Word: childe
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Elle Fanning, the star of Phoebe in Wonderland, turns 11 this April. She made her debut at two, playing a younger version of her sister Dakota's character in I Am Sam, and already has 27 movie and television credits. To be so experienced as a child actor can translate on screen to a preternatural poise that, while admirably skilled, tends to creep out us mere mortals. But in her first real starring role as a troubled, Alice in Wonderland-obsessed 9-year-old, Fanning gives the kind of heartbreaking performance that makes you want to yank...
...Phoebe is presented as a nonconformist, who balks at some of her school's rules. Since these rules seem to be nonsensical, we're on her side. Even when she spits at another child during recess, it's almost justifiable, because we've seen her being picked on. So when one of her teachers tells her mother Hillary (Felicity Huffman) and father, Peter (Bill Pullman), "Something's going on with Phoebe," we're initially as dubious as they are. It soon becomes apparent, though, that Phoebe is not a spirited child being oppressed, but either mentally ill or suffering from...
...certainly witty, hallucinatory and supple enough to still be fueling plays, movies, musicals and yes, academic works (though Hillary's dissertation sounds as if it were written by Camille Paglia 30 years ago). But here the homage, meant to intrigue, keeps interfering with the compelling, modern story about a child who needs help but isn't getting it. Barnz's intent isn't always clear. For instance, are all the adults in the movie meant to be as unhinged, baffling incomprehensible and irritating as the guests at the Mad Hatter's tea party? That's how Clarkson and Campbell Scott...
...Huffman is mostly mired in the silly slapstick of parenthood, but in Phoebe she really gets to dig into the painful dichotomy of a stay-at-home mother who longs to have professional success. Like the smug academic dad in The Squid and the Whale, Hillary believes that her child is different from other kids in a good way, an offshoot of Hillary's own genius, which has been unfairly suppressed by domestic horrors like cooking dinner. In actuality, she seems to treat motherhood as a part time job. But as grating as the arrogant, insecure Hillary...
...look at her? It's almost as though throughout the book, you view her, though she's an ancestor, as your child? Oh, exactly. She's an acquaintance, a good friend. I think one does develop an affinity to discoveries that one makes. She's so incredibly important in terms of our lives. How do I think of her? It's a very interesting question because if I had the ability to travel back in time, with only one choice of a place to go, my answer is quite simple. I'd want to be standing on the hill overlooking...