mmallon4 Richard Burton hated this movie, calling is a "f***ing bloody, lousy, nothing film": I must strongly disagree. Ash Wednesday paints a haunting picture of a plastic surgery hospital, with patients walking around like zombies with bandages over their heads in a last desperate bid to be young again. As Keith Baxter's character puts it "we all simply refuse to accept reality". One moment during the film is in which a group of patients are playing cards; reminds me of the 'waxworks' scene from Sunset Boulevard. Realistic or not, this whole section of the movie is eerie and effective. Even after Elizabeth Taylor has left the hospital there is this continuing sense of unease, as if she has just sold her soul to the devil; helped in part by Maurice Jarre's music score. The movie's theme of fading beauty is made all the more poignant since its Elizabeth Taylor of all people doing the role.The first act of Ash Wednesday features graphic scenes of plastic surgery. Watching the film I didn't know if they were real or just really convincing special effects. Nope, it turns out it is real footage with skin being cut open and plenty of exposed flesh in close up detail. I do wonder who is actually under the knife in this footage but it is an effectively put together sequence in which I believed Elizabeth Taylor's character was the one undertaking plastic surgery. The opening credits of the film feature a series of cut and paste photographs of Elizabeth Taylor and Henry Fonda in an effort to make it appear they have been a married couple as they age over the years. Fonda being much older than Taylor in real life, these series of photos feature the two at the same age periods, so a photo of Fonda in the 30's will be cut and paste with a picture of Taylor from the 50's. It's not entirely convincing but is neat to look at.What I appreciate most about Ash Wednesday is just honest the storytelling is. Taylor's husband played by Henry Fonda simply doesn't love her anymore, there is no sexual attraction between the two them and they don't satisfy each other's needs anymore; yet he doesn't come off as a jerk getting these points across. Untimely the two learn to accept this but not without having an understanding of each other and move on with their lives.Ash Wednesday has yet to ever see the light of day on DVD, remaining VHS only.

jery-tillotson-1 "Ash Wednesday" from l973 marked Elizabeth Taylor's last glamour movie. After winning her Oscar for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe", Taylor was urged by new husband, Richard Burton, to take on more quirky roles that downplayed, and thus damaged, her phenomenal movie career as a legendary beauty. When she accepted the role of Barbara, an aging middle-aged socialite who goes to Switzerland to have a body lift, Burton was enraged that she would take such a "dumb" role. We have to laugh. Burton by now was notorious for picking roles that resulted in box office bombs, like "Exorcist II," "Bluebeard," "Under Milkwood", "Staircase," etc. "Ash Wednesday" was filmed at the luxurious resort village of Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy. Here we see a stunning Elizabeth Taylor--at last--clothed in knockout fashions from the hands of Edith Head. Beautiful gowns, robes of velvet, furs galore, hairstyles from Alexandre of Paris, rapturous photography by Ennio Guarnieri and best of all a one-of-a-kind white ermine costume to wear at the movie's mardi gras. Taylor's co-star was nearly as beautiful as she: Helmut Berger. Burton was convinced the two were having a real affair. Everyone laughed because it was known that the gorgeous Berger was the lover of Italian movie director Luchino Visconti. Taylor looks phenomenal throughout, with numerous loving closeups that show why the world had fallen in love with her. We have a beautiful musical score by Maurice Jarre but the biggest casting error is a glum, grim Henry Fonda who portrays her dull-as-dishwater husband. That male beauty, Rod Taylor of the '70s, would have been ideal. Producer Dominick Dunne wrote in his memoirs that there was more drama behind the scenes of this movie than in front it. Taylor and Burton had operatic confrontations over who was sleeping with who. He tried to physically prevent her from appearing on the set. The actress was often late, sometimes never showed up for work, overdosed several times--yet, none of this shows up on screen. "Ash Wednesday" is a movie to be treasured by Taylor fans--and we are in the millions--or anyone else who wants to see a fabulous beauty making her swan song to old-style glamour. She would never appear so uncannily beautiful again.

wc1996-428-366101 Apparently, Elizabeth Taylor hated being called "Liz" but that didn't stop Mike Todd from naming his plane "The Lucky Liz", the plane that crashed and killed him. After his death Elizabeth leased a home in Tucson a few blocks from where I lived but she never stayed there the crowds were so bad. A girl I was dating happened to see Elizabeth at her girlfriend's home in Tucson and said she was more beautiful than you could imagine. The girlfriend's parents were Loews - the people who owned MGM and Elizabeth hid out at their home until she was able to leave Tucson. The house Elizabeth rented was owned by a customer of my dad's company, a TV sales and service concern, and it was quite posh but nothing compared to what Elizabeth was used to. Years later when I was working in the industry I would meet Elizabeth and her husband, Richard Burton, in Mexico. It was quite an experience. Rumor has it that Burton did not want Elizabeth to make this film but I am glad she did. In one scene after another she never looked so beautiful and that's really what this film is about - looking at the most beautiful woman in the world.

xavrush89 Obviously, this sight recommends "Breast Men" as a suitable companion piece to this because of the cosmetic surgery angle. (I don't watch similar films together anyway.) To me, it is much more akin in spirit to "Shirley Valentine." Woman estranged from her husband in foreign country amidst beautiful scenery, a change of life, etc. For once, a woman having a co-star old enough to be her father actually works with the script! Taylor's acting here is more subtle than it had been in the previous decade, and it works. I could not relate to a woman who goes to such lengths for her husbands affection, but she is playing a woman of a bygone era, and almost twenty years older than she was at the time (the woman playing her daughter could easily have played her sister in another film). This is a very slowly paced film, but by golly you can't help but root for Taylor to find some solace, just like Shirley V. All of this leads up to an inevitable confrontation with her husband, and the movie keeps you guessing to the end what will happen between them. Was it worth it? I won't tell. Knowing what we now know about the kind of father and husband Henry Fonda was in real life can't help but taint the viewing of him in this role. But hey, they could've gotten Bing Crosby. All in all, I saw this movie on video about nine years ago, and as you can see it has stayed with me. So check it out, it beats the heck out of anything on Lifetime.