Confessions of a Closet Romantic – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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(This episode contains spoilers).

I only have a few more episodes to go, but this series so far is refreshing, delightful and vicariously quite healing. As a middle child, Mary Bennet has never been the star or even costar of any Pride and Prejudice adaptation, rather an outcast and object of ridicule. But in this reimagining of the story, Mary finally emerges as swan from her oppressive existence at Longbourn, becoming the main character in her own life as she takes a new job in London. Turns out she's a smart, sweet thoughtful woman with tons to offer the world, and desires of her own, and I can't wait for her happy ending.

"We should sweep away these old tired rules..."

This scene could easily turn the most hardened heart into a poetry lover.

"What if Mary Bennet’s life took a different path from that laid out for her in Pride and Prejudice? What if the frustrated intellectual of the Bennet family, the marginalized middle daughter, the plain girl who takes refuge in her books, eventually found the fulfillment enjoyed by her prettier, more confident sisters?" This sounds like a great idea for a book and a show.

Brief but interesting interview with Ella Bruccoleri on playing Mary Bennet

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(This episode contains spoilers)

I have been in the worst romance novel slump for ages, but Bridgerton Season 4 has restored that glorious, lush fantasy feeling from all of my favorite romance books. We know the destination of romantic tropes, but we don't know how each journey is going to go, which is part of the fun. Luckily, the Bridgerton production team knows at this point just how to spin a romantic story to stir our anticipation and our hearts in the most delicious way.

Bridgerton S4 is based on An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn.

"I'm charting an adventurous course! You're a rake!" 

A scene by scene breakdown of all the instrumental pop covers in S4.

And a tease about S5.

Fun interview with Bridgerton S4 writer/showrunner Jess Brownell on The Screenwriting Life podcast (talk of the show starts approximately 23:00).

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I found these poignant movies on a search for something else, and couldn't take my eyes off either one — they are stunners. Lyrical direction and pacing, spare soundtracks and understated, nuanced performances float gentle light layers of meaning into every scene in each of these stories. They're soulful, profound at times, revealing the struggles and authentic moments of connection in these women's lives.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

Pamela Anderson is a revelation as The Last Showgirl.

The Lido de Paris that Shelly mentions as the inspiration for Le Razzle Dazzle revue.

The modern showgirl wasn’t born in Las Vegas, but she was perfected there. 

As usual, the dated trailer is trash, so here's one of my favorite scenes from Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her.

Director Rodrigo García has quite the interesting lineage and résumé.

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My current fantasy bedroom is full of steam & kink. I'm in the mood, people, so let's read-aloud from some of the hottest, kinkiest romances I've ever read! It's hard to find this level of heat, consent, care AND happy-ever-after on screen, but romance writers have got you covered.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

The Psychology of Sexual Kink at The Swaddle is a must read.

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a nonprofit membership organization that advocates for consenting adults in the kink and non-monogamy lifestyles by fighting discrimination and persecution.

In case you were curious: Vice lists the top five kinks in the US. And here are the results of a 2015 survey of sexual diversity in the US.

Clips

I love the Netflix show Easy for so many reasons, but mostly because it's chock full of humor, relatable relationship issues and sex positivity. The writing is smart, and the ensemble cast is fantastic, too.

Calling all musical theater geeks: Schmigadoon! will be catnip for your soul.

Fifty Shades of Grey is the kink granddaddy of them all. This movie is a comfort re-watch for me.

Hot Stuff

The gorgeously smutty Serve series, set in an exclusive NYC BDSM club, was my introduction to kink in romance and it's a doozy.

Melt Into You is the scorching-hot Book 2 in the  Loving on the Edge series, set at a private, exclusive BDSM ranch in Texas.

Sugar Daddies.  Daddy Crush.  Y'all. Y'ALL.

Neon Gods is Book 1 in the steamy, sexy Dark Olympus series.

The erotic short stories by women & erotic podcasts round-ups from Oprah Daily are chock full of kinky, sexy, hot AF goodness.

Erotica flash fiction writer JM Seaborn writes dirty, smut-hot stories featuring daddy kink and dominant/submissive scenes.

The evolution of a kink is a fascinating read, full of compassion, sex positivity and acceptance.

The explicit female-gaze audio porn from Girl on the Net is super well-done and classy, and it probably doesn't hurt that she narrates with a British accent.

Love Bytes Originals offers high-quality short form audio romance and erotica. Their stories bring "heart, heat and humor" and their professional team of narrators are fantastic. It includes one of my favorite romance audiobook narrators, Emily Woo Zeller.

I haven't signed up for Audio Desires yet -- "erotic audio stories for women and couples" -- but oh, I want to.

Cosmo magazine was writing about girl power and sex positivity way before it was cool. So leave it to them to develop the Complete Beginner's Guide to Fisting.

Kinkly is a one-stop kink info shop.

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Does a bad boy or villain hero give you a bit of a thrill? A little tingle? Dark romance unsettles me, but there's something reassuring and  protective in the gentle villain/noble demon, who chooses any means to the end of protecting you from hurt and harm. They'll burn down the world for you when needed--and what's not to love about that?

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

More on the Morality Pet and Morality Chain tropes at tvtropes.org. Every aspect of these story tropes fascinates me and I can spend hours following the links on this site.

You can find my guest listener Monique at the fantastic Her Entrepreneurial Spirit podcast.

