Being a Claire Underwood fangirl makes it easy to see her charm

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Being a Claire Underwood fangirl makes it easy to see her charm

No spoilers. We're just shooting the breeze about what it is about Claire Underwood, the character on House of Cards, played fabulously by Robin Wright that's left, shall we say, viewers' appetites whetted

by

Nivriti Butalia

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Published: Fri 9 Jun 2017, 8:56 PM

Last updated: Fri 9 Jun 2017, 11:02 PM

In the latest season of House of Cards, Claire Underwood is shown to go for a run only once, in the gym of 'The White House'. She tries once more to head out an episode or two later. By then, there's a mob at the gates. She can't run outside. There's a shot of her wearing a black sporty jacket, zipped up, neck concealed, all set for cardio, when a Secret Service agent says, sorry ma'am, the grounds can't be secured tonight. She has to sweat it out indoors.
Not that they show her sweaty. But it's a relief to watch some hint of exercise. Lesser mortals, full of envy, can then logically explain to themselves how this woman, this on screen enigma, can look so utterly striking. Of course! Exercise! Duh. That explains everything! Except, of course, it doesn't.
In another scene, Claire explains to that red head, that iffy Jane character, why she chose the Rothko for her office. She looks at the painting and says, "You know it's pure feeling for me. Light versus dark and that line where they meet."
Why have I been a Claire Underwood fan since the first season of the Netflix series? The fifth season didn't show on Netflix UAE. Who cares why - channels and their money bids and their turf wars or whatever it is). Anyway. Back to Claire.
I've been trying to come up with what I like so much about Claire Underwood. I finished the latest season. Don't ask how.
A couple of nights ago, I couldn't help it, had to finish the last stretch of the 13 episodes of Season 5. By 1.30 am, and way past my bed time, I fortified myself with half a ripe banana, a portion-controlled bit of 90 per cent dark chocolate and two cups of green tea (or was it white?) to keep myself going, like a sprinter (like a wannabe Claire?), till the end of the season. I had to fight sleep to stay with the plot to watch what went down with Madame Vice President in the end. Did she become any cooler? More twisted, more complex? Any new evil dimensions revealed, anything more to swoon over?
In the first season, when Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey hit the screen playing first devils Claire and Frank Underwood, I was struck by how the on screen wife never called her husband Frank. All the Dems and other old crows of the Grand Old Party called him Frank. Claire stuck to 'Francis'.
She also stuck to pushing her shoulders down and back and clasping her hands, fingers laced, never clutching. When she shook hands, the camera frames the muscle outline of her forearm. How fit is this woman! How certain, how feminine.
That composure, the way she conducts herself, all steely, unwavering, inscrutable. Never mind the shadier attributes - Manipulative? Vengeful? 'Bad'? - which could, I guess, be a buzzkill. But it's not like she's shrill or nasal or overbearing, true buzzkills. You rarely see her laugh. But she does inhabit a certain look well.
Her grown-out hair this season gives her a softer look. Her clothes are elegant, no nonsense, all monochromes. I can't remember seeing her in prints. Or wearing pink. White blouses, fitted skirts, that off-shoulder gown. No bling for Madam Vice President. I love that she keeps her nails short, no nail polish, no jangling bracelets, basically zero scope for Deira traders of Gold Souk to even dream of sponsoring a quarter segment in ads, were there to be any ads.
There are compliments to be paid to the costume designer for draping winsome silhouettes. But she always wore black while running. Not that she needed the so-called slimming benefit of the colour. She could teach 20-somethings how to effortlessly balance a book on their heads. A leather-bound classic in those tantalising stilettos and look none the worse off for the mind-body co-ordination it takes to look that good and weigh in as vice prez. Much appreciation also for the way she spoke to Russan President, Petrov and put so many others in their place. At one point, she calmly calls her husband a child. At another, she compliments him, says you look presidential. He thanks her, only halfway returning the compliment: And you look vice presidential.
No spoilers here, but there are scenes with the, um, speechwriter, Tom Yates that stand out. To me, more than the lines delivered in that never-raised voice ("I'm tired, I'm going to bed," she tells Francis, spine an unbendy bamboo). Her presence is not about the dialogues. It's that intelligence, the way she moves, how she stands. Shoulders down, neck elongated, the posture of a... swan? Capoeira professora? Degas dancer 1.01? Whatever it is, it's alluring enough to keep you watching past bedtime on a school night.
Poor Melania, true Ralph Lauren-blue wearing Flotus. Okay, she can compete with Claire in flawless dressing. But what must she think of Claire, a role fabulously essayed by "late bloomer" Wright (she said it herself), who in an interview some years ago also said cutting her hair was the best thing she did.
In the last episode, there's a shot of Claire at the kitchen table at breakfast, a croissant on her plate. She doesn't touch it. They show her smoking once, not with Francis, as in the earlier seasons. In the rest of the show, it's like she doesn't eat, occasionally drinks, doesn't exercise much (or she does and we just don't see it). Whatever her on-screen fitness choices, you can't take your eyes off her. She, not Francis, rules the show. This season, anyway.
After finishing the show, I nursed withdrawals by pursuing the actor's Instagram page. It's not the same thing, of course. But what helps is that Robin Wright seems like a cool woman. Her activism in Congo, fighting for equal pay, as much as Kevin Spacey per episode (In 2014, Spacey used to reportedly make $500,000 an episode. In 2015, the buzz was that Wright was paid $420,000 an episode), heck, I even love her insta shot of a coconut filled with strawberries, and want to fit that in my diet.
In an article in Vanity Fair, Jodie Foster had all praise for Wright. Foster had directed her in one episode of House of Cards, and said she's "been talking up Robin Wright for 20 years-it's just so clear she's an amazing actress, one of the best we've got. But she was in movies that were not home runs."
All that's changed now. And as Foster says, Wright's finally "settled into a pair of shoes that were the ones that were always supposed to fit her."
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com
Nivriti watches too much TV and has an eye for the absurd


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