Monday, February 6, 2012

Girls, There Is No Getting Around It; I Have To Address Demi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





I know, darlings, there are some of you out there, who must be asking, when am I going to address the situation of Demi?????? Demi Moore, that is!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, let me start. Poor Demi. You have to feel a bit sorry for her. Her earnestness is so heartfelt it must be like a lead weight, because it is so obvious she has been trying all these years to have a career--that she, I think, to some extent, views herself on the level of Meryl Streep, even though she most likely has never appeared on a stage ever, let alone read a word of Chekhov. And Demi has gone to some lengths that Meryl would not even contemplate!!!!!!!! Not for a second!!!!!!!!!!!

She seemed somewhat grounded when she was married to Bruce Willis. Now, I don't know whose hormones ended that marriage, loves, but I can tell you, as soon as she was a free woman, Demi's hormones heated up plenty fast!!!!!!!! Who knew Demi liked boy toys?????? Or maybe she was trying to do the Blanche Du Bois thing, recapturing her youth, with sweet young things!!!!!!! Hell, Tired Old Queens have been trying that for years!!!!!!!!! Just look at the Silverdaddies webiste.

So Demi took up with Ashton Kutcher, who must have loved Demi's name, prestige factor, and experience. I am sure things were pretty hot and heavy for a time, but Ashton, being younger and randier; honey, it was inevitable he would seek more verdant pastures!!!!!!!!! Demi, these days, certainly isn't looking verdant. Not as bad as some, but not the best she has looked.

Hospitalization, exhaustion, anorexia, it is all part of the showbiz downslide, which, in many cases, results in some kind of career comeback. But what kind of a career does Demi have to come back to????? It has always involved being more of a Celebrity than a Performer, and, honey, if you do not work the Circuit, or vanish from it, no one is going to remember YOU!!!!!!! So Demi needs to fall back on acting skills.

Now, darlings, you may not believe what I am going to say next, but the fact of the matter is, she has them!!!!!!!!! Acting skills, I mean. They were only displayed once, and, in a short film, but Demi showed, given strong direction and working within her limits, that she could act!!!!!!!!!

Sixteen years ago, Demi and Cher became partners in production with HBO and produced a now famous film, called "If These Walls Could Talk." I remember the myriad of posters publicizing it, leading up to its initial airing. They were all over town, especially at subway stations. The pulse of the advertising beat, as far as I am concerned!!!!!!!!!

The concept was simple. It concerned one house, over three generational periods, the people/women living there, and how each, in their respective time, dealt with the issue of abortion. It was set in three different years, each being the segment's title--1952, 1974, and 1996.

Demi's segment--and the best--was "1952." Which was set in the worst era possible for abortions--what is known as the Knitting Needle era. And what was meant by this was graphically depicted, which was one of many moments in this short film that truly upset me, and gave me nightmares.

Demi played Claire Donnelly, a nurse of the day, married to a young man, who, six months before, was killed overseas in the Korean war. She is lonely, but has has a lovely house, a job to support herself, and her husband's family seem to be tender and solicitous toward her. However, Claire is hiding a secret. She is pregnant, unmarried, and does not know what to do about it. She is in a jam. She cannot go away and put the baby up for adoption, because she cannot leave her job, let alone allow anyone to find out what happened. But time is running out. Her clothes are starting not to fit, and before you know it, she will be showing. She reaches out to the doctor she works for, but he brushes her off with a moral lecture, and the warning that he has known the Donnellys for a long time. She has heard rumors of such things taking place at some abandoned houses on--you guessed it, darlings--the Wrong Side Of The Tracks--goes there, but cannot bring herself to enter. Then she gets a tip from a colleague (marvelously played by CCH Pounder) who knows of someone who knows how to go about getting such a procedure safely. But it involves a trip to Puerto Rico, and, while it would be safe, Claire cannot take time off, nor she can afford the price of the plane and the procedure.

Things are getting pretty desperate. A Thanksgiving dinner at the Donnellys turns out to be disturbing, for, beneath the veneer of family solidarity they project, one senses avarice, distaste and arch conservatism lurking beneath. When Claire, after doing the knitting needle bit, bur failing, confides in her sister-in-law, Becky, played by Catherine Keener, the cruelty of this woman is devastating--it is all about the Donnellys, and what this would do to them!!!!!!! Becky is morally appalled that Demi would even sleep with anyone just six months after her brother's death. But Claire has even more to hide from the Donnellys--for the father of this child turns out to be the Donnellys' younger son, Kevin (well acted by Jason London). That is right; she slept with, and has been impregnated by, her husband's brother, and I can tell you, if the Donnellys found this out, they would burn her for a witch as fast as the people of Whitewood did Elizabeth Selwyn!!!!!!!!

Hope intervenes, when the woman Claire had called before recommends a man named Tom, who comes to the home, and does the procedure there. This sequence is extremely uncomfortable to watch, what with the callous nature of the abortionist, who very likely is not a doctor, is doing this strictly for the money, and cannot be bothered with such niceties as sterilizing the instruments. Seeing Demi position herself on the kitchen table and enduring this butchery, tasteful as it is filmed, is distinctly unpleasant. The procedure is done, and the guy leaves, without so much as a fare thee well.

Some time later, it is dark, the camera pans the room slowly, till we spot red on the floor, which becomes apparent is blood. Claire, bleeding from a hemorrhage, is kneeling on the floor, trying to call for help. She collapses, and dies.

I always wondered about the aftermath of this. What would happen, when Claire's body is found? Becky would know immediately what she had died from. So would everyone else. Kevin would know it was his child that had been aborted, and for which Claire died. How would he face that, in the wake of the oppressive times and his ogre-ish family????? I have always wondered how such a scenario might have played out.

But Demi Moore, I am telling you, does the best acting job I have ever seen her do. And that she pulled it off, proves she has it in her. Too bad, because, given more opportunities like this, she might have avoided the dilemma she is in now. Not so much the Ashton/boy toy thing, but maybe the plight of the Actress Without A Career, which she now faces!!!!!!!!!

So, that is my take on Demi, darlings, and I do feel sorry for her. But if you haven't, already, take a look at "If These Walls Could Talk." Demi's segment will amaze you!!!!!!!!

And, girls, just for the record, I never considered posing for magazine covers when pregnant. Though if I had, IF I had been pregnant, I might have had a whole new career!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe Demi needs hormone replacement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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