MovieChat Forums > Bell Book and Candle (1958) Discussion > Gillian

Gillian

posted 19 years ago by belacane
8 replies | jump to latest

Does anybody actually LIKE this character? She's aloof, cold, manipulative. Despite her comment at the beginning ("I wonder if I could get him without using tricks") she's apparently casting spells all over the place. Poor Shep! Though his fiancee was not very sympathetic either.

I'm only about halfway through the movie (Nicky has just started collaborating with Redlitch) but I just can't see why any viewers would have a sympathetic view towards Gillian. Plus Kim Novak's fake pencilled eyebrows make her look like a man in drag. I realize they did it to echo the shape of Pyewacket's ears, but ugh...too dark, too fake.

Ah, the rapier wit of an armless D'Artagnan.

[–] rowan_red 19 years ago

I imagine that the posters you will find at this site will tend to be those who like the lead character. She's aloof, cold, and manipulative because she's a witch. When I saw the movie, I totally wanted to BE Gillian!

Though his fiancee was not very sympathetic either.

That's an understatement.

Kim Novak's fake pencilled eyebrows make her look like a man in drag

Kim Novak could never look like a man! She can totally carry off those spectacular eyebrows.

[–] joekiddlouischama 18 years ago

Does anybody actually LIKE this character? She's aloof, cold, manipulative.

She's also vulnerable and struggling with her social, emotional, and psychological detachment, quietly yearning for human passion, love, and warmth, but understandably afraid of the consequences. She senses that if she gives in to the forces of passion and humanity, she could become even more vulnerable and emotionally heartbroken, and she worries about that. The aloofness, coldness, and manipulation thus become part of her painfully isolating irony, a protective shell that she doesn't want but fears that she needs.

I'm only about halfway through the movie (Nicky has just started collaborating with Redlitch) but I just can't see why any viewers would have a sympathetic view towards Gillian.

It pays to watch the film all the way through. She eventually emerges as quite a sympathetic figure, even more so than Shep.

***SPOILERS*** for Bell Book and Candle

Check out the scene where she thinks that she's seeing Shep for the last time. The heart-in-throat emotion that she displays is moving and memorable.

Plus Kim Novak's fake pencilled eyebrows make her look like a man in drag.

Novak was a striking, ethereally beautiful woman. Nothing about her suggested maleness.

[–] PenTheater 18 years ago

How about that black party dress cut down the back?
Did you miss that?
I look for it every time this is on!

Women don't wear dresses like that any more.

I'll sell you my password for $5000.00

[–] omari322 16 years ago

Here, here. Ms. Novak was stunningly beautiful in this movie up until the end because the housebroken, humble Gil in that white, frilly dress did nothing for me. However before that right from the giddyap she was alla that in this movie. Whether padding around her flat barefoot or dressed to the nines in the Zodiac or visiting Shep, Gil/Novak had that aloof sexiness with a touch of vulnerability that I found irresitible.

It's a shame the movie showed it's sterile, homogenized 50's roots at the end with Gil having to give up her beatnik edginess to turn into some suburban housewife in an apron waiting for the dishwasher to be delivered. The movie
would have stayed with me more if Shep had accepted Gil's love by letting her hold on to some of her old ways.

Ah well but at least I got to drink in all of Ms. Novak's charm before that. On to 'Vertigo' next.

'Cause I'm Black you think I did it?

[–] eden_echo 18 years ago

She's aloof and cold when she realizes that the fiance of the man she is attracted too just happens to be her rival from her college days, so naturally yes she is going to be like that, especially since she is, well, a witch.

Kim Novak and man in drag; those two phrases do not, I repeat do not go well together. Those were her eyebrows from "Vertigo", check the 'reverse mirror to Vertigo' thread to get the gist of it.

"I promise you, before I die I'll surely come to your doorstep"

[–] SuzieWrong 18 years ago

Didn't like her makeup in BBB, but lo-o-o-o-oved the wardrobe!

[–] catma 18 years ago

When the movie was made a gallery owner would be depicted in a movie as having a certain sophistication, which might be perceived today as aloofness. The makeup is typical of the time. There was very little naturalness in fashion in the late fifties, women had pencilled in eyebrows, red lipstick, pancake foundation, pointy bras, etc. Today of course, the Gillian character could be someone approachable like Sandra Bullock or Reese Witherspoon.

[–] AliciaHuberman59 17 years ago

Well said, catma. Re her wardrobe...Jean Louis! Check him out in "Green Acres" (Lisa, not Mrs. Ziffel!) and Lana Turner in "Madame X".