new kid on the block

I have a new style crush - Carey Mulligan.

I moved past all my insecurities re - her going out with my future husband Shia LaBoeuf and re - her being generally teeny tiny, with beautiful pixie crop hair and that certain je ne sais quoi that makes us all think of Audrey Hepburn or Michelle Williams... And now I love her. Wholeheartedly.

I think she's stunning. She's definitely not conventionally beautiful, or even striking. I would say that her features together are actually just slightly pretty. But there's something in her eyes, and something about the way she stares down a barrel of a camera... She is not to be ignored. I thought i could, but then I saw and education and fell in love with her quirky insouciance and stubborn independence. And then I saw all the beautiful clothes she's been wearing, and realised that she actually has a style very similar to Fabulous Future Me. Which means, of course, that she actually has a style that is in some ways very similar to me, except with better shoes and more designer labels. She represents that style side of me that loves to dress oh so french and oh so chic, not hipster or it-girl like the Chungster.

And she really does remind me an awful lot of Audrey Hepburn. If not in looks then in grace. Don't you think?

X

BYO madelines

'All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.'
Marcel Proust




One of the reasons i like Vanity Fair is because i feel so damn knowledgeable after reading it. I may know nothing, and i mean nothing, about the bernie madoff scandal or the stock market or the ins and outs of ivy league universities, but when I read vanity fair I feel like maybe I do know, after all. My mum subscribes to Vanity Fair, she always has. I used to love reading them because keira knightley or the harry potter kids would be on the cover. But I used to think that Vanity Fair was a boring magazine though, and I would flick through it, looking at the 'Vanities' section and any article/interview with the actress/actor on the cover or anything about wealthy socialites. Boring bankers, lawyers, crime and JFK's secret love child were never read about. It's funny though, because now I love Vanity Fair. The problem was that I didn't understand it before.

In the November issue with the delectable Penelope Cruz on the cover there is an article about the Proust questionnaire. It has been on the last page of the magazine for the last 20 or so years, answered by various notables from bette midler to martha stewart via marc jacobs. The theory behind the questionnaire is that it reveals, through a few short questions, your mindset and world view at the very moment you answer it. Proust did it three times in his life, with the answers varying widely between them. The questionnaire is actually not his own invention, but it's the fact that he wrote so widely about it and praised it in the salon society of Paris that means that it is now attributed to him. That, and no other writer in the world has spent so much time reflecting on the mind. His mammoth series A remembrance of things past, was written entirely in his bed and contains the most lengthy exploration of memory I've ever read (although in truth I've only read Swann's way). Vanity Fair has just released a book compiling its favourite proust questionnaires over the years, including Woody Allen, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Warren Buffet. It looks like an impressive, fascinating read.

I like the Proust questionnaire because it takes no prisoners. It's the kind of thing that, very simply, sorts the wheat from the chaff. If you're witty then the Proust questionnaire shows it. If you're pretentious then it also shows it. If you're quiet and reserved, yet still remarkably clever and engaging then it shows it. Bizarrely it is incredibly revealing about the human mind, and it's just a simple questionnaire. The range of the questions change, Vanity Fair actually uses a version different from the one below, which is the one Proust originally answered, but they reach the same conclusion - ascertain the mindset of that person through their opinions on all manner of things within cultured society.

I have the proust questionnaire in my side bar, but I'm curious to fill out the original Proust one and not the Vanity Fair one (which is the one in my side bar). I also filled that out a while ago, and i think that some answers might have changed. I feel like every day I'm changing just a little bit, almost imperceptibly, as I learn new things, see new things, look at the world in a different way. It's silly, i suppose, but then everyone always says that you change the mos when you're young. It's almost as if you're a phoenix, rebirth can occur at any time, you can dye your hair bright pink, or start wearing ballgowns, or pick up ancient greek at university.

Proust certainly understood. He answered the questionnaire all three times when he was young, very young. The first time he answered was when he was just a precocious 13 years old. It's that invincibility that is to irrevocably wrapped up with youth. You can do anything. That's the thing I love most about being young. It's that feeling that nothing can stop you. Deep down in that mature part of your body, the one that chimes in to make you eat your vegetables and go for a run, you know that it's not going to be like that forever. But sometimes, when everything is going right in the world and the sun is shining it's almost as if you could fly.

Tout, c'est possible.

