The Monthly Rickmanista

"Vere, Dementer, Graviter"

The November Issue

Just when I was tiring of waiting for news about upcoming films, Kevin Smith came to the rescue and placed the above ad for Dogma in the Sunday paper. Of course, the Rickman fan will heartily agree with "Alan Rickman, The Voice", so here is the ad after a little editing:

This Month’s Contents

The results to the Insufferable Literary Quiz
The This Month’s Book Review
This Month’s Letters To The Editor
This Month’s Link

The Answers to last month's Insufferable Literary Quiz

Photo courtesy of Nancy E., by way of Georgianna, with my thanks!

Chris, Renie, Mary Anne, Suzanne and Georgiana, all had the correct answers!

1."Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace
To look through and behind this mask of me"
Elizabeth Barret Browning Sonnets From The Portuguese, quoted by The Interrogator in Closet Land

2. "For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought"
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene: Book V, quoted by Col. Brandon in Sense And Sensibility

3. "All the world is a stage,
And all the men and women merely players"
William Shakespeare, As You Like It, where Mr. Rickman played Jaques on stage.

4. "Everything seems to increase my raptures; the air I breathe is filled with voluptuousness; the very table upon which I write to you, which for the first time is devoted to that use, becomes for me the sacred altar of love . . ."
Choderlos de Laclos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, where Mr. Rickman played the Vicomte de Valmont. It’s probably unfair to have this quote since I never saw the play. However, it strains the imagination to think the playwright could have improved on these specific lines.
Special mention to Georgiana for realizing that this is the scene captured in the above photo (too good a photo to use only in one issue of The Monthly Rickmanista!).

5. ". . . mis pies querran marchar hacia donde tu duermes. . . "
Pablo Neruda, La Muerta, which Jamie quotes in Truly, Madly Deeply

6. "Not Ceasar’s valour hath o’erthrown Antony
But Antony hath triumphed on itself"
William Shakespeare, Antony And Cleopatra, where Mr. Rickman played Antony on stage last year.

7. "To be loved to madness: such was her great desire"
Thomas Hardy, The Return Of The Native, unabridged audio tape read by Mr. Rickman.

8. "Don’t be frightened if you swoon away. Don’t resist it. Let it caress you . . . whisper to you . . . murmur to you, as the force in my comes flowing into your fflesssh . . . your nerves . . .your bones . . .
Mesmer, script by Dennis Potter, where Mr. Rickman played the title role. Mesmer will continue playing in The Romance Channel in November.

This Month’s Book Review

The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P., a novel
by Brian O’Doherty
1992, Pantheon Books
ISBN 0-679-41208-5

This is a fascinating book: it tells the story of Marie Therese Paradie’s cure in a much different manner than the film Mesmer. The author uses three points of view: Mesmer’s, Marie Therese’s, and her father’s. Additionally, Mr. O’Doherty uses a translation of the 1779 treatise, Memoire sure la decouverte du magnetisme animal*, written by the real-life Dr. Mesmer.

Nowadays we are used to hearing about the power of positive thinking, psychology, psychiatry, holistic approaches to medicine, and the concept of chi. Mesmer’s work, as presented in the novel, used all of these (or course, not calling them by the names we use nowadays), with variable results, with the intention to transcend mere illness

"My work has carried forward a vision of the world in which all living things are in harmony, in which good is the absence of evil as health is the absence of sickness . . . I offered not just cures and remedies but a vision of our better nature" (pp. 190-191)

The novel is much more coherent than the film, and also has a beginning, a middle and a conclusion which I felt the film lacked. You will find significant differences between Mr. O’Doherty’s novel and the film script by Dennis Potter:

Mesmer had a good marriage: His wife was supportive of him, and helped care for his patients.
Mesmer was not thrown out of town when he left Vienna for Paris, and went directly to Paris – possibly invited by the French court.
Sexual overtones in the relationship between Mesmer and Marie Therese are greatly diminished.
Marie Therese’s mother, an unstable and abusive woman, had a crucial part in the development of the disease, since she battered her daughter. While the family was clearly dysfunctional, here is no direct indication that MT was sexually abused.
Mesmer’s theories are better woven into the fabric of the narrative, and therefore do not appear as eccentric as in the film.
Mesmer was not allowed to be present at the Commission’s hearings that debated the validity of his methods.

As a side note, Mr. O’Doherty mentions by title at least one of the musical works of the real-life Marie Therese, and the development of her career. All these differences aside, the novel flows easily, and tells the story of one of the medical mysteries of the ages. I highly recommend it.

This book was a birthday gift from a dear friend
*Please note I could not get foreign-language punctuation to "take" on Tripod.com

This Month’s Letters To The Editor

Dear Fausta
What does "Vere, dementer, graviter" mean?
B Dear B,
Acording to my friend who claims to know Latin, she thinks it means "Truly, Madly, Deeply". However, if any of you know any better, please let me know.

Dear Fausta,
In what films does Mr. Rickman do a full "kit-off"?
Thank you,
A

Dear A,
In Busted years ago, Mr. Rickman appeared in his jockey shorts (a.k.a. as "y-fronts"). Recently I’ve been told he went skinny-dipping in Dark Harbor, but since we are still waiting for the general release of that film, we’ll have to wait. Otherwise, Mr. Rickman has assiduously kept all or most of his garments on.

This Month’s Link

Thespian Net Presents Alan Rickman