News flash: Humans age. Sure, vampires are all the rage in Hollywood these days. But vampires are make believe and humans are real. And, because it bears repeating, we age. Yet somehow the cult of vampirish, anti-aging, baby butt-faced, immobilized-brow lovers in Hollywood keeps on growing. Which is yet another reason I love the Brits.You see, British women, by and large, act their age. And more to the point, they look their age. Why? Because they don’t fuck with their faces. I was reminded of this when looking up photos of the luminous Julia Ormond to post about her replacement on “Three Rivers”, Kate Moennig’s new medical drama. (p.s. Pull back on the Photoshop, CBS, seriously.) Seeing Julia’s un-nipped, un-tucked, un-stretched face was a bit of a revelation. Julia Ormond is 44. Julia looks 44. And Julia at 44 is fan-fucking-tastic.
Take that certain age and flaunt it, ladies: [Click to wallow in wondrous wrinkles.]
Julia Ormond, 44
Olivia Williams, 41
Helena Bonham Carter, 43
Kristin Scott Thomas, 49
Emma Thompson, 50
Charlotte Rampling, 63
Helen Mirren, 64
Olivia Williams, 41
Helena Bonham Carter, 43
Kristin Scott Thomas, 49
Emma Thompson, 50
Charlotte Rampling, 63
Helen Mirren, 64
Granted, all these women are ridiculously genetically gifted. But what makes them even more sublime is that those little lines, they’re earned. Life leaves a mark and it looks great on your face.
emma thompson + kristin scott thomas in one post = too much! ;)
ReplyDeleteI thank all those ladies who are not afraid to look older!
BRAVO!
ReplyDeleteHear! Hear!
Step away from the scalpel USA.
THANK YOU - and I wholly concur!
ReplyDeleteI just don't understand Hollywood's fascination with wrinkle free faces. They just look creepy. Period.
Dear God, this post was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMmmm...Olivia is without doubt the hottest chick in Dollhouse. I can never take my eyes of her when she's on-screen.
ReplyDeleteWow, I might sound a little young saying this, who knows, but I totally thought Julia Ormond was Julianna Margulies for a second, until I read on. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI first realized this when watching "Bad Girls" from Britain. The women all looked REAL. They weren't drop dead gorgeous, they weren't stick figures, their teeth weren't perfect ... and yet, they were sexier than all hell!
ReplyDeleteWhy does Helena Bonham Carter scare me so much? I blame Tim Burton.
ReplyDeletejust this morning I was pointing at the new(ish) little lines around my eyes and pouting....
ReplyDeletebut you are so right - they are lines that some from years of smiles... really, can I be upset about that?
Nope.
thanks for the beautiful reminder Dorothy.
Amen! I am 47 and I don't color my hair or wear makeup, and I am fine with it. I am not trying to look younger. I earned these wrinkles and the grey!
ReplyDeleteBritish actresses seem a lot more genuine and interesting on the whole than American actresses.
I told my 18 year old daughter yesterday that Marilyn Monroe was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and she was a size 14. She was shocked. Ah, for the good old days!
As a 40-something who has lived half my life here and half in the UK I thank you. The UK especially has an equally-nauseating media worship of celebrity, but Europeans also celebrate the grace and beauty of a mature woman who embraces her age, and doesn't run from it.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason we all find these women achingly beautiful is that they are real. Albeit they are atypical, they are still closer to the women that we love and wake up with.
Thanks for a wonderful post.
Thanks, Dot. A beautiful reminder...
ReplyDeleteTOTALLY agree. Americans should totally take a page out of this book. Look at them... they're STUNNING!
ReplyDeleteYES. I totally agree. And I really find nothing sexier than smile lines on a lady's face. I always wondered what was wrong with showing off that you have lived life and lived life well.
ReplyDeleteThis has to be the only compliment to us Brits from an American online I have ever seen. Thank you Ms. Snarker. :')
ReplyDeleteWhat? No Maggie Smith?
ReplyDeleteOh darling Ms. Snarker:
ReplyDeleteHell yeah. I'm still bathed in goosebumps of happiness regarding today's wrinkly post. What made me really swoon in B. Button were the close-ups of Miss Ormond's face, an ironic reality of loveliness given the movie's subject matter and heavily made-up stars.
*This* is precisely why I read your stuff. Fuck fuck fuck yeah. Now I love you even more, just when I didn't think it was possible.
Thanks a million from the Old Broads.
Helena Carter? Are you serious? She has no expression in that photo! I doubt she hasn't had some type of work done.
ReplyDeleteI can see posting about Rampling and Mirren as Examples of British women who have aged gracefully but...COME ON! Why the hell are you posting about women is their early 40's as if being 40 or even 40-Plus is old!?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but has the average longevity for females reverted to pre colonial levels? Are women reaching the end of the road at age 39 and facing death at 40? Are YOU facing death Ms. Snarker? Or like Logan has the crystal on your palm not yet turned black?
Seriously this is exactly the reason why my website at :
http://sapphisdezire.t35.com
Exists in the first place. Not all of us are constrained by media that shamelessly panders to non-thinking youth.
Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThough, Helena Bonham Carter barely looks her age. And don't even get me started on Mirren. Call me, girl, call me.
Saphic Hyperbole, why are you often such an asshole on here? And how classless are you to plug your own site while commenting on someone's blog? Jesus H. Christ, what a tool.
