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emberleoThe whole setting is vaguely-Victorian dark fantasy in that distinctive Tim Burton kind of way. I can identify plot elements from Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches series, The Secret Garden Musical, Practical Magic, X-Men comics (Hellfire club, specifically), Lewis Carrol's Alice (the books, not any of the movies), and Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye novels, and visual elements from various Tim Burton films starring Johnny Depp, with Nicole Kidman from Far and Away. Wheeeee!
Nicole Kidman is a pretty young wife of an older, handsome, rich widower with children. She isn't obliged to care for her step-children directly, but she's supposed to keep the household running smoothly. This primarily involves directing the handful of strange servants. There's a cook, an upstairs maid, a housekeeper, tutors for the children, and a butler. The servants are most associated with the property itself, rather than the husband - the tutors are possibly hired from outside. There are extensive lands, and the house is dark, sprawling, and vaguely Gothic-Victorian. It clearly has some kind of unspoken spiritual history, but the details are unclear, so we don't know if it's just haunted, or if something more significant is going on.
She takes some personal joy from spending time outside in the gardens, which is the only place where it's every really bright or colorful. She's growing food and herbs, in addition to the gone-wild flowers and trees that were already there.
It's unclear if the rich husband bought the house or inherited it, but he apparently didn't grow up there, as he doesn't quite fit in, even as well as his children do (being raised there). It doesn't seem like he would have chosen that servant set of his own accord, were it not obligatory to keep them with the house. Whether out of avoidance, or just because he has to, the husband is frequently away on business trips, and always away on weekdays for work.
Johnny Depp is the butler. He is falling in love with (which is to say, becoming obsessed with) Nicole Kidman. He thinks she's sweet and innocent, assuming she was a virgin before she married his employer, and convincing himself that she married unwillingly, or may still yet be "Innocent", given how often her husband is away, and that she has not yet had children. She wears pale colors, if not outright white, every day while everyone else wears charcoal grey and such. She is sweet and charming, and loves to sing.
She's also probably a witch, but he's not noticing that - or rather, he notices her talent, but assumes she doesn't realize what she can do, because her behavior seems to belie her abilities. He is very upset with himself for wanting Kidman, and we, as the audience, know he's likely to turn on her if he decides she's actively trying to seduce him, whether she is actually doing so or not. He's obsessed with chastity and purity in himself, and that kind of puritanical idealist that characterizes a certain kind of religious fanatic. But it's mostly self-directed, and he obviously wrestles with the dichotomy between being prideful and judging others vs. being responsible for maintaining purity and righteousness for the sake of the innocents of the world.
Kidman has figured out that Depp is interested in her. She finds him intriguing. She doesn't dislike her husband. He's a good and generous man. But she's bored to tears with him constantly away. The other servants tend to avoid her, looking at her with some suspicion, obviously hiding things from her, and otherwise mostly focusing on their work. The children interact with her only rarely, usually mockingly - again, as if they know something she doesn't. She knows there's something hidden, something to do with the house, and she can sense some of it, being a witch. But she doesn't know the depth of it, so she is proceeding with caution. Only Depp is at all kind to her, and he seems perpetually nervous. So naturally she's drawn to him. She starts seducing him with her singing voice and opportunities to show him skin as if by mistake, hoping he'll open up to her, and become her lover if only to stave off the terrible boredom.
One day her tactics work a bit too well, and he is overcome with lust. They are walking together through the house. He is pushing a cart that is a strange cross between a wooden wagon and a bellhop's cart. She's making suggestive remarks towards him, which are carefully phrased to leave her innocence up for debate. She impulsively decides to demand that he push her in his cart. He objects for reasons we don't yet understand. We don't know if she's being oblivious of danger or perceptive of secrets when she climbs on to the cart entirely, pulling up her feet, and closing her eyes, indicating that she trusts him to choose their destination appropriately. It's implied from her tone that she's hoping he takes her somewhere interesting, preferably where they can be alone undisturbed.
Because she has done this without his prompting, he takes it as a sort of divine cue to kidnap her to a strange, colorful place which rather resembles a very small horse race fair. It certainly is more interesting - and much more colorful. But they're far from alone. He leaves her to look around while he goes to talk with his brothers, who we learn are called, the Red King, the Black Knight or Knave. Depp is the youngest, called the White Priest. They have special, magickal access to this pocket dimension. He spends the least time there of the three of them, and is apparently known for being soft-hearted. He brings in the fewest people, and those who are there keep hoping he'll give them a chance to persuade him to help them somehow, but his brothers are very good at preventing that, and tend to belittle him.
