was analyzed by gossip columnists and overzealous fans. Audiences loved seeing them on screen and the two actors enjoyed collaborating so it’s not surprising that they starred in 11 movies together before their relationship ended.

FilmStruck currently has three of the films Taylor and Burton appeared in available to stream. If you’re unfamiliar with their work or are just eager to see two acting legends go head-to-head, this triple feature provides a peek at one of Hollywood’s most glamourous, tempestuous and talented couples.

THE V.I.P.S (’63)

THE V.I.P.S centers around a group of wealthy jet-setters whose flights have been grounded due to foggy weather. It also features an all-star cast including Orson Welles, Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor and Louis Jourdan. The central story focuses on an actress, played by Taylor, who is fleeing her wealthy husband (Burton) to run off with her lover (Jourdan). This glossy melodrama borrows heavily from GRAND HOTEL (’32), which you can also view on FilmStruck, and is one of two portmanteau films directed by Anthony Asquith and written by Terence Rattigan. Slight and soapy, THE V.I.P.S is not one of Liz and Dick’s most memorable outings but Taylor does look stunning in her Pierre Cardin costumes and luxurious jewelry, which was mostly owned by the actress herself thanks to the generosity of wealthy paramours including Burton as well as previous husband, producer Mike Todd.

THE COMEDIANS (‘67)

Based on Graham Greene’s political thriller of the same name and boasting a screenplay by the author, THE COMEDIANS offers a harrowing look at Haiti during the repressive reign of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, who ruled the nation from 1957 to 1971. Much like THE V.I.P.S, THE COMEDIANS features another star-studded cast that includes Lillian Gish, Peter Ustinov, Cicely Tyson and future STAR WARS costars Alec Guinness and James Earl Jones. Taylor plays the discontented wife of the Uruguayan ambassador to Haiti (Ustinov), who is having an affair with a pessimistic hotel owner (Burton) under a looming cloud of government intrigue and upheaval. Like many political films of its ilk, THE COMEDIANS is rather slow-moving and talky, but it does contain some stunning cinematography provided by Henri Decaë. Taylor and Burton deliver surprisingly lowkey and effective performances and the background players, which include talented black actors such as Roscoe Lee Browne, Gloria Foster, Raymond St. Jacques, Zakes Mokae and Georg Stanford Brown, are uniformly good and lend the film much of its emotional gravitas.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (’66)

Much has been written about this award-winning film directed by Mike Nichols and based on the critically acclaimed play by Edward Albee. Despite its notoriety, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA? still packs an emotional wallop for the uninitiated. Taylor and Burton star as a discontented middle-aged married couple named George and Martha. George is an associate professor of history at a New England college and Martha is the daughter of the university president. Following a colleague cocktail party, the booze laden twosome invites a much younger couple (Sandy Dennis and George Segal) over for more drinks and small talk. But the get together begins to unravel when George and Martha engage in a verbal sparring match intended to berate and belittle one another. Taylor and Burton brought much of their own personal conflict to this shockingly frank and fearless film that literary analyst Christopher William Edgar Bigsby rightly called an attack on “the false optimism and myopic confidence of modern society.” Taylor and Burton, along with their costars, are in top form and deliver two of the most powerful performances of their careers in this grim, gloomy and deeply moving portrait of an American marriage in disarray.

Sketches

Dusting this off just because

(SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2)

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Note: I’m not upset by the kiss or by the idea of there being physical aspects to the relationship. These characters’ relationships to sex can still be very different than that of most humans and be nuanced.

Tldr: yes they kissed, yes they absolutely can still be asexual