[The Saucepan Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Arwen is nearly 3000 years old; you expect her to have commensurate presence, dignity, and wisdom. You want to have someone in the role who can project a little life wisdom and the feeling that she’s been around the block a time or two, you know? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Ah, Mister Underhill, I believe that you have put your finger on just how I feel about, not just Liv Tyler's performance, but the portrayal of Elves generally in the films.<P>I too think that she was fine in FotR. She only had a few lines, prior to the chase to the ford (a sequence which I personally think looks great - I am not one who mourns the absence of Glorfindel in the films) and then again briefly at Rivendell, but to me she looked the part and delivered her lines well (in both English and Elvish). Mind you, at that point, I had not read the books for many many years and had not really noticed her much as a character then, so I didn't have a lot of preconceptions.<P>I too am less convinced of her performance in TTT. I do not begrudge her her scenes. She has been brought out as one of the key characters, necessarily so in my opinion if Aragorn's "rejection" of Eowyn is to make any sense to a (non-book reading) film audience and if their wedding at the end is to have any meaning for said audience. So it was equally necessary that she feature in TTT, and I personally am quite glad that she stayed put in Rivendell rather than riding out to do battle at Helm's Deep (as was apparently originally planned). Of course, Jackson and co didn't have much to go on for the scenes in Rivendell. I agree that they could have been better scripted, but they are not one of my major gripes about the film. If anything, I am more distressed by the portrayal of Elrond as a selfish and domineering father.<P>You are right that, as an actress, she lacks the depth to portray a 3000 year old Elf. But for me, that is true for most of the "Elvish" actors in the films. I mean, for all his boyish good looks, "cool" stunts and obvious fan base, Orlando Bloom is hardly the best actor in the world (certainly not the most experienced). In my opinion, he certainly does not have the depth, quality or experience convincingly to portray an Elven Prince. Not even Cate Blanchett quite gets there, although she makes a good fist of it. Indeed, the only actor who gets close to portraying a convincing Elf for me is Hugo Weaving. Unfortunately the Elf he portrays is not Elrond (well not my conception of Elrond from the books, anyway). As for the other "bit-part" Elves, any attempt to portray their "other-worldly" nature seems to have involved using rather effeminate actors in long blonde wigs. <P>The problem, I think, is that Elves are an ancient and wonderous race. Human in appearance and yet not human. And, for that reason, I think that it is extremely difficult for any actor, even a very experienced and skilled one (which neither Liv nor Orli are), to portray them as those of us who have read the books imagine them to be. However much lighting effects might be used to bathe them in a radiant glow, or SFX might be used to make them seem superhuman, they are still manifestly human.<P>Now this is not going to be an issue for the majority of people who go to see these films. As long as Orli looks good, shoots his arrows heroically and does the odd bit of somersaulting and shield surfing, and as long as Cate and Liv are beautiful and wear gorgeous dresses, they will not mind. For me, it is an issue only to the extent that the Elves that I saw on the screen were not the Elves that I imagined in my head. But, then again, neither were Frodo, Faramir, Merry, Pippin, Gimli and countless others the characters that I encounter when I read the books. Since I have got to the stage now where I can divorce the films from the books and enjoy them for what I consider them to be - great films - these things do not really bother me anymore. My point is, however, that it seems unfair to single Liv Tyler out for her inabilty to portray a convincing Elf when few of the "Elvish" cast are able to do so either.<P>And no, it matters not a jot to me what she, or any other members of the cast, do in their private lives, or what other films they have been in previously. When we are talking about their performances in the LotR films, we should of course judge them on those performances alone.