Saturday Star

Zozibini Tunzi overwhelme­d with emotion during last walk

- KIMAYA NARIANAN ALYSSIA BIRJALAL alyssia.birjalal@inl.co.za

IN A world where people are begrudging­ly confined to their houses due to a global pandemic, it would seem difficult for an audience in 2021 to identify with a protagonis­t living in self-imposed quarantine.

However, Anna Fox, the enigmatic lead character in Joe Wright’s The Woman in the Window – the muchtalked-about recent Netflix release – was able to capture this restless audience, with a deep dive into the psychology of entrapment, culminatin­g in an ending that will knock your socks off.

Based on the best-selling novel by AJ Finn, The Woman in the Window finally hit screens after its release was stymied by repeated delays for three years. The psychologi­cal thriller directed by Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Darkest Hour and Atonement) stars Amy Adams as the agoraphobi­c protagonis­t Anna, a troubled child psychologi­st who shares an equal love for large goblets of wine and old Hitchcock movies.

Living an imperturba­ble existence, Anna takes to observing her neighbours from her window, taking a particular interest in new arrivals, the Russells: Alistair (Gary Oldman), Jane (Julianne Moore) and their troubled 15-yearold son Ethan (Fred Hechinger). After Jane comes to visit, the two women develop an unseemly friendship over wine. One night, Anna sees a violent altercatio­n at the Russell house and witnesses Jane being murdered.

When she alerts the authoritie­s, everything starts to resemble a fevered dream. The cops inform her that Jane Russell is very much alive and unharmed. The Russells insist Anna has never met Jane and the woman they present as Jane is a completely different person to

SOUTH African beauty queen Zozibini Tunzi was overwhelme­d with emotion as she took her final walk as the reigning Miss Universe 2019.

Zozibini handed her crown to new Miss Universe Miss Mexico the one Anna drank wine with.

Although the movie follows the path of a typical thriller – a spiralling protagonis­t on a winding road seeking the truth, all building up to a whiplash-inducing twist – it’s the film’s brilliant cinematogr­aphy that’s the true charm. You’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a leading Broadway show. At times, the clever use of lighting, the positionin­g of

Andrea Meza.

She posted a picture of herself on her Instagram page, along with a descriptiv­e caption of how she felt.

“I think you can tell from my face the overwhelmi­ng emotion that came over me as I walked on that stage a final time as a reigning Miss Universe.

“I am reminded every day that my characters and a stunning monologue delivered by Adams could all easily have been part of a Broadway show.

The use of claustroph­obic lenses and confined shots fuel the entrapment narrative and viewers are taken down Anna’s dark rabbit hole as her devastatin­g truth is slowly unravelled. You cannot escape the sense of being in a doll house as the camera pans through Anna’s home or when she watches and journey wasn’t just mine alone. I want to thank you all.

“Thank you for welcoming me into your hearts and walking side by side with me on this very important chapter of my life. Once again… May every child who witnessed this moment believe in the absolute power of their dreams; Congratula­tions to @ runs commentary on her neighbours through one particular window.

This is Anna’s life, day in, day out … she just watches, too afraid to go out, but dying to know what’s going on. This is probably why Anna resonated with viewers. For the last year and a bit, we’ve also found ourselves bunkered down, confined to our homes, too afraid to step out … but still desperatel­y wanting to feel a part of something. andreameza­mx and Mexico! I wish you all the best of luck on your reign,” wrote Zozibini.

SA actress Thuso Mbedu, who stars in the Amazon Prime series The Undergroun­d Railroad, offered Zozibini words of encouragem­ent. “You’re amazing. We’ve been honoured to witness this part of your journey.”

EPSTEIN, the wealthy American financier and convicted sex offender found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019, is a stain Gates is finding impossibe to wash off.

Latest reports claim the software pioneer used Epstein’s connection­s to try to secure the Nobel Peace Prize.

Gates reportedly brushed aside Epstein’s 2010 child prostituti­on solicitati­on conviction because he believed the embattled financier could help him win the prize.

Norwegian newspaper Dnmagasine­t reported last October that Gates had arrived with Epstein to a March 2013 meeting at the home of then-nobel Committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland in Strasbourg, France.

The meeting drew renewed attention this week when an anonymous Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ex-employee told The Daily Beast: “He thought that Jeffrey would be able to help him, that he would know the right people, or some kind of way to massage things, so he could get the Nobel Peace Prize.”

A Gates spokespers­on denied the claim: “While a Nobel Prize would certainly be a great honour, it is false to state that Bill Gates was ‘obsessed’ with the honor, set it as a goal, or campaigned for it in any way.”

It also emerged that Gates took a number of meetings at the paedophile’s $77m mansion in New York where he used to complain about his “toxic” marriage.

One of the people who was at the meetings told the Daily Beast: “Going to Jeffrey’s was a respite from his marriage. It was a way of getting away from Melinda.”

A representa­tive for Gates disputed the claims, denying he received any marriage advice from Epstein or complained about his wife.

Melinda, on the other hand – after taking time to clear her head on a private $132 000-a-night island – has engaged estate and trust lawyers as part of her divorce team.

It is believed she aims to challenge Gate’s famous $10m-apiece inheritanc­e to his children. He has repeatedly said the rest of his vast wealth will go to charity.

High-profile divorce attorney Harriet Newman Cohen told Page Six: “Now that Melinda has control, maybe she wanted to leave more to her children than $10 million each.

“We see divorces for the reason that the mother wants to protect the children. She may be like every other woman, protecting her children.”

 ??  ?? THE psychologi­cal thriller stars Amy Adams as the agoraphobi­c protagonis­t Anna Fox.
THE psychologi­cal thriller stars Amy Adams as the agoraphobi­c protagonis­t Anna Fox.

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