The Hunchblog of Notre Dame

30Aug 2016

The Parents of Quasimodo d’El Paris; The Governor and his Wife

by jess

So just a quick question, if El Paris is run by a governor does that make El Paris a state or is just the capital? Or is it governor in the British sense where is he head of a public institution?

Didier Flamand as The Governor and Axelle Abbadie as The Governor’s wife

Anyway the unnamed The Governor and his Wife are both the parents of Quasimodo and Agnes/Esmeralda. Biologically they are the parents of Quasimodo but traded him for pretty blonde Esmeralda and renamed her Agnes.

To put it mildly, they are terrible parents and terrible people. The movie makes it seem that The Governor is just dumb, like on the level with Phoebus and his Wife is the horrible one. The wife, and I hate that is what I have to call her, she is the one that wants to get rid of her own child because of the deformities caused by her husband. Yeah, the parents created Quasimodo’s maladies. The Governor dropped Quasimodo on his face as an infant and threw against a wall as child. These were not done of purpose, they result of Clopin’s curse, the drop was an accident and the throwing was for protection The Governor just aimed badly. The Governor however did make the deformity occur and his wife being the awful shallow person got rid of him.

Despite his lack of smarts, The Governor does seem to care for Quasimodo, informing Clopin of Quasimodo’s strict diet where he only eats meat but prefer fat. The Wife is vain and she doesn’t get on well with either Agnes or Quaismodo and in the end she is punished for her lack of feelings and die shy Frollo’s hand because he is insane.

In the scheme of being a Hunchback of Notre Dame adaptation these characters are new aspect. Aside from Gudule, who is present in the movie and Frollo’s role as Quasimodo’s guardian there are no parents in the story, aside from Fleur de Lys’ mother. Quasimodo’s parents are not mention in the book and present in the Disney version but all we really know is that he was abandoned and swapped with Esmeralda. To date this is the only movie version to handle this detail. It is unknown if Quasimodo was abandon by French parents and found by the Gypsies or if he was actually a Gypsy. This version imagines Quasimodo’s birth parents albeit in a simple cruel manner. There is nothing deep to them and their motivation for getting rid of him was that he was unlucky and ugly two aspects that they inflicted on the child.

It is refreshing to see a version of Quasimodo’s parents but they are so very, very unlikable and not even in a very fun way. I did like the way the Wife said that Esmeralda’s name was Agnes.

23Aug 2016

Gringoire of Quasimodo dâ€™El Paris; He’s a Ninny

by jess

Patrick BraoudÃ© as Pierre-GrÃ©goire

One question we need to REALLY ask with regards to ANY Hunchback adaptation is “Are certain characters really necessary to over-all version of the story that the movie is TRYING to tell?” With Quasimodo d’El Paris the main focus is making the movie a modern comedy while still trying to be accurate. This means the movie NEEDED Gringoire as he is both in the original story and one of the lighter characters but does the movie do much with him? Nope.

Gringoire starts the movie as the ignored entrainment at Agnes’ birthday party. He then get’s drunk and him and Agnes wonder around and run into the Cuban. The Court of Miracle scene occurs and they are married and that is pretty much it for Gringoire. He kind lurks around Clopin after that and acts the coward and a bit of a dummy.

He is not fully a side character or used for decent comedy, every one is being silly in some way so what different if he says cowardly/goofy/weird things once in a while. Esmeralda could have let him die and it wouldn’t have changed much in the narrative. So was he necessary for this version? Not Really but I wished he had done more, I feel like their was wasted potential because point for point when he was doing more in the movie he was a decent version of the character just super underutilized in the 2nd and 3rd acts.

16Aug 2016

Clopin Trouillefou of Quasimodo d’El Paris; Malediction

by jess

Dominique Pinon as Clopin Trouillefou,

Let’s just get this out of the way, Clopin says malediction instead of Frollo, can no version ever get it right? I kid.

Clopin in this version, like in other versions, is the leader of the Court of Miracles and the leader of the outcasts, in this case the Cubans. He doesn’t do all that much but he is a big catalyst for the story. He is one who “curses” Quasimodo and made him ugly AND he is the one who arranges the swap of Esmeralda and Quasimodo for their terrible parents. Otherwise he doesn’t do that much. He wanted to attack the cathedral to save Esmeralda but thought better of it because Quasimodo was both very strong and was acting a lot of impulse but throwing stuff of the cathedral fairly unprovoked.

