31 thoughts on “MCM: Dominic West

  1. “Daw, I love a good silly top hat!”

    Absolutely! I wish they’d come back into fashion. I’m not even joking, someone bring back the topper for daily wear.

  2. Eh. I’ll acknowledge that he’s a handsome man. And he may even be a really nice person IRL. But he’s played so many scoundrels that my gut reaction on seeing him is always “nope”. He was especially unlikable in ‘The Wire’ (great performance, scumball of a character), and that sort of cast the die for me. I’m definitely still going to see ‘Les Miserables’ of course. (David Oyelowo! So swoonworthy! Have you done a MCM about him yet?)

      1. :kermit flail:

        He’s so dishy. I know he hasn’t done a ton of historical costume work, but I’ll take what I can get. :)

  3. I don’t know if I’d call his Mona Lisa Smile character ‘a very nice guy,’ since he slept with students and lied about his involvement with the war enough that Julia Roberts’ character dumped him.
    I mean, it’s mostly the sleeping with students thing that skeeves me, but at the same time, I get why the students would want to do it, he is very pretty.

    1. ooo, clearly it’s been too long since I saw that movie — and I’m not gonna rewatch it, thanks for the correction!

    2. Nods vigorously. About the sleeping with students being skeevy.

      I have a lot of issues with that whole movie, but I find it very discuss-able. I wish I had seen it in college when I could debate with people about it or write a paper on it. Now if I ask, “Have you seen Mona Lisa Smile?” I get either, “No,” or “Yes, I love that movie!” and I’m like, “Oh, I generally dislike the movie and want to discuss the choices and motivations of the characters.” Somehow no one will take me up on this! :p

      1. You are not alone.

        I really loathe that movie and find virtually all the characters wildly unsympathetic except for Julia Stiles’ and Gennifer Goodwin’s. And probably the University President, played by the magnificent Marian Seldes, although she does have an alarming tendency to cave.

        I can never tell if I am supposed to actually like Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ostensibly wildchild libertine iconoclast, or find her pitiable and Kirsten Dunst’s character’s late comeuppance and, sorta rehabilitation actually made me lose whatever respect I had for her.

      2. I was a history grad student when Mona Lisa Smile came out, and I’ve always wondered if the lying about his WWII experiences was inspired by the 2001 revelation that Joseph Ellis, history professor at the all women’s Mount Holyoke college in MA, had been lying to his students about fighting in Vietnam while teaching classes about said war: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/21/opinion/the-lies-of-joseph-ellis.html

        And as a current professor, sleeping with your students is decidedly a bad idea!

          1. Kate D, Sam, Sarah, Abby: I haven’t watched “Mona Lisa Smile” all the way through, so I can’t comment on its merits or demerits as a whole. I found it to be slow, and I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. I stopped watching it with the intention to try it again when I was in the “right mood” for it, but alas that right mood never came. Your comments make me want to give it another try.

            A few years ago, I stumbled on a 2009 movie called “Cracks” starring the always-beautiful Eva Green. The movie is adaptation from a novel of the same name by Sheila Kohler (which I haven’t read). Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed “Cracks.” The movie set in the 1930’s in an elite British boarding school (which is different from the novel which I’ve read is set in South Africa). The dynamic is somewhat different from “Mona Lisa Smile” because the students in “Cracks” are younger (equivalent to freshmen and sophomores in US high school).They form a clique around their young, beautiful, dynamic swim instructor played by Eva Green. For me, this movie was everything that the 30 – 40 minutes I saw of “Mona Lisa Smile” was not. I highly recommend it.

            Added bonuses: The musical score to the film is gorgeous, and it was directed by Jordan Scott, daughter of Ridley Scott.

            1. I should add that “Cracks” and “Mona Lisa Smile” are not equivalents not only because of the differences in the characters’ ages. “Cracks” is a very disturbing yet well-done psychological thriller. My fuzzy memory of “Mona Lisa Smile” is that was a (polite?) period piece that examined women’s roles in the 1950s.

  4. I think you should do a post on your favorite d.i.l.f s (dads I’d like to fuck/ dad characters who are still sexy as hell) because I think West as Jean Valjean is definitely going to be in that category.

  5. There’s super sexy (short) scene from Richard III where he is just about to consummate his hasty political dynasty-founding marriage to Elizabeth of York (the old kings daughter) where you can see his really cute, young tushie.

  6. Oooh, I was slightly interested in seeing the new BBC/PBS production, not I’m very interested! I wish more of these films would come across the pond since I don’t subscribe to BBC America.

  7. I’m definitely a fan of Mr. Cooper, though I do weary of seeing him typecast as villains. At least he got to play a more nuanced and unusual kind of baddie in Responsible Adult–a horrifying character but with a cuddlier affect. But I truly love him in The Awakening. It’s a movie about loneliness as much as ghosts, and he gets to show a sensitive, tormented side that pushes (or unfastens) all the right buttons for me.

  8. I don’t really know DW very well, but it was fascinating to see this go up and realize he was the person a friend was talking about who apparently has a very strange understanding of Javert’s motivations for continuing to hunt Valjean, namely that it was erotic. So in my mind he’s now a pretty face mainly, and I look forward to the David Oyewolo MCM, as I imagine he has a much deeper understanding of his character’s motivations than “Jean Valjean is hot.”

  9. “And chewable shoulders :P”…😂 I think I’ve finally found the title of my sex tape
    Thanks FrockFlicks

  10. I’ve been crunching on Dominic West since “Richard III.” He is a great combination of sexy and handsome, which is rare, in my opinion. He looks so wonderful in all the pictures you selected here, but I find him the most irresistible in his small role in “28 Days.”

    ….fans self!!

    “Collette” played for 2 minutes in my local theater, and I missed it. This MCM post just reminded me to bump it up on my movies to watch list.

  11. I find him slightly creepy and he looks a little perverted somehow.
    Now, of course, we have his shenanigans with Lily James, which is kinda how I saw him prior. Hated him in The Affair…skeevy.

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