• Your most marked characteristic? stubbornness.
  

• The quality you most like in a man? chivalry.

• The quality you most like in a woman? camaraderie.
  

• What do you most value in your friends? difference in personality but similarity of mind.
  

• What is your principle defect? anxiousness that can border on nervous hysteria.
  

• What is your favorite occupation? writing.

• What is your dream of happiness? 'happiness is simple as glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. bitter. sweet. alive.' Joanne Harris.
  

• What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes? not being able to achieve my dreams.
  

• What would you like to be? journalist.
  

• In what country would you like to live? the swollen green of england.
  

• What is your favorite color? red and green.
  

• What is your favorite flower? cabbage roses and daisies.
  

• What is your favorite bird? swan.
  

• Who are your favorite prose writers? jane austen, evelyn waugh, alexander mccall-smith, nancy mitford, e.m forster, a.s byatt.
  

• Who are your favorite poets? auden, housman, yeats, keats, thomas, lord byron.
  

• Who is your favorite hero of fiction? charles ryder.
  

• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction? marianne dashwood.
  

• Who are your favorite composers? saint-saens, shostakovich, ravel.
  

• Who are your favorite painters? monet, degas, pissaro,
  

• Who are your heroes in real life? julia child, nancy mitford.
  

• Who are your favorite heroines of history? cleopatra, eleanor of aquitaine, isabella of france, emmeline pankhurst.
  

• What are your favorite names? poppy, tatiana, rowan, rory.
  

• What is it you most dislike? fakeness.
  

• What historical figures do you most despise? Octavian, Robespierre, Rasputin.
  

• What event in military history do you most admire? Battle of Stirling Bridge.
  

• What reform do you most admire? emancipation.
  

• What natural gift would you most like to possess? the ability to sing.
  

• How would you like to die? dramatically.
  

• What is your present state of mind? worried, unsure, stressed - yet i can see the end of the road.
  

• To what faults do you feel most indulgent? grandstanding, gluttony.
  

• What is your motto? 'champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends' - tom waits.
  

I tag you all! i would love to see you answers. See how it differs slightly from the Vanity Fair version? I think i prefer this version myself...

X

you look lovely today, just today?

horrible week in more ways than one. don't really have many details to go into, other than the fact that it has just been horrible. next week will be better.


Diane Kruger



If i could be any girl in the world I think i'd want to be Diane Kruger. Ah, i caught you there didn't i? You think i would say Alexa Chung with her british accent and her rockstar boyfriend. But look at her. Alexa Chung couldn't rock a velvet assymetrical jumpsuit? Diane looks like she was born to wear Chloe, and wear it she does.This outfit is immaculate, i cannot fault it, and this coming from the girl who hates jumpsuits with every fibre of my being (believing that they are, above all else, the ugliest piece of clothing in a woman's wardrobe today). But seeing Diane makes me want to search one. A velvet one no less. And to cinch it in at the waist with a carpet tassel. Such class, such sophistication. I have a feeling she's our generations Grace Kelly. And hey, Prince Harry is on the market again. Who knows. :)


Kate Bosworth


Oh Kate. Where have you been? i've missed you shiny hair and your two-tone eyes. No-one wears clothes quite like you do, as if they just sprung into being on your body. No-one accesorises like you do, with mis-matched metallic shoes and box clutch. No -one can wear a simple white sheath, knotted experimentally at the waist, with the same oomph and pizazz as you do. It takes a class act to wear something so simply so well. She may not be a great actress (but hey, i'll let her happily prove me wrong on that account) but boy the girl can dress.


Leighton Meester


I'm excited at the idea that Leighton might have a Vogue US cover. I much prefer her to the goddess-like Blake any day, her more decadent, more sinful brand of beauty is more to my tastes than Blake's bright-eyed Californian effervescence. She also has a really surprising avant-garde taste. Take this dress for instance, a simple shift made interesting by the huge floral ruffle at the collar, a little Carrie Bradshaw-esque, no? The print is darling, and the shoes are just the perfect counterpoint, picking up the belt and recalling the ruffle with the circular detail on the strap. She's canny about fashion, she has wild and crazy taste, and she knows how to accessorise. Not much more a girl can ask for!



