New Pre-Raphaelite Sightings (An Education, Cashback, Me Without You)

New sightings to add to the ever-growing list of Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings in movies or television.  Via this blog’s Facebook page, Alexandrion Drallipo has sent me two screen caps from An Education, a movie that several people have recommended to me. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s languishing in my Netflix queue. I hope to watch it soon.

I also want to thank Alexandrion for sharing — I’m sorry it has taken so long for me to post them! The first image shows The Tree of Forgiveness by Burne-Jones in the background. And in the second we can see a painting I have quite strong feelings for: The Beguiling of Merlin (also Burne-Jones):

Kirsty Stonell Walker sent me a treasure trove of sightings! First, from the movie Cashback (recommended by our mutual friend Grace) IMDB describes Cashback : “After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild. “

The Bridesmaid by Millais is in the opening scene!

Kirsty’s next sighting is from Me Without You. Here’s a description (again from IMDB): “Growing up in the 1970s on the Isle of Wight, Holly and Marina make a childhood pact to be friends forever. For the troubled, unpredictable Marina, with her seemingly glamorous father and her Valium-addicted mother, Holly stays the only constant in a life of divorcing parents, experimental drugs and fashionable self-destruction. Meanwhile, Holly buries herself in books out of feelings of frustration with her over-protective mother and a nagging insecurity around her beautiful and possessive best friend. She holds just one secret from Marina, her increasing passion for Marina’s brother Nat. As the years roll by, the girls experience everything life has to offer, sex, love, loss and rock ‘n roll. But eventually for Holly, a friendship which has never been equal gradually begins to feel like a trap. “

I would love to know who designed this set and what other projects they’ve worked on, because it’s filled with Pre-Raphaelite goodies in what looks like a pretty accurate portrayal of a 1970s teenage bedroom:

Notice the Alma Tadema painting just behind her.

In the left corner, we can see Rossetti’s Astarte Syriaca. And to the right, on the opposite wall, we see not one, but two Ophelias! One by Hughes, the other Millais.

On the door we can see Rossetti’s posthumous tribute to his wife, Beata Beatrix.

Pasted collage-style on her mirror are two images from Rossetti’s The Bower Meadow. I think the lower cut-out of Jane Morris is also Astarte Syriaca.

There is no Pre-Raphaelite painting in the screen cap above. But, come on! It’s very Pre-Raphaelite, reminiscent of a dryad?

On the door is The Golden Stair by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. To the right, on the wall, is another painting. There’s a glare, so I’m not entirely certain, but it looks like it could be from the Briar Rose/ Sleeping Beauty series (also Burne-Jones).

Just above her is Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs.

Below her, to the left, is Waterhouse’s Lady of Shalott. Above her, to the right, is Rossetti’s Proserpine.

Just behind her is Ophelia by Arthur Hughes.

On the bulletin board, we see an assortment of Pre-Raphaelite postcards (Monna Vanna, The Beloved, Beata Beatrix and Proserpine).