Thompson on Hepburn: Lessons Learned

Last week British actress Emma Thompson made critical comments about the acting ability of the late actress and humanitarian ambassador Audrey Hepburn.

Thompson (aka: Nanny McPhee) is working on a remake of My Fair Lady, the 1964 box office smash that featured Hepburn as the peasant flower-girl turned lady, Eliza Doolittle. The film version of the Lerner and Lowe stage musical won eight Academy Awards and 3 Golden Globe awards. The article in the NY Post reported:

Emma Thompson said, “She can’t sing and she can’t really act" about actress Audrey Hepburn.

Thompson said she found Hepburn’s portrayal, “fantastically twee.” By "twee" the British actress said she means "whimsy without wit. Its mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that's not for me.”

I must confess that My Fair Lady is one of my favorite movies and musicals so I am slightly biased. I can’t wait to see how moviegoers and the Academy respond to Thompson's yet to be released remake of this classic. She is a really good actress so I’m sure it will be a quality performance. To be fair, Thompson’s comments were confined to Hepburn’s acting, not her personally, or her humanitarian efforts.

What can we learn from Emma Thompson’s public comments? I think there is more than one lesson so here are a few observations:

• Beware when someone elevates themselves at the critical expense of others. It says far more about the person criticizing than it does the person being criticized.
  

• The old saying is true, “Don’t speak ill of the dead.”

• Just because your thinking about something doesn’t mean it needs to be verbalized. There’s a time to speak and a time to refrain. Timing is an art and most actors have it. Miss Thompson will need a better sense of it when she takes on the role of the beloved Eliza Doolittle.

• Just because you think your right doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Kind of like building a mosque near the WTC site. It's legal, it's okay, but is it the right thing to do?
  

• Criticizing others when receiving personal accolades/awards (like a star) is bad form.

• Opinions are purely subjective, even yours and mine!

I don’t know about you, but I am, or have been guilty of most of these. Emma Thompson’s comments have made me face my own imperfections and shortcomings. And that is a good thing. The body of Christ would be well served by some serious self-examination as well.