Thandie Newton



I'm not sure if this is actually that recent, but it was posted recently on tFS, and i needed something a little casual to break up all this glorious red carpet stuff. This outfit is perfect. Thandie is a beautiful girl, so she can get away with things mere mortals can't (hello, leather leggings). But aside from that i love the principle of this outfit - mixing silhouettes, textures, colours and shapes to form an interesting, yet casual outfit. I love the way that the sheen of the leather contrasts with the hard cotton of her striped shirt and dull shine of the satin tuxedo jacket. I like the sleeves pushed up over the shirt, and the hem of the jacket hanging longer than the shirt, yet the leggings taking pride of place. And i looooove her 2.55 of course.

TGIF!
X

love, loss and what i wore - flower power

I love wearing clothes with history. Not just vintage clothes, i mean clothes that actually have sentimental value for me, or for someone out there. Part of my halloween costume (i ended up going as marie antoinette, actually, but it was rather nice all the same) was the skirt of a wedding dress, dumped unceremoniously in vinnies (charity store) for me to find, alter a little, and form into a marie antoinette costume. I asked the guy at the counter, with a little trepidation, whether the couple had split up, or something like that. I would be horrible if they had. But he said no, she just didn't have any room for it, and she wasn't particularly sentimental about it. I wasn't quite sure whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing, but i bought the dress anyway.

Likewise one of my favourite pieces of clothing, one that has never let me down and that i will wear until i die, is a vintage lanvin flower shirt of my mother's. She was given it by her best friend in the whole entire world (who has the best taste, and looks like sofia coppola, dammit), and like me, used to wear it everywhere. It's funny, we're not that similar now, mum and I, and I'm half chinese and she's not, but we look remarkably similar. We talk the same way, we smile the same way, and we share all these mannerisms. People say when I wear the flower shirt and chatter away, gesticulating wildly, I remind them so much of my mum when she was my age. And though I roll my eyes, actually I feel quite proud.

Because despite all appearances now, my mum was actually so cool in the 80s! Like my fabulous aunt, she has inherently good taste as well as an appreciation for beautiful things. Although unlike my aunt she didn't really galivant around for the whole of the 80s and 90s through Europe and New York. My mum has all these amazing stories to tell that i love hearing about uni life, about being a young doctor, about travel, about boyfriends, about weird guys who used to stalk her (and make her watermelon baskets, like a basket carved out of a watermelon with individual fruits carved out of the watermelon flesh! WTF! hahaahahah), and i drink them in. She has so much life experience and spirit of adventure, and you can tell that about her now. Just like my Aunt, people really love my mum. She's funny and vivacious and she engages you, no matter who you are.

The flower shirt used to be as much a part of her wardrobe as it is mine. It's a beautiful shirt, Jeanne Lanvin really knew how to cut a garment. It's semi-sheer with this gorgeous multicoloured floral print that goes with every colour in the known spectrum no joke. It's bracelet length, which in my opinion is the most beautiful length - exposing your wrists can be a really lovely thing in clothing - and it's suitably baggy, so when tucked into a skirt it just sort of puffs up over the top of a belt. Perfect. I cannot fault this garment. It has never let me down in 4 years of wearing it, it has always fit well, looked beautiful and made me feel happy when everything else was letting me down.

The real reason I love this shirt, though, was because my mum wore it to my christening. Cue the awww.. But there is just something so special about it now for me. I wear a lot of my mum's clothes, she has great basics and some unexpected lovely finds in her wardrobe despite the fact she dresses quite simply now, but none of them means that much to me in terms of sentimental value. This shirt has history. She's told me she's worn it to bizarre uni parties where one guy ended up so drunk he boarded a one way flight to fiji wearing nothing but a hessian sack and a moneybag filled with oranges. She's worn it when she met her then boyfriend's parents, a lord and lady in england (who referred to her as the 'australian gel'). She's worn it when she's flown halfway around the world to rescue her sister from a broken heart, and when she's driven all around Sydney searching for her brother who got lost at a school excursion. And she wore it to my christening. I was born on Christmas Eve, so they christened me on Christmas day, when I was only 1 day old. My mum's there, beaming with happiness, my dad's there, so proud, all my family are there and my mum's best friend, all smiling wildly. Mum gave me the shirt when i turned 14 and told me all these stories about it, and I love it all the more for it.

