A gentleman

This topic will seem a bit deviant, but it'll connect back to wine. I promise. I'm an economics major, making obscure connections is what we do.

Lately, I've rewatched two movies, 'The Last Emperor' and 'Troy'. What do they have in common? Well, they're both historical pictures, and they both feature Peter O'Toole. Let's examine each one seperately and combine our findings.

The Last Emperor. This movie was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987, starring John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O'Toole. It won 9 Oscars, the most important being Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Music. It detailed the crowning of Aisin Gioro Puyi, the last Qing Dynasty emperor of imperial China. I watched it when I was young, several years ago, but I'm understanding it on a completely different level now. The performance that struck me the most was that by O'Toole, who played Reginald Johnston, the Emperor's tutor.

Johnston was Scottish. In the film, it shows him as someone who is deeply distrustful of the imperial system, yet somehow empathizes with Puyi. And the film casts Puyi in a very sympathetic manner, from his crowning to when he became little more than a running dog for the Japanese to when he was tried by the Communists as a war-criminal. O'Toole's performance was stunning. Quietly powerful and subtle, his eyes and facial expressions say it all. One of my favourite lines is when he says, "It's a matter of words, perhaps, but words are important. If you cannot say what you mean, then you will never mean what you say. And a gentleman should always mean what he says." To which Puyi asks him, "Are you a gentleman?" O'Toole answers, "I would like to be a gentleman, your Majesty. I try to be." A sublime performance, which definitely is the brightest part about this movie. If you're doing a biopic about Chinese history, don't you think the least you could do is find decent Chinese actors and do the whole film in Mandarin with subtitles? Instead of finding these Americanized Chinese people who butcher lines in their fake Asian accents? Come on!

Troy was also a film that O'Toole stars in. He plays King Priam, king of Troy. Again, he gives a muted, subtle, performance. He doesn't need to do much - his presence overwhelms anyone who's in the scene with him. His mannerisms are majestic, regal. And when he begs Achilles for the body of his son, there's heartbreak in his voice, for sure, but also this steely pride, one of honour and respect.

So what does this have to do with wine? A lot. Peter O'Toole, as an actor, displays what every great wine should show. Not something overtly overpowering or obvious, but something nuanced and subtle. Thats the word for today - subtle. Great wines demand your respect. They don't whore themselves at you. So what if you can taste the distinct fruit flavours, the oak, and describe in great detail how it finishes. What's important is that the wine has an identity.

In both films, O'Toole plays vastly different characters. But his identity as a person comes through in each performance. Can a wine have a distinct identity? Absolutely. The mark of a great wine, to me, is how it reveals itself, little by little. How it has the ability to transport you, how it goes beyond being a drink. When you drink, say a Rhone, can you picture yourself sitting in a cafe, in the South of France, drenched in sun? Does drinking a great Bordeaux make you picture what it'd be like drinking in a dark, musty chai surrounded by barrels? Recall what Proust said - that with a single bite of a madeleine, his entire childhood came flooding back. Wine may not trigger any childhood memories for me, but great wine has the ability to transport me to somewhere else. Romantic, isn't it?

I know I'm beginning to ramble. I understand if this doesn't make sense, because I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into words at the moment. But please, know that there's more to wine than being able to distinguish all the smells and flavours. Sure, it'll seem impressive if you announce that you can smell cherry, cassis, and the nuttiness of an edam cheese. But what do I keep saying? Wine is an experience, and when you come across that special bottle, it is truly spiritual.