A Sangfroid Easily Set Ablaze

January 20, 2023 5:06 AM

Such moments also cut to the core of Carmela’s contradictory identity and fundamental dilemma as a frustrated homemaker with repressed desires, a loyal wife who has suffered endless slights from an adulterous husband she cannot bring herself to leave, a devout and conscience-stricken Catholic who owes the spoils of her upwardly mobile lifestyle to blood money and an endless cycle of immorality, and a smart, self-assured woman who has sacrificed all of her potential for a humdrum home life spent in the service of unappreciative spouse and spoiled kids. from How Edie Falco Made Carmela Soprano Matter [Hazlitt]

A Tribute to Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano [The New Yorker; ungated]
TV Rewind: Why Carmela Soprano Is Quietly One of TV's Most Frightening Characters [Paste]
How Carmela Soprano Became a Gen-Z Style Icon
I Couldn’t Imagine Being Happy. But I Could Imagine Being Carmela. [Vulture; ungated]

posted by chavenet (3 comments total)

Damn, people are rough on poor old Tone and Carm. You try being a mobster or a mobster's wife sometime and see how you do at it!

No, I get some of the points here but several of the authors seem to think that they have to explicitly position themselves as more morally pure and enlightened than a fictional gangster's wife. One of the pleasures of fiction is understanding people that we wouldn't get a chance to know--or might not want to know--in real life.
posted by kingdead at 6:33 AM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

That Hazlitt piece is excellent, excellent writing. Everything that needs to be said and nothing that doesn’t. Although I spend a lot of time watching TV and movies, I have never quite been able to put my finger on what makes a good actor and what makes a bad one (not counting the most extreme examples on the bad end), so I particularly like how Eng breaks down what makes Falco great, and really beyond great. I’d love to see a similar piece on Edie as Nurse Jackie, considering that she was clearly the focus of that show while Carmela was the costar of Sopranos, her remarkable performance in the latter notwithstanding.
posted by scratch at 8:33 AM on January 20, 2023 [6 favorites]

I'm here for any and all tributes to Falco, especially that Hazlitt one. She really is amazing at showing conflicted thoughts and nuanced emotions.
posted by harriet vane at 8:45 AM on January 21, 2023