We're in her perspective, while she's mostly ignoring the horse race betting and the discordant but still largely cheerful music playing across the yard, in favor of investigating a community art show of jewelry. She asks if she can acquire replicas of some of the beautiful pieces (she wants the originals but thinks that's somehow inappropriate to offer to buy) only to be told, quietly, by Depp who feels guilty, that she doesn't want anything here because *everything is cursed*. Sure enough, when she tries to use the energy of the necklaces that so attracted her, it backfires. So she tries to cast a blessing, and it backfires. Alarmed, she says she doesn't like it here, and demands that Depp take her back home, which he does. We realize that they are being chased as they depart. She has to close her eyes again for him to be able to transport them, and while her eyes are closed she receives visions explaining the situation.
We find out over the course of flashbacks that this is a sort of mini-hell where they take and sequester sinners in an environment where everything is cursed. They can continue to enjoy their debauchery without affecting the innocent because they can't get out - only the three brothers can go in and out at will. Depp brings in the fewest people, but those he does bring tend to be the worst of the lot, second only to his brothers in cruelty. He's apparently called the "priest" because he believes he's obliged to protect the innocent from these sinners, and he must be celibate if he is to stay untouchably righteous, unlike his devilish brothers. He fears them, but doesn't really respect them because he believes they have allowed their power to tempt them into unrighteous behavior, misunderstanding the purpose of their abilities. They seem to think he's naive, and annoying. The eldest seems like he might be outright evil, if in a Lawful sort of way, but the middle brother, the "Black Knight", is more of a trickster of ambiguous morality.
By bringing her here against his own moral code, and then taking her out again, Depp has made her the first person other than the three brothers to ever leave the place. That makes her a target for the other two brothers, who need to keep order in their strange little domain, and can't afford for there to be anyone who got out, much less someone in the outside world who knows their domain exists but isn't loyal to them in some way. So now we know she's in very grave, supernatural danger that may be beyond her witchy abilities to counter.
She's decided to change her tactics relative to seducing Depp, and involves him in a discussion of how the gardens are to be maintained. She's been watering her tomatoes 3 times a day, and he has been over-watering them 5 times a day. She suggests they both cut back watering them by 2 times a day, and that she meet him at noontime for the mid-day watering so they can have discussions about how the yard is doing. It's clear she means that they should meet for trysting, but it's equally clear she hopes he hasn't caught on just yet, until she can get him away from the house proper.
Later that day, her husband comes home from business and in observing their strange interactions, begins to suspect that she's having an affair with the Butler (which she isn't yet, but wants to). He increases the scrutiny of her by the rest of the staff, who know far better than he does why an affair with the Butler might be a very poor choice for everyone. We know he's an honest guy who would only invoke mundane consequences on her - although we're not clear whether he would kick her out, divorce her, or murder her in a fit of passion. We do know that he is now in danger of being attacked by the two evil brothers just because he's in the way, and in danger of being offed by Depp and Kidman if they ever sort themselves out and decide they want his money, her freedom, and the mysterious house for themselves.
I woke up after all that, and fell back asleep a bit later for one more out-of-order scene:
Kidman knows Depp is spying on her through a tiny hole that lets him observe her in her own bedroom, which has more light than average for inside the house, and white draperies around the windows and four-post bed. She doesn't indicate that she knows she's being watched. She's otherwise alone in her bedroom masturbating for his benefit. He doesn't know she knows, and feels compelled to masturbate along because it's just so hot. So it's a back-and-forth of them tracking each other, getting hotter and hotter because they can hear each other, even though he doesn't realize that, in his passion, he's making noises she can hear (it's not clear how loud he's actually being vs. if she's using some clairvoyance/audience).
Interestingly enough, although she's obviously not *innocent*, her perspective is simply that magick is ok, and so is sex, so she's clearly not *evil*, but from his puritanical perspective, if he knew what she really was, he'd consider her a sinner. Just not necessarily a sinner worthy of the scope of punishment that is within his power to dispense.
