Sunday, September 23, 2018

we interrupt this walk to bring you... a little girl with a story

There's a classic line from Dumbledore in the sixth Harry Potter movie. It occurs in the scene in which Ron murmurs while slowly recovering from a swig of poisoned alcohol. The name Ron murmurs is "Hermione," not the name of the girl he's currently dating: Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave, by the way, is absolutely hilarious in that role, and she's a big reason why "Half-blood Prince" is one of my top two favorite Potter films). Lavender, who has been waiting by Ron's hospital bed, whimpers dramatically and runs off. Dumbledore, who witnesses this, utters a line that gets me every time: "Oh, to be young, and to feel love's keen sting." Dumbledore's detached, sarcastic delivery is full of amusement and utterly devoid of sympathy for Lavender. It's a wonderful character moment brought to us by the great Michael Gambon (who replaced the late-and-also-great Richard Harris) as the Hogwarts headmaster.

I thought of Dumbledore's line while watching the following video:


This little chickadee has a big career in drama ahead of her.



1 comment:

Charles said...

That scene, along with Dumbledore's line, is unique to the film--one of the many instances where I think the films improve on the books.