Word: annabell
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This time there is only one person in the culdesac, a newly successful English movie star named Annabel Chris topher. Though neither pretty ("a peaky face and mousey hair") nor clever ("a deep core of stupidity that thrives on the absence of a looking-glass"), she projects well-bred sexiness on the screen. In the hands of Luigi Leopardi, a chimerical Roman director, she becomes "the English Lady-Tiger." The public image is painstakingly built up by the movie company, and inevitably it begins to seep into Annabel's psyche. Her husband Frederick, an intelligent, surly...
There are elements of a thriller in all Spark's fiction, and The Public Image is no exception. The mystery here lies in the recesses of Annabel's personality. "She had never been given to problems" and is slow to recognize catastrophe when it comes calling. But Billy and Luigi succeed in leaving the truth at her door. "We have some Vatican money in this movie, confidentially," purrs Annabel's practical Pygmalion. "The reaction to those letters would finish your movie career...
...While Annabel decides how to deal with her career and with Billy, the author toys with her conscience like a sadistic cat. Spark's portrayal of human venality is ruthless. First, Annabel calls a press conference-where she is surrounded by weeping neighbors-to deny that her husband intended suicide in the first place. Like a small child, she tries out little lies and daydreams, but she reassures no one but herself that the truth can be contained. The author observes it all, and from the crudest angle...
...18th century town house, small, plush and, since it opened in 1962, almost incredibly exclusive (the membership fee of $84 a year is a trifle compared with the need for the "proper credentials"). Time: a weekday night. After a late, after-the-theater supper with friends at Annabel's, London's leading discothèque (which happens to be right downstairs), the handsome son of a peer breezes up for "a spot of chemmy." Chairs are found for his group to watch; drinks are passed. In three hours, playing with flair, he wins $210,000. Satisfied...
...three reigning discothèques are close to Piccadilly; beside Dolly's and its rival The Scotch, Annabel's seems daintily restrained, but for that reason may be the most elegant of all; it has a series of wine-cellar rooms and a softly tuned stereo that alternates Sinatra and Ella with the native Animals and Stones. At these and dozens of other discothèques, beautiful gals with long blonde hair and slimly handsome men go gracefully through their explosive, hedonistic, totally individual dances, surrounded by mirrors so that they can see what a good time they...