Hyperreal Film Club
Source of Quote
RECEIVED Fri., Oct. 10, 2003
To the Editor:
Marc Savlov is a few centuries and several light-years short of the mark. In his review of Tarantino's new film Kill Bill, he credits some ancient Klingon Aesop, quoted by Khan/Montalban in Star Trek II, as the source of the proverb, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." Khan/Montalban was surely well read enough to know that the proverb is from the 1782 book Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803). It's even better in the original French: "La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid." Surely Tarantino had in mind the 1988 movie in which Uma Thurman played the cloistered virgin whose seduction before her wedding day was schemed by John Malkovich and Glenn Close. It's about time she came back for her revenge.
Marc Savlov is a few centuries and several light-years short of the mark. In his review of Tarantino's new film Kill Bill, he credits some ancient Klingon Aesop, quoted by Khan/Montalban in Star Trek II, as the source of the proverb, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." Khan/Montalban was surely well read enough to know that the proverb is from the 1782 book Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803). It's even better in the original French: "La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid." Surely Tarantino had in mind the 1988 movie in which Uma Thurman played the cloistered virgin whose seduction before her wedding day was schemed by John Malkovich and Glenn Close. It's about time she came back for her revenge.
Yours,
Davida Charney
Davida Charney
[Ed. note: In Kill Bill, Tarantino credits the Star Trek movie for the quote.]