#lfreread

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insane dynamic. *drops him gently on the bank* "are you fucking stupid i could have fucking killed you and you're so fucking annoying i still might" "that was so cool how did you do that" "well you see..."

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a few years after his death already his appearance doesn't matter anymore, his transgressions and his crimes don't matter anymore, and what does? the ring, the proof he has loved. gnawing and biting

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erik switching from vous to tu with christine when she takes his mask off🫠

[eleancrvances]

never forget erik used that chandelier to murder someone for madame giry specifically

[eleancrvances]

see it's so very very important to me that raoul can play some violin, loves the same music as christine, that they have "the same calm and dreamy little cast of mind", that they both love ghost stories! they're so close, they have many things in common! and then as a teenager he has already learned class separates them. it's unfortunate but realistic that philippe loves his little brother very much but can only support his affection for christine as long as he thinks it's an unofficial flirt like his with la sorelli and marriage is out of the question. meanwhile raoul never stops loving her and looking for her, especially when she arrives at the opera, but never dares to take a step further (and christine wouldn't let him either, she too is aware of this and tells him later that though she loves him she knows marrying him would mean being accused of seducing him and ruining him, which she couldn't bear). and the thing is he manages to change! leroux starts the novel by telling us he has disappeared with christine, nobody knows where he is, he lost most of his riches, his name, his reputation, his brother (whom most people think he murdered, an accusation he never shows up to defend himself from even though we know he loved him tremendously), he gave up everything for her! and he was willing to help her leave paris even when he still thought she'd never marry him! he loved his brother but realized he had to reject his view of the world, and it's so very important he gets there. to live how he wants to live, with christine, he accepts he has to quit being the vicomte de chagny and return to being simply raoul. and of course: when he meets her again in ber dressing room he doesn't introduce himself with his title or name but as "the boy who went into the sea to fetch your scarf". (interestingly musical!raoul never seems concerned with the scandal his marrying christine would inevitably cause ("it's an engagement not a crime!"), he's clearly past that which, like, good for him and for us, but of course that takes away a huge part of his growth in the original story. the scandalous quality of their relationship is still there, but it's framed more as relatively harmless gossip ("the vicomte, her lover!", ""a chorus girl who's gone and slept with the patron") and it doesn't really impact their choices, there's never the sense either of them has to give up something while originally they gave up everything and basically went to live outside the narrative, outside society, not as alone and deep in the dark as erik was forced to go but still similarly to him)

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crazy that with that "horror!" i think leorux pretty much tells us exactly when in the duet christine tears erik's mask off (around minute 9.18 in this recording where the crescendo leads to desdemona repeating "orror, orror")... and well the duet in general is a crazy choice on his part (english translation under the cut)

O: ah! that face, despite myself, disarms the anger in my heart and awakens pity

D: for him i still feel in my chest, though unfair, a sweet affection, i still pity him

O: night for me fatal! fierce, cruel storm! increase with your lighting, with your horrible roar, increase my anger!

D: night for me fatal! fierce, cruel storm! you increase with your lighting, with your horrible roar, the heartbeat and the horror!

[eleancrvances]

a saga

[eleancrvances]

this is also so very interesting to me. at this point christine fully believes the voice she hears is indeed that of the angel her father sent her, and it's raoul's abrupt return in her life that leads to her beginning to realize it may actually be a man's voice, a living person's voice. she still isn't ready to believe that, later she cries again when raoul suggests someone might be tricking her. but her reaction here is so violent that clearly she has begun to doubt and it's all because raoul heard him too, and therefore a third element has entered the exclusive and secret relationship she had with the angel, immediately grounding it to reality, and therefore rattling the protective and idealized cocoon she'd built around it because she's still very much grieving her father... and then that very night raoul sees erik at daaé's grave! unmasked! before christine ever does! and thinks him the devil. all three of them are very intensely connected from the very beginning and raoul and erik are foiling so hardd