And the impression overall is that he'll be able to deal better with his own power AND hers if he can just get past the puritanical sex-negative bullshit, give in to love, and have the affair with her. But that still leaves the question of how to handle his brothers and her husband.
-E-
Nicole Kidman is a pretty young wife of an older, handsome, rich widower with children. She isn't obliged to care for her step-children directly, but she's supposed to keep the household running smoothly. This primarily involves directing the handful of strange servants. There's a cook, an upstairs maid, a housekeeper, tutors for the children, and a butler. The servants are most associated with the property itself, rather than the husband - the tutors are possibly hired from outside. There are extensive lands, and the house is dark, sprawling, and vaguely Gothic-Victorian. It clearly has some kind of unspoken spiritual history, but the details are unclear, so we don't know if it's just haunted, or if something more significant is going on.
She takes some personal joy from spending time outside in the gardens, which is the only place where it's every really bright or colorful. She's growing food and herbs, in addition to the gone-wild flowers and trees that were already there.
It's unclear if the rich husband bought the house or inherited it, but he apparently didn't grow up there, as he doesn't quite fit in, even as well as his children do (being raised there). It doesn't seem like he would have chosen that servant set of his own accord, were it not obligatory to keep them with the house. Whether out of avoidance, or just because he has to, the husband is frequently away on business trips, and always away on weekdays for work.
Johnny Depp is the butler. He is falling in love with (which is to say, becoming obsessed with) Nicole Kidman. He thinks she's sweet and innocent, assuming she was a virgin before she married his employer, and convincing himself that she married unwillingly, or may still yet be "Innocent", given how often her husband is away, and that she has not yet had children. She wears pale colors, if not outright white, every day while everyone else wears charcoal grey and such. She is sweet and charming, and loves to sing.
She's also probably a witch, but he's not noticing that - or rather, he notices her talent, but assumes she doesn't realize what she can do, because her behavior seems to belie her abilities. He is very upset with himself for wanting Kidman, and we, as the audience, know he's likely to turn on her if he decides she's actively trying to seduce him, whether she is actually doing so or not. He's obsessed with chastity and purity in himself, and that kind of puritanical idealist that characterizes a certain kind of religious fanatic. But it's mostly self-directed, and he obviously wrestles with the dichotomy between being prideful and judging others vs. being responsible for maintaining purity and righteousness for the sake of the innocents of the world.
Kidman has figured out that Depp is interested in her. She finds him intriguing. She doesn't dislike her husband. He's a good and generous man. But she's bored to tears with him constantly away. The other servants tend to avoid her, looking at her with some suspicion, obviously hiding things from her, and otherwise mostly focusing on their work. The children interact with her only rarely, usually mockingly - again, as if they know something she doesn't. She knows there's something hidden, something to do with the house, and she can sense some of it, being a witch. But she doesn't know the depth of it, so she is proceeding with caution. Only Depp is at all kind to her, and he seems perpetually nervous. So naturally she's drawn to him. She starts seducing him with her singing voice and opportunities to show him skin as if by mistake, hoping he'll open up to her, and become her lover if only to stave off the terrible boredom.
One day her tactics work a bit too well, and he is overcome with lust. They are walking together through the house. He is pushing a cart that is a strange cross between a wooden wagon and a bellhop's cart. She's making suggestive remarks towards him, which are carefully phrased to leave her innocence up for debate. She impulsively decides to demand that he push her in his cart. He objects for reasons we don't yet understand. We don't know if she's being oblivious of danger or perceptive of secrets when she climbs on to the cart entirely, pulling up her feet, and closing her eyes, indicating that she trusts him to choose their destination appropriately. It's implied from her tone that she's hoping he takes her somewhere interesting, preferably where they can be alone undisturbed.
Because she has done this without his prompting, he takes it as a sort of divine cue to kidnap her to a strange, colorful place which rather resembles a very small horse race fair. It certainly is more interesting - and much more colorful. But they're far from alone. He leaves her to look around while he goes to talk with his brothers, who we learn are called, the Red King, the Black Knight or Knave. Depp is the youngest, called the White Priest. They have special, magickal access to this pocket dimension. He spends the least time there of the three of them, and is apparently known for being soft-hearted. He brings in the fewest people, and those who are there keep hoping he'll give them a chance to persuade him to help them somehow, but his brothers are very good at preventing that, and tend to belittle him.