ReplyDeleteSnarker didn't say anyone was gonna drop dead after 40 of old age, moron. Reread the article, k?
There's something about these women that I just love, it's the feeling that they've accepted that they'll age. It's the sense of grace they put forward that makes the wrinkles sexy.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is coming from a young 'un.
" Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteSaphic Hyperbole, why are you often such an asshole on here? And how classless are you to plug your own site while commenting on someone's blog? Jesus H. Christ, what a tool."
Classless for giving an alternative resource for lesbians who may think this is the ONLY source they have for entertainment? Get over it already.
Apparently I'm not as much of a tool or Pavlovian Sycophant as YOU my dear. Grow Up and get over it! It's referred to as FREE Speech - 1st Ammendment baby NOT "Coddle the insecure Toddlers." Good Grief.
Three words: MARY LOUISE PARKER-- the woman is 45 and looks spectacular.
ReplyDeleteSapphic Hyperbole,
ReplyDeleteIs it jealosusy or desire that prompts your behavior in this blog? I suspect it's both, wrapped up like a little pig in a blanket.
I welcome reading opposing opinions, here and anywhere else. It's refreshing to get these types of conversations rolling, intelligent conversations, but your "debating" tactics seem to devolve. At the first sign of "losing", you resort to insulting others and Dorothy, storming off as if you are a child. If your goal is to provoke honest thought and conversation, it can and will be easily dismissed by your juvenile behavior. If your goal is to drum up traffic for your blog, is this really the way you want to present yourself?
There is a difference between being a provacateur and being a troll. Having access to the wide world web, you should be able research that difference.
I did go to your blog, unfortunately you write in the same voice as you do here, even with same insults hurled at Dorothy. So, the only conclusion I can come to is that you are a troll. A baby troll at that.
So, that is how I will respond to you from here on out.
Time to go to bed Little Sapphy, let the grownups use the compooter.
olivia looks good to me.
ReplyDeletethanks for the post.
Children PLEASE grow up and stop with this nonsense. I have NOTHING to be jealous over and if you were adults then you would accept an opposing perspective that doesn't cheerlead verything that is read just because somkeone posted it.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of you are so emotionally immature and psychologically invested in this blog that you feel threatened just because I post a criticism about what I consider an offense against women in their 40s.
WTF is WRONG with all of you? Haven't graduated grade school yet? Get out of my face I am NOT a babysitter and have grown weary from your whines and bellyaching. Great Goddess!
Oh and just to REALLY Irk you all, VISIT:
http://sapphisdezire.t35.com/
For Info, Fun and FREE lesbian Online movies The Broken with Lena Headey AND I Can't Think Straight.
I will no longer be responding to this TOPIC because it's time that we all move on from this issue. As all of you clearly see this blog still exists even though I don't agree with some of the posts so get over it.
ReplyDeleteLil' Sapphy,
ReplyDeleteI was hoping you would prove me wrong, but alas,
you only confirmed my suspicions.
Now, get off the compooooter, Mommy needs to surf.
I noticed that Sapphic H doesn't even have a place for comments on her site. Free speech indeed.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant - you certainly know lovely ladies when you see them - life lines are beautiful to me -thanks for all the gorgeous pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said
ReplyDelete"I noticed that Sapphic H doesn't even have a place for comments on her site. Free speech indeed."
Of course not, the only way she could win an argument would be to shut the site down. Her ego would not permit that.
Sapphic Hyperhole, , moron, please do STFU you giant gaping c*nt. you don't even make sense. And stop pimping your own pathetic site on the back of someone else's, LOSER. No one thinks this is the only site for lesbians. LOL. Idiot.
ReplyDeleteHow am I a sycophant if I never liked your sorry ass in the first place, douchenozzle?
Get your own fans and stop haunting this blog. Oh, that's right. With your shitastic personality and complete misread of all things relevant, you can't.
Fuck OFF.
You forgot to put Nigella Lawson,She's 49! still gorgeous...
ReplyDelete@Kristin, Helena Bonham Carter has had no "work" done, and will never. It is widely known that she has zero vanity, and in my opinion that makes her a hell of a lot sexier than other women.
ReplyDeleteand to add to the list. let's not forget the fabulous Jessica Lange.
ReplyDeleteWell, there are a few "older" US (Hollywood) actresses who defnitely haven't work done.
ReplyDeleteI agree on Mary-Louise Parker and then there is Jodie Foster of course.
as a woman, who is on the brink of 40, i thank you for your post. looking forward to what 40s have in store for me and embracing it all. a year to celebrate for sure.
ReplyDeletedeb
OMG! Kristin Scott Thomas! She's so gorgeous and elegant! The perfect image of a British lady! More like a British-French lady!
ReplyDeleteShe's so stunning in "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime", with absolutely no make-up or retouch done! And the movie is awesome.
*KST fangirl*
Thanks, Snarker, for this great post!
The first time I ever looked in the mirror and saw wrinkles, I was stuck in the bathroom for 45 minutes, completely fascinated that my life was beginning to show on my face.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, I loved it. I also really love my salt and pepper hair.
Age doesn't bother me; it fascinates me.
So add those qualities to these stunningly beautiful women, and you have my attention. I love it.
God why can't this be mainstream thinking, so sick of feeling self conscious of my wrinkles. THANKYOU!! These women are stunners
ReplyDelete