I was recently looking at some photos and pasting them into a scrapbook. I had pasted a photo of me in, wearing the flower shirt and head cocked onto the side, grinning, into the first page. I was sifting through some photos at the bottom of a box when I found one of my mum, age similar to my own, wearing the flower shirt and holding up a champagne saucer to the camera. We look so alike it's stunning. When I was a bit younger I used to hate it when people said that to me, you know when you're a surly teenager and the last thing you want is to look like your mum?

Well i'm so glad I do. Because hopefully it means I might have half as many adventures as she did.

X

don't judge a book by its cover

lula mag scrapbook

The lula mag scrapbook is a venture by the magazine to promote the artworks of various creative types in the fashion industry. There are photos by Laura Mulleavy, even some by Alexa Chung, and these three beautiful artworks by none other than my favourite french actress - Clemence Poesy. I especially love the first one, called 'We've been apart too long'. The combination of that arresting watercolour and the photograph is stunning. It shouldn't be surprising that people within the creative arts have talent or at least passion for artistic expression. After all, people argue that fashion, dance, music and acting are forms of art in and of themselves. If i am surprised, it is a pleasant one.

More than a pretty face, indeed.

X

don't fence me in.

'Tea to the english is really a picnic indoors.'
Alice Walker










Pent up inside studying for finals is a sure fire way to make the heart long for open spaces. There's a great old ragtime song that goes 'give me land, lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in'. I used to listen to that on repeat when I was studying for the HSC, it seemed to capture the mood of the moment perfectly. I didn't want notebooks or rote learning or pie charts. I wanted lunches in a park, with the sky for a roof. You can picnic inside, sure, on the floor of your dining room, but a real picnic is in among the grass, with baskets full of fresh food and the best friends for company. As soon as the HSC was over we rolled about outside, scoffing down little cupcakes, swilling around cheap champagne and sharing war stories. The weather was warm and fresh, we would blast tunes from ipod speakers, everything from new order to phoenix, dizzy rascal and sneaky sound system. And we would lie down on grass, picnic blankets and discarded jackets and just contemplate the infinite freedom of summer.

I'm almost there, almost. 3 exams in 2 weeks and then I'm free.
I can almost taste it.

X

2 lipsticks and a lover

There is a marvelous book, and i mean marvelous, called '2 lipsticks and a lover' about that most infectious of cities - Paris. 2 lipsticks and a lover refers to what a woman should always have when she is in Paris, and there is a part of me (a small part, mind, but a part nonetheless), that is inclined to agree with her. Apparently the first lipstick is for before the lover, the second for after. One can imagine this fictitious heroine going from a nude pink before to a rich, rusty red afterwards. Divine.

It got me thinking though, to whether one can distill the essence of a city into one little sentence. I am the type of person who thrives on excess, i hate any competition, questionnaire or survey that implores me to describe myself in 3 words, or sum up a story in 25 words or less. I can think of nothing more odious than to restrict myself when it comes to words. That much should be patently obvious when you considering the ratio of words to text on this blog. When i start writing, i can't hold myself back. And i'm already 2 paragraphs into this post without coming anywhere near my point. So let's plough on.

2 lipsticks and a lover. It's a fine sentiment no doubt. Surely a large amount of Parisians would agree. And in the movie 'An Education, posted about last week, Jenny's friends exhort her to bring them back the best from Paris, namely Chanel number 5 and cigarettes. Chanel Number 5 and cigarettes... now that's a thought. They're almost as Parisian as lipstick, or lovers, or even baguettes (though one expects the baguette would hinder the use of the lipstick and the lover).

the point of the book 2 lipsticks and a lover is not to merely sum up paris into 5 words. It is one in a long line of books that purports to show you how to 'unlock your inner french-ness' (her words, not mine) and to embrace the gallic goddess within. It dispenses ancient remedies such as impeccable tailoring, fresh beauty regimes (wash your face with water and nothing else, was one memorable entry, touting its knowledge as if people have been using creme de la mer since the dawn of time) and the art of accesorising. I sound snide here, i know, but i actually rather love the book, because it is one of the few books about mimicking that ineffable quality that is french (the whole point about ineffability is that you cannot copy it, but anyway..), that actually succeeds. It manages to not talk down to the reader, to impart some important lessons in french style and elegance that though perhaps go without saying but need to be said in this age of crotchless panties and breast implants. And it does it with a wry, tongue in chic tone, and has a wonderful title. A book is nothing without a good title, I say.

