I’m not entirely sure what prompted me to watch Michael Collins (1996), the biopic about the Irish revolutionary, soldier, and politician who was active in the Irish War of Independence (1919-21) and the Irish Free State that followed until his assassination in 1922 — but I’m pretty sure it was Liam Neeson-related. Overall, the film was entertaining for about the first three-quarters, but dragged near the end and I admit I fast-forwarded through much of that. There’s definitely some problems in terms of historical accuracy in the film, and reading that mid-way through also helped me lose steam. Nonetheless, Neeson and supporting actor Aidan Quinn both give good performances as revolutionaries, and Julia Roberts wasn’t quite as terrible as I expected as Kitty Kiernan, the woman who comes between them — although I felt like her role was far larger than necessary. Oh, but Alan Rickman was unnecessarily mustache-twirly as Irish statesman and Collins’ opponent, Éamon de Valera.
Let’s move on to the costumes, which were designed by the great Sandy Powell, and hit all the right notes for historical accuracy, character, and theme. While Powell often brings a twist to her designs, she went very straightforward here, noting, “I have done a few historically accurate things. Neil Jordan’s film Michael Collins is about actual events in the 1920s” (Jennifer Jenkins, “Dressing for drama,” Victoria 17/1, Jan. 2003: 44).
Since there’s a LOT of boys in the film, first let’s look at men’s dress from 1919-22, the focal years of the film. Luckily we have photos of the real people involved, so that makes things easy! World War I was just ending, and as a result, men’s clothing — usually three-piece suits including jacket, waistcoat, and trousers — tended to be relatively fitted with narrow-ish lapels, ties, and collars. Hats were still de rigeur when outside. Hairstyles tended to have a definite center or side part, and were shorter on the back/sides and longer (but not TOO long) in front.
We can also look at images of other men from this era:
The male characters are indeed in three-piece suits with hats, and the lines of the clothes suit the era:
Now let’s look at the ladies, more specifically, Julia Roberts as Kitty Kiernan. Here’s the real Kiernan:
Filling that out with some other period images, we can see that in 1919, women’s dresses were above ankle-length, somewhat loose but with a defined waist, and featured tunic overskirts and wide, pointed collars; hats were relatively wide with deep crowns. Hair hadn’t yet been bobbed, but was usually pinned up with some fullness over the ears.
By 1921-22, the waist COULD be lowered but not by much (if at all), dresses were even looser and hems were slightly shorter, and hats had narrowed a bit.
Have you seen Michael Collins? What’s your take on the costumes?
I want that green hat and coat in the last image!
Ditto!
Yes! I also want to see the whole movie again, both for the costuming and because I’d forgotten that there’s a whole quartet of divos: Dance, Neeson, Rea and Rickman.
Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Eamon de Valera was one of the reasons I couldn’t stand him. And then, of course, I saw him as Severus Snape. Ahh, that voice… Meanwhile, I didn’t realize Julia Roberts was that tall! I would barely come up to Liam Neeson’s chest (5ft. nothing). :)
Neeson is 6’4″ (swoon), Roberts is 5’8″. I’m guessing heels helped!
And hats! :)
Possibly a small stepladder or a well-made set of stilts to boot!
I quite enjoy the movie, performances, costumes, atmosphere. Stirring use of Elliot Goldenthal’s “Coda” which he actually wrote for Heat 1995 but didn’t get to use.
The account of Michael Collins’ death by a first hand witness (a soldier on Collins’ side) is slightly more chilling than in the film, but you have to wonder what sort of accounts existed at the time the movie came out.
One side bit of trivia is that British director John Boorman filmed a behind-the-scenes shot for his short in the series Lumière and Company (1995). Top name directors were given an actual vintage Lumière cameras and replica film stock and asked to make whatever with it (with some constraints). Boorman’s resulting footage in my opinion looks like genuine WWI-era footage if it weren’t for the modern actors. I think it’s a good demonstration that you can mimic the look of vintage film if you use genuine vintage material:
I remain sad that Mr Liam Neeson never managed to make LINCOLN with Mr Stephen Spielberg – he’d have fit the role quite superbly (Though in all fairness Mr Daniel Day Lewis is more than merely adequate as his replacement).
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MICHAEL COLLINS? I prefer to draw a veil of tactful silence over this era, so I’ll only say that the fact Mr Brendan Gleeson has played General Collins AND Sir Winston Churchill is one of the more amusing accidents of showbiz history.
I’ve never seen it. As an Irish person it seems like it would be a bit depressing with all the executions and assassinations.
Liam Neeson was at the height of teh Hotness (sic), here. Lordy.
(also, Charles Dance is still surprisingly ripped!)