That being said, Clopin is shown to be smarter than all the characters and saner, though that doesn’t take much in this movie. All in all, he is likable, I just wish he got to do more.

11Aug 2016

Hypothetical Casting for Fleur de Lys; Sarah Bolger

by jess

Sarah Bolger

I love getting suggestions for these Hypothetical Casting posts especially for the minor characters. This one comes from Amanda as seen on my post for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Phoebus. This one is for Sarah Bolger as Fleur de Lys.

Sarah Bolger as Mary Tudor, The Tudors

Bolger is an Irish actress who most known for her roles as Mary Tudor on The Tudors and Aurora on Once Upon a Time. Of these two shows, I have seen one and clips of the other. The one I have seen was The Tudors and though I could be wrong, I think her role as Mary Tudor speaks more to her capacity to play Fleur de Lys. Mary much like Fleur de Lys is under appreciated and has a cruel side, though Fleur de Lys is on a smaller scale than Mary Tudor. When I was watching The Tudors I recalled that I wonderd how Mary could go from a seemingly nice person to someone who wanted to burn people. In any case Bolger has the acting skill to pull of a sympathetic yet menacing Fleur de Lys.

Sarah Bolger as Aurora, Once Upon a Time

Now for looks, Bolger doesn’t have that standard trait that is associate with Fleur de Lys, she isn’t blonde, GASP. Hair color is not a deciding factors for an actor after all there are wigs and hair dye. Besides the point there is no working rule that Fleur de Lys needs to be a blonde, it’s just a nice visual foil to Esmeralda, but since there have been blonde or near Blonde Esmerlada who to say what hair-color Fleur should. Beside Bolger has played a formerly blonde character turn Auburn with Aurora. Aside from the ever huge issue that is hair color, Bolger has a very good look for Fleur de Lys as Amanda said in the comments “she is very pretty and have this manipulative-cute look.” I really don’t think I could have said that better.

Sarah Bolger

But what do you think? Would Sarah Bolger make a good Fleur de Lys? Also would people be interested in posts on Once Upon a Time episodes? I have thought about it in the past.

09Aug 2016

Phoebus of Quasimodo dâ€™El Paris; A self-proclaimed Chameleon

by jess

Vincent Elbaz as Phoebus

If I can be real here for a second, there isn’t a lot to say about Phoebus, which is interesting in a sense. I say it’s interesting because is that character who is in a sense a chameleon, he can be whatever the movie needs him to be, hero, villain, minion extra. I would in the scope of this movie Phoebus is more of the minion but not to the bad guys, he’s just a cop which does make him a straignt by-the-book version of Phoebus. Th sonly thing that makes him a little different is he is a moron.

Vincent Elbaz as Phoebus, Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda & Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo

Now Phoebus wasn’t smart in the book but this Phoebus is a totally dumb-ass. For example he thinks cemetery is the serial-killer’s handiwork. He also can’t recognize Agnes as Esmeralda. It’s not even a Clark Kent type of thing, she isn’t hiding it she simply acting happier with her hair down and a new dress. Even when he subdues Quasimodo from kidnapping Esmeralda, he takes a very dumb route of throwing everything off hi person, i.e. his shirt. It’s a good thing Quasimodo was kind of dumb too or else we wouldn’t have got the “pillory” scene that leads into Phoebus’ stabbing later, or a big section of the plot.

Vincent Elbaz as Phoebus

Phoebus does make an interesting point which is a bit akin to the book. He says he is a chameleon, in that he acts like a slob when around slobs and a snob when he around rich people. That is true to Phoebus in the book and also, he prefers the slobs which could also be why he prefers Esmeralda to Agnes even though they are the same person in this case.

Phoebus also dies in this movie but no from his stabbing. Frollo pushes him off the church. Making it the first time this happens to a Phoebus. All in all this Phoebus is only interesting in his stupidity though it’s funny when he jokingly says he is shy and a prude, he is not.

03Aug 2016

Hunchback in Ogunquit

by jess

Hunchback of Notre Dame at Ogunquit Playhouse

If you follow TheHunchblog on Facebook then you might know that last week on July 28th I went to see Ogunquit Playhouse’s production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I do feel very lucky that I got to see it although I do live relatively close to Ogunquit Maine.