We're in her perspective, while she's mostly ignoring the horse race betting and the discordant but still largely cheerful music playing across the yard, in favor of investigating a community art show of jewelry. She asks if she can acquire replicas of some of the beautiful pieces (she wants the originals but thinks that's somehow inappropriate to offer to buy) only to be told, quietly, by Depp who feels guilty, that she doesn't want anything here because *everything is cursed*. Sure enough, when she tries to use the energy of the necklaces that so attracted her, it backfires. So she tries to cast a blessing, and it backfires. Alarmed, she says she doesn't like it here, and demands that Depp take her back home, which he does. We realize that they are being chased as they depart. She has to close her eyes again for him to be able to transport them, and while her eyes are closed she receives visions explaining the situation.
We find out over the course of flashbacks that this is a sort of mini-hell where they take and sequester sinners in an environment where everything is cursed. They can continue to enjoy their debauchery without affecting the innocent because they can't get out - only the three brothers can go in and out at will. Depp brings in the fewest people, but those he does bring tend to be the worst of the lot, second only to his brothers in cruelty. He's apparently called the "priest" because he believes he's obliged to protect the innocent from these sinners, and he must be celibate if he is to stay untouchably righteous, unlike his devilish brothers. He fears them, but doesn't really respect them because he believes they have allowed their power to tempt them into unrighteous behavior, misunderstanding the purpose of their abilities. They seem to think he's naive, and annoying. The eldest seems like he might be outright evil, if in a Lawful sort of way, but the middle brother, the "Black Knight", is more of a trickster of ambiguous morality.
By bringing her here against his own moral code, and then taking her out again, Depp has made her the first person other than the three brothers to ever leave the place. That makes her a target for the other two brothers, who need to keep order in their strange little domain, and can't afford for there to be anyone who got out, much less someone in the outside world who knows their domain exists but isn't loyal to them in some way. So now we know she's in very grave, supernatural danger that may be beyond her witchy abilities to counter.
She's decided to change her tactics relative to seducing Depp, and involves him in a discussion of how the gardens are to be maintained. She's been watering her tomatoes 3 times a day, and he has been over-watering them 5 times a day. She suggests they both cut back watering them by 2 times a day, and that she meet him at noontime for the mid-day watering so they can have discussions about how the yard is doing. It's clear she means that they should meet for trysting, but it's equally clear she hopes he hasn't caught on just yet, until she can get him away from the house proper.
Later that day, her husband comes home from business and in observing their strange interactions, begins to suspect that she's having an affair with the Butler (which she isn't yet, but wants to). He increases the scrutiny of her by the rest of the staff, who know far better than he does why an affair with the Butler might be a very poor choice for everyone. We know he's an honest guy who would only invoke mundane consequences on her - although we're not clear whether he would kick her out, divorce her, or murder her in a fit of passion. We do know that he is now in danger of being attacked by the two evil brothers just because he's in the way, and in danger of being offed by Depp and Kidman if they ever sort themselves out and decide they want his money, her freedom, and the mysterious house for themselves.
I woke up after all that, and fell back asleep a bit later for one more out-of-order scene:
Kidman knows Depp is spying on her through a tiny hole that lets him observe her in her own bedroom, which has more light than average for inside the house, and white draperies around the windows and four-post bed. She doesn't indicate that she knows she's being watched. She's otherwise alone in her bedroom masturbating for his benefit. He doesn't know she knows, and feels compelled to masturbate along because it's just so hot. So it's a back-and-forth of them tracking each other, getting hotter and hotter because they can hear each other, even though he doesn't realize that, in his passion, he's making noises she can hear (it's not clear how loud he's actually being vs. if she's using some clairvoyance/audience).
Interestingly enough, although she's obviously not *innocent*, her perspective is simply that magick is ok, and so is sex, so she's clearly not *evil*, but from his puritanical perspective, if he knew what she really was, he'd consider her a sinner. Just not necessarily a sinner worthy of the scope of punishment that is within his power to dispense.
And the impression overall is that he'll be able to deal better with his own power AND hers if he can just get past the puritanical sex-negative bullshit, give in to love, and have the affair with her. But that still leaves the question of how to handle his brothers and her husband.
-E-
