IWTVL S3 Ep2 Musings - Auvergne (Pt2: AMC's damage control, andres_cubillan_soto)
Respectfully, sir? This is still inadequate visually storytelling.
"The staff slowly dwindling"
Trust me--no one's paying attention to the staff. It would've been more apparent if they had a team of liveried butlers & maids in Stage 1 (eg: one attendant behind each chair); then by the end there's far less (only one behind the Marquis/Augustine, or just one by the door or tucked into a corner).
"The place settings kept getting smaller and simpler, the food less opulent and plentiful"
NGL I can't tell the platter sizes, and IDK about "opulent", but I HARD disagree about the "plentiful"--there's even MORE food on the table as the family keeps growing. The peasants literally SAY SO, begging the Marquis to share their "bounty" because they have so much food.
"The family having to sell off their precious items to help pay for their undeserved lifestyle."
WHERE? 🤨 That's literally my biggest issue with the set design; the fact that we see the exact same valuables still in that house when Lestat's 12yo that are there when he's 34yo, which makes no sense, considering not just their impoverishment but also the realities of the Revolution itself, as families hid their valuables so the starving peasant mobs wouldn't loot them.
That was LITERALLY the dead giveaway that Lioncest would kill their relatives, cuz the decor was exactly the same decades later! 🤦♂️
We see that same sideboard & bust over & over & over & over--at the very least, y'all could've filmed scenes from different angles, so it wasn't readily apparent that the same set was used, and that none of the props were being shifted or changed around.
The attention to detail at Rue Royale was so dang good, that we could easily see the differences over time, and the ruinous state of the Unholy Family at al a glance--from the 1910s (new/honeymoon era) to the 1920s (Louis' Great Depression & hoarding) to the 1930s (post-Ep5 Fight & all the structural damage). NONE of that is on the chateau.
But fine, I'll play devil's advocate, and give each of CdL's 4 Stages a fair shake, to really see what's what and when--what's missing/changed over the years (✅) and what's hasn't changed (❌). Granted, there's only so many angles certain scenes were filmed in, so I can't see 360 panoramas of every nook & corner. I'm just giving y'all what I DO see.
Stage 1: 1772 (bb!Lestat)
Candelabras/chandeliers: all wax candles are present (no cobwebs)
Weapons/heirlooms: all weapons are on the walls
Walls (wood paneling): some discoloration & peeling
Walls (fabric wallpaper): intact (no tears, discoloration, mold/rot)
Doors: (intact, no discoloration, chips, peeling, damage)
Food: plentiful (meat, fruit, cheese, wine, etc)
Floors: (no dust, debris, detritus, fecal matter, spoiled food, etc)
Fireplace: lit (firewood is being chopped)
Decor: marble busts, oil paintings, tapestries
Stage 2: ~1776 (~16yo Ex-Actor)
❌ Candelabras/chandeliers: all wax candles are present (no cobwebs)
❌ Weapons/heirlooms: all weapons are on the walls
✅ Walls (wood paneling): some discoloration & peeling, patina
❌ Walls (fabric wallpaper): intact (no tears, discoloration, mold/rot)
❌ Doors: (intact, no discoloration, chips, peeling, damage)
❌ Furniture: the same chairs
❌ Food: plentiful (meat, fruit, cheese, wine, etc)
❌ Floors: (no dust, debris, detritus, fecal matter, spoiled food, etc)
✅ Fireplace: lit (firewood is being chopped)
❌ Decor: marble busts, oil paintings, tapestries
The fireplace isn't lit, and there's a greasy patina & damage on the wood paneling behind the Marquis' chair..
Stage 3: 1790 (30yo Wolfkiller)
❌ Candelabras/chandeliers: all wax candles are present (no cobwebs)
❌ Weapons/heirlooms: all weapons are on the walls
✅ Walls (wood paneling): some discoloration & peeling, patina
❌ Walls (fabric wallpaper): intact (no tears, discoloration, mold/rot)
❌ Doors: (intact, no discoloration, chips, peeling, damage)
❌ Furniture: the same chairs
❌ Food: plentiful (meat, fruit, cheese, wine, etc)
❌ Floor: (no dust, debris, detritus, fecal matter, spoiled food, etc)
Fireplace: lit (firewood is being chopped)
❌ Decor: marble busts, oil paintings, tapestries
This scene was harder, since there's a ton of people in the room standing around blocking the view; and a LOT of close-ups where you don't see much behind/around the actors. There's no angle of the fireplace. But everything's the same. The greasy patina & damage on the wood paneling behind the Marquis' chair is worse now, yes. 💯
The food is the most ludicrous part though.
In the middle of a "famine," there's MORE food, wine, etc. Granted, the wine glasses ARE different, I'll give you that much--there's no gold rims. But the Ming-imitation chinaware is the same, so...?
Gabrielle literally calls them all fat with "awning" muffin-tops. Big blocks of fresh cheese, green grapes, fresh bread--Gregoire is literally swinging a giant juicy hank of meat around as he talks with grease over his mouth, right in front of the ACTUALLY starving peasants scared about wolves eating the last of their sheep & snatching their babies to eat, ffs.
Yes, the tables's messy, with food chunks everywhere cuz the men in this family are PIGS, but that doesn't register as POVERTY--that's just them being CLASSLESS boors. 🤷♂️
Stage 4: 1794 (34yo vampire!Lestat / Lioncest Massacre)
❌ Candelabras/chandeliers: all wax candles are present (no cobwebs)
❌ Weapons/heirlooms: all weapons are on the walls
✅ Walls (wood paneling): some discoloration & peeling, patina
❌ Walls (fabric wallpaper): intact (no tears, discoloration, mold/rot)
❌ Doors: (intact, no discoloration, chips, peeling, damage)
❌ Furniture: the same chairs
✅ Food: plentiful (meat, fruit, cheese, wine, etc)
❌ Floor: (no dust, debris, detritus, fecal matter, spoiled food, etc)
✅ Fireplace: lit (firewood is being chopped)
❌ Decor: marble busts, oil paintings, tapestries
The ONLY time period where we see the visual narrative storytelling of actual decline represented by the chateau's physical state is in the Lioncourt Massacre. There's far less food, absolutely. 💯 And that's the main extent of it. There shouldn't be ANY busts, tapestries, paintings, or frivolous decor. They should be stripped BARE. Even the weapons are still on the walls (you can barely see them but they're there). This says a great deal more than them not having as much food. 🙄
"With each era the room got darker,"
The only reason the scene is "darker" is cuz it's literally a NIGHT scene--the rest were during the day. The candles should be burnt to a NUB, showing how hard it is to even afford to buy/make wax or even tallow.
Andres Cubillan Soto, please don't gaslight us when we can all see with our own eyes what's on the dang screen.