Ad of the Ogunquit’s production of Hunchback of Notre Dame

First off, in center area of Ogunquit, which is a nice beach town, promotions for the play were everywhere, which is common. Above is the one I took a picture of as it was the closest to the car near where I ate lunch but there were tons, I wish I could have taken more picture. Also I went to a matinee show so there were a lot of older people but there were children sitting behind me. The show was nearly sold out but there were a empty sits most noticeably next to me.

Also they had two signature cocktails, The Quasimodo and the Esmeralda. I tried both and as I’m a super light-weight when it comes to drinking I felt those drinks later, no worries though I wasn’t the driver. Alway I did end preferring the Quasimodo to the Esmeralda. Oddly the Quasimodo was green and I don’t really recall what was in aside from pineapple juice and the Esmeralda was blue with a peach vodka and lemonade, it had a spicier taste. Also they give you the glasses a souvenir so that is cool.

One more thing. as I was leaving I did see a few of the actors mostly the extra but I did see the guy who played Clopin, Paolo Montalban, leaving and walking off down the street. I didn’t say anything because I’m criminally shy and I don’t really like to bother people. So the show itself?

My Ticket and program,

So what did I think? Al lot of the nitpicks I had about the show were the same ones I had to Papermills/La Jolla version as this version isn’t much different. That being said, I am a touch more forgiving as musical plays are meant to be seen live and not in a tiny frame size on a computer. So while I can’t compare the versions in terms of plot and decision related to the plot I can discuss the performer and the production designs.

I will say this, the costumes in the Papermills/La Jolla were a bit better. Esmeraldas’ costume in those version read more like her Disney costumes. That is not to say the Ogunquit costume were bad, they were fine. Esmeralda wore mainly pink, her corset was pink and her skirt looked green but in picture is read more as blue. Her dance costume was more Indian in style. It was pink choli top with a green skirt with a high slit and she wore legging. You can click here for press pictures. Also I didn’t love the fact that Frollo was in white the whole time but that is a nitpick. Though black is Frollo’s color in the book and most version follow suit. I did like Clopin’s costume more in this version though especially his Feast of Fools robe.

Also it bear mentioning that Quasimodo in this version doesn’t not put any make-up on his face to convey the deformity and instead the actor did the work. Not sure how I feel about this since I have been hard in the Papermill and the La Jolla versions on this aspect. But I will say in the moment I didn’t mind it plus the stage sits kinda of level with the sits so I probably couldn’t have seen it otherwise. It’s a mixed feeling though.

Broadwayworld Ogunquit Playhouse Hunchback of Notre Dame

I did like the stage set up more in the version. While the stage is small it really didn’t feel as cluttered as the Papermills/La Jolla versions. I think it’s because they used the sides more and the choir was above most of the action. They also had a smaller congregation group and they seems to have set roles as part of the architecture. I’m not sure if that was the same in the Papermills/La Jolla versions but that might be a perk of seeing it live instead of in a tiny Aspect ratio. They also used a moving platform that was painted like the floor of Notre Dame but in less contrasting colors. While it wasn’t as accurate to the eddfice it was easier on the eyes. The simplifying of the sets made it better for the space and made it easier for the eye to rest.

Not all the stagecraft was better, I did prefer Aphrodisius coming out as a stained glass window in Papermills/La Jolla version but again nitpick. Also the molten lead was handled better in those version as well but this version got rid of the confusion run through the Gallery of kings so it’s a trade-off.

Ogunquit Playhouse Hucnhabck of Notre Dame

The acting and the performances were good across the board. I can’t complain there. I will say that while the Frollo seemed younger than is typical, he did get more angry in Hellfire than Patrick Page did. All in all, I’m very happy I got to see the show and if it’s playing in a theater near you do go see it.

02Aug 2016

Esmeralda of Quasimodo dâ€™El Paris; She can’t Dance

by jess

Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda

I find this version of Esmeralda very interesting. First and foremost they combined her with Fleur de Lys as well as reversing her backstory. Instead of a little French girl named Agnes who grows up with Gypsies and the name Esmeralda, she is instead a Gypsy or in this movie’s case a Cuban born Esmeralda and grew up Agnes as the Governor’s daughter. It’s her roles as the rich people’s daughter and fiancee to Phoebus that gives her her Fleur de Lys duo role. Also it makes Phoebus look spectacularly dumb that he can’t recognize her when she is more free as Esmeralda than as complain-i-pants Agnes.