However, I don't want to talk about style. I want to talk about compactness.

Can you sum up a city in a sentence? Perhaps, perhaps not. We don't want to essentialise, but perhaps there are multiple ways of describing an experience, or a place, or a person. Each contributes to the overall idea, yet individually can stand on their own. Just as how '2 lipsticks and a lover' and 'chanel number 5 and cigarettes' show parts of Paris, so too would the phrase macaroon rainbow. Or city of light/love/dreams (delete as you wish).

I think, though, that there is something to be said for economy. Twitter has proved this, people have taken to the idea of compacting their thoughts into 140 characters like ducks to water. Of course, there is the occasional moment when 2 tweets are required to make a point, but on the whole people restrict themselves to the world limit, however hard. Recognising that you can't capture the whole essence of the thing is the first step, but it is clear that you can capture something. For sure, my Parisian experience has never held lovers (yet, though i remain ever hopeful as one must in this situation), but that does not mean i cannot see the inherent merit of such an epithet. Just as how i hope you may look at my following epithets and be reminded of some truly wonderful places.

London - messy hair, running mascara and scruffy boots.

New York - bagels, black cars and ballet shoes.

Hong Kong - sweat and tears. sticky and sweet. teeming with life.

How would you sum up your favourite city?

X

ou est tu

Oh Clemence. Do i really need to go into it?
Where are you... god knows we need a bit more gallic glamour in our lives.

X

you look lovely today... just today?

This week has been cold, wet, windy and stormy. So naturally I'm feeling right in my element. Trench coats, big cardigans, tights, woolly scarves... And boots. And i never boots, only when the weather absolutely and expressly requires something to keep the rain out. otherwise it's sandals or ballet flats for me. So the Doc Martens have been getting a work out again. I'm actually rather enjoying them, even with bare legs and a skirt with this warmer weather again. how weird that little things like a rain storm can trigger a love affair with some things in your wardrobe. Other things happening this week - university finished for the semester OH YEAH! now just 1 week of study vacation, 2 weeks of exams, and the whole of summer stretching out before me. how truly marvelous. And topshop opened on thursday, but you all know that. everything in my life seems to be going so well, which seems to be a cue for it all to go horribly wrong. Ah well. Live it up, i say.


Lily Allen


Ah Lily. You just know how to pick a party dress don't you. That slinky, almost grungy 90s minimalist silhouette that nips in at the hips (the hips! of all regions), and works in only the way that truly svelte, slim women can work this kind of shape. Cutely chopped hair, a pair of leather-look leggings, platform heels. It all works really well, even the leggings, because you have the attitude to pull it off. Classy and nonchalant, very hip without really caring that way. Some people wish for you to go back to prom-dress and trainer wearing 'youf'. I say, embrace the chanel haute couture while you have the strength and body to do so! do it for us lily! Ps. enlarge the photo to see her talons painted jade green. love it!


Mary-Kate Olsen.


Maybe it's because I just watched Desperate Seeking Susan, but i really love this outfit. Even though this kind of pastel on neutral, resin bangles, ankle boot and cuffed pant kind of look would ring too many 80s alarm bells for me. But Mary-Kate works this, and she works it well. I suppose it just proves the adage that you can wear anything provided that you wear it with class. And if it's been tailored. Well. Those pants are beautifully cut, they taper to a tee, and that cuff seems nonchalant and effortless, but it's the best length for Mary-Kate's body shape and balances very well to the oversized, yet not in a 'MK is drowning in it' way, blazer. I love the satin turn ups on the jacket. I love her kooky sunglasses. I love her messy hair. 80s fabulous indeed.


Diane Kruger


Now this is how you wear chanel booties. Alexa Chung wore the same pair, and to less glorious effect, if you ask me. She made the mistake of wearing them with a complicated dress. With shoes like those, that are busy enough alone without adding any frou on top, you just to wear black. How terribly french of it all. Black, sombre silhouettes, and a knowing smile. Diane displays true european sensibility with this LBD, which is fabulously tailored to her body (and i know her body would not be a terribly hard body to work around, but it does seem to hug every curve and every movement). I also love the merest whiff of a strong shoulder, edging out every so slightly from the natural shoulder line. Her hair is relaxed, but not too messy. Her bag is cute and fuss free. I love this outfit. If only i looked that good in an LBD, all life's problems could be solved.


