Cultural component of beauty/ was:Casting mis-steps

[Carol]

zanooda wrote:
> 
> Hmm, I was hoping it won't come to the examples, because, you know, we tend to take things like that to heart - what if my "example" turns out to be someone's favorite actress? I don't want to upset anyone. However, since you asked, I'll give you one example: all Russians that I know (in my age category :-)) find Sara Jessica Parker very ugly, and it amazes me every time (and that's often :-)) when I see that she is called "a beauty" or some such word in a magazine. It just takes much more than that to be called beautiful in Russia, you know? At least it was like that when I was young... :-).

Carol responds:

I agree that Sarah Jessica Parker isn't a great beauty (long face and rather long nose), but isn't it nice that a forty-something woman can be  a TV star? It's unrealistic to think, as many young Americans do, that all women should be beautiful and that thirty is "old." (Some women, for example Lynda Carter, are still beautiful or at least pretty as they approach sixty, but we shouldn't expect that of the average woman, either.) I wouldn't call SJP "ugly," just closer to "somewhat attractive" than "beautiful." 

With regard to Fleur, though, "somewhat attractive" (which, IMO, also applies to Clemence Poesy) isn't good enough. She should be stunning, what we Americans used to call "a knockout." Since I'm unfamiliar with French actresses, I have no idea who would be more suitable for the part. But I don't think we have to rely on cultural standards entirely because we have a description--long silver-gilt hair (yeah, I know; they could use a wig for the hair but she would need the coloring of a blonde), big blue eyes, and a willowy build, to begin with. I would expect her to move gracefully, as well.

Carol, wondering which French actress others would suggest for the role if it were recast