MÃ©lanie Thierry as Esmeralda/Agnes and Axelle Abbadie as Mme Le Gouverneur, Quasimodo d’el Paris

That being said Esmeralda/Agnes has a duo personality. As Agnes she is treated like a child and as such she prone to complain and be unhappy. As Esmeralda she doesn’t have that constraint so she act freer and a lot more in control. She doesn’t act sexy but her very found identity does make her seem more free-sprited and seems to attract more men to her. She does still complain but does tries to rally the Cubans to fight social injustice and tries to get Quasimodo to return to his parents. She wants to help Quasimodo because she feels guilty that she was swap with him as children, the parents are just terrible.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda

Esmeralda is someways doesn’t come off as a parody but she is in fact probably the smartest character, which compared to her book characterization is a parody since Esmeralda’s naivety and shallowness makes her seem less smart. In this movie she calls Quasimodo out for being in love with her for her looks and says it’s the same as people judging him for being ugly.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda

Also speaking of parody, girl can’t dance. Quasimodo asks her to dance, she obliges and proceeds to dance awkwardly. Quasimodo, unsatisfied says she can’t dance and thought she would dance better. She just laughs it off saying something like “I don’t see why I would dance well.”

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda

This version is also one of the few versions, and the only version that isn’t a cheap cartoon, where Quasimodo and Esmeralda get together at the end. I do think it was REALLY rushed that Esmeralda loves him, could be the version I watched, I don’t know but it’s like Quasimodo saves her from Frollo’s cement tub and BOOM, she knows it’s love. Quasimodo still doesn’t say what her likes about her but she is the one who sees his inner beauty and will have to get used to his hunch, bald patch, and weird pointed teeth.

Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda

I could get mad that another Esmeralda is wearing red but since this movie is comedy/parody, I’m giving it a pass.

26Jul 2016

Frollo of Quasimodo dâ€™El Paris; It’s Party Time

by jess

Richard Berry as Frollo

Frollo in book is a repressed guy who has no experience dealing with women. As a devote man of god and science he value his purity and prides himself as being above the rest. His madness come out of his devotion. This can be said for Frollo in Quasimodo d’El Paris though in this movie Frollo is Bat-shit crazy. He is insane.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo

What he does is murder women and turns there bodies in to gargoyle to adorn the church. He thinks these women are unhappy and this makes them happy. He is not delusional he actually believes this is what his mission is, he even has an impressive and comedically over-the-top murder rig lair. This could be the plot of some dark gritty movie and not a comedic Hunchback movie.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo

However given that this is a comedy Frollo is comedic. He really does embody the weird, and I mean weird comedic tone of the movie which is a cross of understated and over-the-top. You would this those styles don’t go together but oddly they do. I do want to discuss the humor more but three parts that illustrate this duality of humor are Frollo wishing Quasimodo Happy Birthday. He says Party time with a big gesture and a monotone expression, when he preaching the “Lord” message to the prostitutes, and when Quasimodo buries Frollo in the sand with only his head sticking out, actually the whole of the trip to beach should count.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo

Howver the bigger question is how is Frollo at being Frollo. A point in this version of Frollo’s favor is that this is the only version where his and Quasimodo is closer to what it was more like in the book and by that I mean they like each other. So many version Frollo seems to hardly even like Quasimodo. In this version, Frollo likes Quasimodo nearly to obsession. He kisses hims calls him his baby, teaches him, builds up Quasimodo’s deadliness to protect him, busts him out of jail and he is totally ok with Quasimodo killing him. Like it’s nothing at all.

Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda & Richard Berry as Frollo

Speaking of obsession, I do feel like Frollo’s obsession with Esmeralda is more of an after-thought. I mean he is already murdering women, he already has an outlet for his repression of sexual desires. He does seem to like Esmeralda more and even want her to join him in his quest of murdering women. At this point Frollo says verbatium lines from the books. The lines are from ‘the tomb or my bed’ speech he gives her. While I do like it when Frollo gets to say his book lines, they felt rather forced, I don’t believe this Frollo would say these things or even believe those word, they felt out of character. Also another weird out of character mark for Frollo is his name. Yes it’s Frollo but his first name is Serge and not Claude. Why?

