Elle Fanning is ugly


Too ugly to be around Abby Lee and Bella Heathecoate. She a plain Jane with a Mongoloid stare!

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Nonsense. She is gorgeous.

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The scene when she wore the gold top, leather pants and was made up in makeup she looked EXACTLY like a model. Though in some makeup free scenes in the film she did look a bit plain (I agree).

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She's attractive enough, but I do know what you mean. For the purposes of this film where her character is meant to be a radiant creature that stops all time for everyone in a room - yeah, that's a stretch.

Then again, who could fill that role? It's difficult to find somebody that level of hot who can also pull off the character. And, anyway, everybody has their own "type", so no matter who they got, I think this post (or similar) would exist. Plus, they make a point of juxtaposing her natural (?) beauty against the more plastic/artificial/modified models.

Ultimately, I think Fanning did a great job portraying the character, and her attitude - somewhere between blushing ingenue and predatory jungle cat - makes me buy the film because I believe that somebody with her demeanour might be bringing something into the room past pure physical attraction.

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Ace,

Yeah, I have to agree with you. Fanning was attractive enough and coming off her role as an innocent princess in Malevficent made her a really good fit for this film. She portrayed the innocent little dove quite well in this movie. And she was stunning in the white dress scene and the restaurant scene, she was very pretty in those scenes.

However, I've got some mixed feelings about this movie. In my opinion, necrophilia is something I don't think filmmakers should touch on in movies, its just too depraved. I can deal with cannibalism and even pedophilia but necro. yikes... that is messed up stuff. I'm surprised Jena Malone would agree to do a scene like that. lol...

I can see why some people got up and left the theater when this was playing at the Cannes film festival and this is a Euro audience, they're no strangers to oddities found in movies. In fact, I think they're making real art across the pond now days, while Hollywood is taking a hard turn towards doing things in the name of "fairness" and political correctness rather than in the name of art.

TND touches on subjects that most would find repulsive. But hey, if you just want to shock an audience, this is the way to go. That being said, I still found the movie to be good up to a point. I'm sure you can guess what point that is. lol

I'd give it 5.0 out of 10. Without the necro scene, I'd give it a 6.3 out of 10. The cinematography is quite good even though I think the lighting is to dark in some parts of it, the acting is good, but the script is not very original, it's the typical "fashion industry bad" story-line that we've seen before, and girl lands in California to chase her dream has been done so many times. I am not sure why filmmakers think they have to give us a "lesson" on beauty and certain industries but it is what it is.

Anyhow, not too bad, but we've seen this film before.

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Well, I can certainly understand about being put off by the necrophilia scene. That's hard to watch.

Personally, I don't think any subject ought to be off-limits for artists, including filmmakers, naturally, although the proof of the (human?) pudding is in the eating, and only a viewer can decide if they think the inclusion of certain elements was "worth it". In other words, this film features a necrophiliac act, but is it "necessary" for the artistic value of the film? That's in the (regurgitated) eye of the beholder, I suppose...

For me, I'm a bit split on that scene, because it was shocking and horrible, but within the scope of what the "coven" was doing throughout the film. I found it repulsive, but these characters were into all sorts of evil, ritualistic stuff, so it fit within their characters.

That said, I'm not sure it was needed based on the themes of the film. Consumption, being "used up", the grist of the fashion mill, beauty, coldness, etc. - there are lots of ideas bouncing around, but none really directly related to necrophilia, other than a certain combination of beauty and death. I suppose it fits somewhat.

Still, I get why you don't like it and knocked points off for it.

I'd probably rate it more 7-7.5 territory. It might be an old story, but it dug in and went more creepy and visceral than most, so it hit harder for me. I thought it was an above-average horror/thriller/creeper movie, so I'd rate it over a six.

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I do agree, no subject should be off-limits but wow... that scene was tough to watch. If there is any subject that should be off limits, this is probably the one. Or at the very least, if you're going to do it, why be that graphic with it? It's just very in your face grotesque. I did see one other film with a necro scene, it was called Quills. Not sure if you've seen it. It's not as graphic but still quite shocking.

I mean, to a certain extent TND is a beautiful film but yeah, the necro and cannibalism came out of nowhere, there is no indication that these characters are into that until the broken mirror scene gives us a hint. The first half of this film is real good but it just went downhill from the necro scene beyond, in my view.

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Yeah, I understand where it's upsetting to watch that stuff. It's also hard because it's not really hinted at before it comes up, so it does shock (although, by that point in the film, I was sure that the other models and Ruby were up to pretty awful things, so it wasn't completely out of nowhere for me - but it was close to out of nowhere).

As to the cannibalism, I didn't think that was going to happen, but it is foreshadowed with the lipstick scene, and I thought the film did a good job of seeding the uncanny early on so that it wasn't that startling to me later. Still grotesque and horrifying, but not brought in in a way that made me think it was random.

I've also been familiar with the Elizabeth Bathory stories and legends for some time now, so that imagery was ready-to-hand for me.

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Such a stretch that I struggled to get through the movie. She’s okay-level pretty. I wouldn’t even call her beautiful. It was so weird to me that they’d screw up their film by miscasting that role so.. severely? They either needed to cast one of her rivals, who actually ARE that beautiful, or they should have found an unknown and used the role to introduce her to the industry.

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I didn't find her that distracting, but I thought she brought a lot to the role in terms of performance.

They couldn't have used her rivals because there's a big point in the Neon Demon made about her natural beauty against the more plastic/artificial beauties around her. The actors playing the rivals were hot - no question - but didn't give off a natural vibe.

Maybe Emma Stone?

But, again, I think no matter who was cast there would always be this thread. Some people would go, "Yeah, that's one hot chick," and other people would go, "Really? Her? I don't see it," because we all have different looks that we think are the apex of feminine beauty, so it really is a fairly impossible role to cast.

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Agreed! That was the worst part of the movie for me. I can suspend disbelief but buying into the idea that this fugly chick with a jacked up nose is the next hottest model was too much to ask.

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🙃

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