#vertvivre

“all my grief says the same thing:

this isn't how it's supposed to be.

this isn't how it's supposed to be.

and the world laughs.

holds my hope by the throat.

says:

but this is how it is”

- Fortesa Latifi

gifs by @bridgertonland

The directors, technical crew and camera operators etc did a fantastic job with the scene blocking and cinematography in season two. You can feel how intentional some of the decisions were in depicting intimacy and scale in the Kate x Anthony scenes especially.

I love this shot so much because it’s so blissful. It’s a small private moment and it is shot that way. The blurred items in the foreground and unsteady the handheld close-up makes it personal. Anthony is alone basking in his happiness, he is grateful and a little smug he’s married to Kate. He is in love with his wife and carefree, the viewer is looking in as he reminisces on moment he thought was impossible. It an intrusive shot the blurred items in the foreground and unsteady the handheld close-up convey this.

Here we have a wider close-up of Kate and Anthony. Like the shot I talked about above this is a private enclosed space. Kate is hiding in the palace storeroom and Anthony joins her, it’s sad and tense but we see an incredible amount of vulnerability. They aren’t meant to be alone, like so many of their relationships pivotal moments they are close together and alone in a place they shouldn’t be. The shot is kinetic, we have the cluttered items in the left foreground and the cameras movement is a little unsteady, it’s almost voyeuristic.

This scene is up there as a personal series favourite. The shot is so striking for several reasons, the lightning makes her radiant and the slow motion ups atmospheric nature of the scene. We have a fixed close-up of Kate being beautiful and happy in the company of Lord Dorset, the water rippling behind her also adds to the surrealism of the moment. We see Kate from Anthony’s perspective she looks ethereal he is so enthralled that time slows down. Anthony is watching her despite being in the presence of the season’s diamond and his mother, he’s so mesmerised the conversation they are having fades away. Despite being incredibly jealous and devastatingly horny in this scene, it’s obvious he is also extremely captivated by her and maybe already half in love with her.

In this shot from Anthony’s vision mid-wedding we have an extreme close-up of Kate as Anthony’s bride. Backlighting illuminates her making Kate look angelic, the camera then tracks as his POV settles on her face. We are seeing through Anthony’s eyes, the viewer is immersed inside his fantasy. Once again we see her as Anthony does, beautiful and smiling, her eyes are full of love and lock right on to him. The background is blurry and the chapel is empty, there is no need for spectators when, duty and familial expectations are not in play. She is the only one there because she is the only one that matters.

These fixed close-up of their hands are so inspired and profound. I don’t need to go into the detail about the power of these Austen-esque moments, it’s regency excellence. Anthony’s signet ring is prominent in these scenes I’ve spoken it’s importance you can click to read. The yearning, sensuality and magnetic chemistry shown just from the interaction of their hands is beautiful, the gifs speak for themselves.

Now the orbital shots, here we have an orbital kiss it is beautiful and a tried and tested romantic trope for good reason. A whirlwind moment perfectly engineered to make viewers swoon. It is a sweeping and cinematic shot with high-low angles, mid to close-up shots, Kate’s hands in Anthony’s hair and the poignant setting of the chapel displayed. It delivers the dramatic high needed of the first kiss after that frustrating six episode build up.

The orbital dance at the Featherington ball. This is a scene for the hopeless romantics and fairytale lovers. It is so emotional Simone and Jonny were delivering career best performances here. After everything they have been through, they choose to be together in this moment. At this point we have no declaration of love, a failed proposal and ship cabin booked for Kate’s return to India. YET they dance together in the presence of Ton, their families and the Queen. Everyone is watching but they can’t stay away, it’s a rare kind of magmatism they share even in a bittersweet moment. In a room full of people they manage to create incredible intimacy, gazing at each other and circling like a star system they are alone here the world has fallen away.

Finally we close out with the orbital hug, it is kinetic and triumphant. Still firmly in the honeymoon phase six months on we get our prologue scene the coveted happily ever after and it doesn’t feel cliché. They surrounded by their loved ones competitive as always but blissed out after doing the impossible, Anthony has married for love and Kate has married at all. They are shamelessly affectionate and have earned the right to be. Kate is loved and held her husband’s arms and Anthony is loving on and sniffling his wife in front of his family because he can.

gifs via @bridgertonland, thank you ☺️

covid brain fog is still kicking my ass but I’ve been thinking about one of the sadder aspects of Kate’s missing backstory and flashbacks. Anthony over the two seasons is now relatively well rounded, his behaviour in season 1 and most of season 2 is explained by his past, we see this visually through the season 2 the flashbacks. Kate however didn’t get that, Anthony has a tonne of parallels with his past self, his parents and with Kate. We see and know so little about Kate Sharma in the show that she only has parallels with Anthony and I don’t like that. There is a lack of agency for her character as a woman and when you consider she is a South Asian woman being presented only through her devotion to her family and relationship with a man, it’s looks bad.

A really simple scene that could have prevented this is seeing Kate learn to ride or riding with her father on the grounds of the royal family he clerked for. Seeing her ride during rough weather like monsoon rains would have been so good and paralleled so well with many aspects of season 2. Firstly we would have seen her with her father, who she I assume was very close with due to losing her mother so young. Like Anthony she has that pain of losing a father, she is also an orphan but the loss of a father was more thematic for this season *gestures to Anthony and Edmund*. We see it mentioned when Anthony first mets her that she is riding astride, yes he makes the quip about if she’s single but there’s more there. I imagine in India titled or not being close with the royal family meant she had a lot of freedom and relative privilege and could ride carefree on their lands. Riding astride is something she holds onto from her past in India it’s how we are introduced to her character, it relates to her father, culture and freedom his position granted her in India. When she comes to England she knows the riding etiquette for women and is being rebellious by riding astride anyways.

bridgerton fits under the fantasy genre imo, it’s not just regency, romance or historical fiction. The original books having all white characters and the show adaptation having a ‘diverse’ cast really muddles things. I was talking to my friend about this and having poc in these roles and including real historical figures like Queen Charlotte set the show up to fail it’s poc cast. I wish CVD had left queen Charlotte’s potential distance moor ancestry as inspiration only, a fictional queen Colette or Caroline could have avoided some awkwardness. Is it an alternate timeline? Is it historical fantasy? Is it both? Most people think of fantasy as dragons and magic á la Game of Thrones but as a Black woman since watching season one I’ve always considered it fantasy the show is certainly fantastical! A Black British queen, poc aristocrats *gasps*! Is this a failure of imagination on my part? Maybe? I watched and loved Still Star Crossed and didn’t struggle to suspend my belief despite the makeup of that cast poc nobleman and all.

edit for day two of Kate and Anthony week