Richard Berry as Frollo Quasimodo d’El Paris

There is another aspect of this Frollo that is worth noting, he has a lot of weird phallic imagery associated with him. First of his middle finger. Frollo gives the finger A LOT during this movie. Mostly the finger is a “Fuck you” but in Ancient times is was symbol for intercourse. Frollo is not JUST giving the finger to people, his middle finger is also concealing a blade, another bit of phallic imagery. It does end there however, Frollo also has a pet eel. Other than more phallic imagery I don’t know what this means.

Richard Berry as Frollo

As he stands to book Frollo, this Frollo falls short especially with regard to his all-consuming lust for Esmeralda. It never really felt like it was a super big issue for him. In fact he really goes after Esmeralda because he wants to get Quasimodo out of jail and it was revenge on her parents angle. So the lust really isn’t there as much as it could have been or should have been. In the scope of the movie hover his comedic insanity is fun to watch even though he is a mass murder.

Richard Berry as Frollo

I do have to give Richard Berry props for keeping both his middle finger very straight and up nearly the entire movie.

21Jul 2016

Hypothetical Casting for Gringoire; Freddie Highmore

by jess

Freddie Highmore

Sometimes these Hypothetical Casting posts get away from me. I have a habit of focusing more on the Esmeraldas and the Frollo options that sometimes the minor character don’t get that much attention. That’s why it’s great to be reminded, I want to thank Skylar for the suggestion of Freddie Highmore for Gringoire.

Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates

So let’s talk about Freddie Highmore. From a acting stand point, I’m more familiar with his work as a child actor like in Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However he was decent in both those movies. He seemed to be a better than average child actor. Now that he is grown up so has his acting. I did watch some of The Bates Motel and his acting prowess is in no question. He can act.But that isn’t the question. The Question is, would Highmore make a good Gringoire? That is a hard question because like our old friend Phoebus, Gringoire is another character that can be a hero, a coward, a verbose poet, there in the background, or not there at all. So like Phoebus, actors with a range are more preferable, and yes Highmore does have a range.

Freddie Highmore

Of course the REAL question is does Highmore have the right look for Gringoire? As you may have guess, looking the role isn’t the end all be all, make-up and costumes can work wonders and often looks are ignored. Plus Gringoire’s looks really aren’t that important to his character. So why should it be important? Well gotta have something to go on but Highmore does have a good look for the way Gringoire looks in the book. He is describes as “all, thin, pale, fair, young still, although already wrinkled in the brow and cheeks, with two brilliant eyes and a smiling mouth…” So yeah I think Highmore fits that look really well, a little too well.

Freddie Highmore

Someone cast Freddie Highmore as Gringoire right now! But what do you think? Highmore for Gringoire?

19Jul 2016

Quasimodo of Quasimodo d’El Paris; He likes everything but Pistachios

by jess

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo

We have seen a lot of different characterizations of Quasimodo. Every adaptations changes him to suits their unique needs for their version of the story. He has been morose, sad, naive, a bookworm, a Disney princess and even an emo but Quasimodo d’El gives us a very new take on Quasimodo, unapologetically childish.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo

Quasimodo in this version gets a more fleshed out back story. Like the case of the abysmal Enchanted Tales, which will forever haunt me, he is NOT born deformed. Instead he was born to rich mean people and Clopin cursed him on the day of his baptism. Basically his deformities are rooted in his awful parents dropping him face side down and throwing him agiast a wall. Then they abandon him and switch him with for pretty Esmeralda. Quasimodo is then brought to the cathedral where he is reared by Frollo.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo

The plot of this movie really needs Quasimodo to be childlike and innocent as this makes people care for him on a subconscious level and so he himself is not aware that the “play’ he does with Frollo is actually murder. It’s actually rather clever.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda

However there is a massive trade off. In book, the cathedral was everything to Quasimodo, it was his world till Esmeralda but this version the cathedral is more like a jungle-gym, a plaything. He just has fun playing around it. Also there is no depth to this Quasimodo but to the movie’s credits it knows this fact. The film calls him out for just thinking Esmeralda is pretty and doesn’t know her much like the way he is treated but in reverse.

Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo

So is this version of Quasimodo a bad one? Yes and No. I think for the movie’s plot and concept he works but as a Quasimodo there is no depth or development. He is just very, very childish.

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