Marie et Mere

If you grew up in Indonesia in the mid 1990's (or Japan in the 1970's), chances are you remember "Rose of Versailles", Ryoko Ikeda's serialized books on Oscar de Jarjayes, the fictional personal guard of Marie Antoinette. I recently found out that in 1978 it was adapted into the big screen by Kitty Production (a subsidiary of Toho) with an all-European cast, making it a joint production of Europe and Japan. In the lead role is British actress Catriona MacColl. The movie is called "Lady Oscar", just like the anime that was aired in Indonesia in the '90s.

After "Lady Oscar", MacColl has so far starred in indie productions, some of which are slasher horrors. Her latest appearance is in a 2011 slasher "The Theatre Bizarre", where she plays a character called Mere Antoinette. I've done my research and found no evidence that "Mere Antoinette" was named after Marie Antoinette ("The Theatre Bizarre" is indeed inspired by Grand Guignol in Paris). But whether or not "Mere Antoinette" was named after the French queen, it's noteworthy that MacColl played a character alongside "Marie Antoinette" early in her career.

Omens...

I believe in omens. Six years ago, as I was finishing my English language vocational degree at UI, I was planning to get my bachelor's degree overseas but I had no idea exactly where I was going. Around March 2004, I came across a forum about The Whale Rider. The Whale Rider is a critically-acclaimed New Zealand movie whose leading actress, then 14-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, was nominated for Best Actress in Academy Awards. The forum mentioned that Keisha was half Maori and half Pakeha. I had no friend from New Zealand, I often forgot the country existed, but right then and there I knew what "Pakeha" was. It's Maori for "caucasian". I wasn't so sure it was an omen that I'd move to New Zealand, but I did feel that somehow the country was waiting for me.

One year and four months later, I packed my bags and moved to Auckland, the biggest city in The Land of The Long White Cloud. The Whale Rider, by the way, never screened in Indonesian cinemas.

At home, we have a set of antique Italian-made picture frames. The set consists of one big frame, filled with a picture of Mum and Dad taken circa 1985, and two smaller ones filled with pictures of my brother and me respectively, taken circa 1987. The pictures have hung on the wall of my dad's study since 2001 (after ten years of being hidden somewhere, since we moved from our old house.) Just recently I took the frames off the wall and saw the backsides. On the back of the big frame there's an engraved writing that reads, "A souvenir from Poerwani, Ningsih, Mini and Wasti. Jakarta, 12/1/1983." On the back of my brother's frame is a painting of some 18th century European royalty I can't recognize, and guess what's on the back of my frame...A famous painting of Marie Antoinette! Even if you're not a long-time follower of my blog, you can tell right away I'm a Marie Antoinette fan from the Marie Antoinette and Marie Antoinette the movie badges in my fanlisting columns. This is also an omen. That Marie Antoinette painting has sat behind my picture for about 23 years. I first heard about the ill-fated Austrian princess-turned-French queen when I was 12, in 1995.