Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Ian McKellen
Just like in that luscious little romp of a guilty
pleasure, Ivanhoe,
Anthony Andrews scampers
through the hallways in dashing and daring ways in
Scarlet Pimpernel,
and YET, as with Ivanhoe, another
man steals the show. In this case it’s the fabulously
suave and debonair Ian McKellen, looking hale and
hearty and rakish. Chauvelin is a classic French
baddie on the order of Inspector Javert from Les
Miserables -- irksomely superior and loathsomely
persistent in his pursuit of a criminal, no matter how
reformed or good-hearted that ‘criminal’ is. And yet,
he always has a moment to make eyes at the fluttery
Marguerite played by
Jane Seymour. Was I the only one
who yearned quietly for the alternate ending in which
Chauvelin exposes Sir Percy’s unfortunate preference
for rodent love and sweeps Jane away in his crafty and
yet unbending arms? Oh, you hadn’t heard about the
whole rodentophilia angle? Yes, terrible business;
makes you think quite differently about Sir Percy,
doesn’t it?
Anyway, Chauvelin is a gentleman-bad-guy, a whole subcategory of its own. Gentlemen Who Do Bad can do it with an elitist sneer or perhaps the flick of a be-laced wrist. They are, sometimes, the most terrifying and yet mesmerizing bad guys of all, as they perpetrate horrors all while their exquisitely expensive and expertly-tailored clothing billows about them in hypnotizing folds of textile glory. Gentleman bad guys get good clothes, you see. Ian McKellen knows how to wear his breeches for his role as Chauvelin, and has a well-turned ankle, if I do say so myself.
(It was mostly a state of mind, methinks.)
(Hey, he was just doing his job, right?)
(Surprisingly convincing as a bad-ass.)
Dandelion
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