Ok, so I *do* want to make a gifset of a Golden Age of Hollywood version of Dangerous Liaisons. I've already decided I'm going to have Marlene Dietrich as de Merteuil, Connie as Valmont and Bonita Granville as Cecile, but I am having trouble casting Madame de Tourvel.
The main problem lies in the fragility of the character (even if she is morally strong and such a good person through and through), because so many OH leading ladies were such tough HBICes. The thing with Tourvel is that she should be played by a really skilled actress who can suffer beautifully, suffer and weep in a way that rings profoundly true. But there are so few famous actresses of that era who would be able to convince me of that--so many of them had such a huge core of strength and such a backbone that I wouldn't be able to believe them basically dying of heartbreak. (For instance, when I think of quality OH crying/suffering, I think of Bette, but she is so damn strong on the inside that it always creates a cognitive dissonance in me to see her being victimised, because she was stronger than that. I can imagine her dusting herself off and walking away, whereas de Tourvel just collapses and withers away. Same problem with someone like Viv--she can suffer beautifully but she's way too strong and reserved, IMHO.)
And then I think of the more fragile ladies but they're somehow too girl-like and/or haven't really got that kind of acting skill (or at least never got to show anything in that kind of range on the screen). So often it’s either just epic HBICes or girls who were good at being pretty and fairly ‘normal’ and that was enough. (I love many actresses like that, so I’m not intending that as a slur--glamour doesn’t grow on trees.) But it makes it damn difficult to find someone who is strong in her way, *but* whom you could also see collapsing because of a broken heart.
So, what the hell. I'm just going to throw it out there and ask if you guys have any suggestions. Who do you think (of the actresses around in the 30s and 40s) would be able to pull it off?