Thank God it's the Weekend :). Oooh, and happy halloween everyone. enjoy!
Trick or Treat!
X


PS. I'm thinking of getting my hair balliaged - in the manner of Alexa Chung, or this pretty young thing from Garance Dore. A little bit darker though, because my hair is more of a chestnut brown than hers. Thoughts?

an education

I saw an education with the dearest of friends on monday, and the funny thing is, i could relate to the plot in the oddest of ways. No, a suave, debonair older man didn't whisk me off my feet in the months leading up to the HSC, and no, i wasn't dragged around sydney to the chicest restaurants, living a glamorous life away from the drudgery of school and work. In fact, quite the opposite I assure you.

And hence lies my comparison point. That feeling of sheer boredom, the horror of confronting the tedium of adult life in a country that seems so lacklustre to your imagination, now that feeling i know well. Australia isn't really the place for me. I love the sun (sometimes), and odd bouts of patriotism do bubble to the surface every now and then, but for most of my adult life I have dreamt of places far from my birth country. For Jenny this was France, Paris specifically, with its minimalist intellectuals and spirit of liberty. Ah, Paris is indeed beautiful, and enchanting and infectious - just like first love. But for me the allure has always been a different country, and city. For some reason, despite the grey, despite the rain, despite the warnings from countless expats who find themselves happily ensconced in summery sydney, i love London. I always have. I've always felt more in touch with the english part of my ancestry then I have with any other.




It's a romanticised, lyrical view not grounded one inch in reality, but then, neither was Jenny's view of Paris. She says in the film that she wants to move to France, speak french all day, sip double shot espressos, smoke like a chimney, wear all black and never speak a word. Just like how I've always wanted to hole up in London with vinyl and bourbon, cooking raspberry pound cakes and wrapped up in a trench coat. I love that historical beauty of the London city-scape, whether it be tenaments or towers there is something enchanting about the grit of the city. It speaks of other times, of battles past. My rose-tinted view of London also seems tied to another time in history, either the rough and tumble heyday of the bright young things in the 30s, or the pavement pounding frenetic electricity of the 60s. Both times seem engendered with that same creative fervour that is so characteristically 'london'.

It's no coincidence that I live in the one suburb of sydney that could be conceivably mistaken for London. The rolling hills, pretty little terrace houses and boutique shops seem to be lifted straight out of Primrose Hill or the back streets of Chelsea. Though of course it wasn't my decision to live in Paddington, I have the foresight of my parents to thank for that, I do feel comfortable in my area with its picturesque coffee shops and wide open spaces swollen with green.





Sometimes I think that this love affair with England is just like first love. The blinding power of first love, where you develop some kind of temporary myopia - the details are so vivid, every touch, every breath, every word - yet the big picture becomes horribly clouded. Will i get to live in London and have that dream life? The one that invariably involves a chic little apartment with antique mirrors, a fabulous career and charming boyfriend? Perhaps. Will this powerful love affair last forever? Maybe. Will the world end if it doesn't? No.

And therein lies the power of the film, An Education. Despite the heartbreak once the champagne bubbles fritter away you do not leave unhappy. Because I, like Lynn Barber (the english journalist upon whose memoir the film was based), believe that all experiences, no matter the pain they cause, are of immense importance to our lives. That is the purpose of an education, is it not? To impart upon us wisdom as we blunder through life?





One of the most resonating moments for me in the film is when David says that he has a degree in the university of life. It reminded me of a moment in the novel I Capture the Castle, upon which this blog was humbly named, where Cassandra says that all she wants to do is write, and there is no university for that except life. Cassandra, like Jenny in An Education, learnt more through living and experiencing life than their lessons in school. That sensation of life (and love, which always seems inextricably bound up with feeling our own existence, how many existentialists have been undone when they fell in love?) made them re-evaluate their position within society.

Ultimately in the film this leads to fascinating ends. I'm not going to spoil it, even though i seem to have given an awful lot away already, because I want you all to see it. It's a beautiful, beautiful film. It captures perfectly and with a bittersweet subjectiveness that idea of first love, that idea of first education in the school of life. I don't think I've quite got my degree from there yet, i still have a bit to learn.

But I'm very excited to learn it.

X