Sunday 15 May 2016


Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet has been restored and re-released ... and when I went the other day it was like being transported back to being 13, when Leonard Whiting was my favourite Jackie magazine pin-up. (I googled him when I got home. Oh dear, he didn't age well. Don't do it, ladies. Preserve your memories.)
It does seem a little dated now, but it's still lovely - and wasn't Olivia Hussey simply beautiful! I remember feeling so swept away by the star-crossed lovers ...
This time I remembered with a pang that I'd seen it first time round with my mum, who was considerably younger than I am now - and that 40-odd years have flown by so fast.
To think that I'm middle-aged enough to be shocked that a 15-year-old was ever interviewed on a chat show dragging on a cigarette.

5 comments:

LuLu Anna said...

Oh my goodness, I so loved that film- I saw it at school, and I was transfixed, I can still conjure up the theme music. I adored Mercutio, but the 'what light in yonder window breaks?' scene stirred my teenage soul with all sorts of romantic nonsense I have never quite outgrown. Loved the pictures from the Astrup exhibition I am kicking myself I missed it.

mary said...

Oh, that balcony scene was lovely, LuLu Anna. It's only now I realise how very young they both were, back then they seemed quite grown-up. Sorry you missed Astrup. I've been meaning to go for weeks and left it to the last minute.

mary said...

It has always been my favourite Romeo and Juliet, Sue - I suppose because I was exactly the right age. I was quite besotted with Leonard! Despite him being called Leonard!

Mary said...

I saw the movie on a date when I was 17. Unfortunately, what I remember most is that I was wearing a brand new, pale apricot mini dress whose side seams decided to undo midway through the movie (it wasn't tight, just poorly sewn). There I was, walking out after the movie, crying my eyes out and yet trying to keep my arms flattened to my sides so as not to reveal what I did not want to reveal. Fortunately, my date was a lovely guy who threw his jacket over my shoulders when I finally admitted what was going on. A charming memory. And now that song is playing in my head....

mary said...

The music was lovely, Mary. Though it has been going round in my head for days!