Movies/TV Shows

Watching the characters in Dangerous Liaisons out-evil each other is delicious up to a point, but it ends with most of the players' lives in tatters.

The Talented Mr. Ripley with its glamorous 1950s Italian setting, is so charming at first: you watch rich, beautiful young people living an indulgent, luxurious lifestyle. But it quickly devolves into tragedy, and by the end, this story seriously creeped me out.

My best friends on the block had Grease on VHS and I lost count of the number of times we watched it.

The setting, plot and main characters of French Kiss make it one of the most delightful rom coms of the 90s.

The bit that I watched of Shadow and Bone was excellent, but I need training wheels before I can get into most world building like this.

Books

If you enjoy world building, the sexy, sweeping and captivating fantasy-romance series  Blood and Ash is wildly popular for a reason.

Return Billionaire to Sender is part of the Billionaires of Manhattan series by Annika Martin, and they're not your typical arrogant, hot rich guy romances. Every one I've read has been full of clever banter and plotting, funny, sharp heroines and sexy bad boys who adopt them as morality pets only to become the better men they were always meant to be.

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These funny, sharp TV shows written by women knock fat- and mental illness shaming on its behind, and tell stories of hard-won self-acceptance instead. It's about embracing our deepest desires and the person we are, not who They say we should be. It's about romancing yourself. CW: mentions of body shaming, anti-fat bias, mental illness, and briefly, abortion, weight loss and suicide ideation.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

I paraphrased the gorgeous Mary Oliver poem, The Summer Day.

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance fights the discrimination that one third of the world experiences on a daily basis.

TV Shows

Shrill is one of the most joyous TV shows about anti-fat bias and body acceptance that I've ever seen. It's fun but also smart and thoughtful, and much of that is due to the charming performance of Aidy Bryant as Annie. The show is produced by Elizabeth Banks and Lorne Michaels, so funny rules, but always with that trademark light touch and satirical bite.

How do I count the many ways I love This Way Up? From its overall tone to the hilarious writing and often poignant performance of Aisling Bea as Aine, just trying to recover from a nervous breakdown while keeping her sense of humor intact, it's such a funny but insightful journey down the messy road to self acceptance.

Dietland pulls zero punches in its depiction of fat shaming and the difficulty in accepting yourself in a critical, mean and often abusive male-dominated world. Their solution might not be the most realistic, but it's certainly satisfying.

The Bold Type is a glossy modern take on holding onto your self-esteem and self-worth while operating within the Global Female Dissatisfaction Industrial Complex.

Books

In the acerbically funny memoir Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman sticking up for yourself means amusing yourself at the same time. Lindy West covers how to keep your sanity while "coming of age in a culture that demands women be as small, quiet, and compliant as possible -- like a porcelain dove that will also have sex with you."

Dietland is a crazy ride, a feminist subversive fantasy that "guarantees you won't look at a pair of stilettos or a bathroom scale the same way again."

Muffin Top by Avery Flynn is one of the sexiest, most fat-positive romances I've ever read. Marie Lipscomb's Vixens Rock series features gorgeous curvy heroines and big, burly (and hot) heroes.

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It's the first anniversary of this podcast! Turns out, I'm even more in love with romantic TV shows, movies and books one year on. And still feel no shame--mostly--crushing on romance. So in support and love for the genre, let's revisit some of the lushest, most romantic, and rom com funny movie scenes evah. Cue the gushing.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

Movies/TV Shows

The scenes featured in this episode are from just a few of my all-time favorite romantic movies & shows:

Outlander, especially the first season, is a must for anyone who loves stirring, romantic epics. It's based on the massive series of adventure romance books by Diana Gabaldon.

The "official" trailer for Something's Gotta Give says nothing about the sweet, sexy honesty of the age & sex positive romance between Harry Sanborn and Erica Barry, played by Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. Any Nancy Meyers rom com is a must see.

What more can I say about this classic, groundbreaking rom com? It's in my Romance Hall of Fame, and I've quoted from it throughout much of my life.

Ditto for this classic rom com. Another personal Romance Hall of Fame entry. It's no surprise that Nora Ephron and Meg Ryan were involved with both movies.

Moonstruck is a romantic comedy, a poetic and sexy look at the whims of love, and a meditation about the importance of family (or found family) in grounding you when you feel lost.

Laurence Olivier often chewed the scenery and was quite the ham, but he was never more moving than in this scene from the 1939 movie Wuthering Heights, based on the novel by Emily Brontë.

I featured the rom com Book Club in my Love, Sex and Romance--After 40 Edition episode, and I adore its age and sex positivity.

I'm going to feature Trainwreck in an upcoming episode because I love the humor, honesty and bravery of Amy Schumer's writing and acting.

I featured Destination Wedding in an early episode and its banter and wit put this in my Top 5 Modern Rom Coms.

Books

If you're recovering from romance shame, Dangerous Books for Girls is a fascinating look at the history of the romance genre, why it's so important to women, and why it has been mocked for so long. And most importantly, why you shouldn't feel bad about escaping into its stories.

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There's nothing more intimate than a letter, card, text or message written for your eyes only. The epistolary novel has been popular for centuries, and romantic stories using this device can feel like the best kind of eavesdropping.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

Movies/TV Shows

The script for Love & Friendship takes Jane Austen's epistolary novel Lady Susan to new heights. I always call this director "Will Stillman" but it's Whit.

84 Charing Cross Road will always have a special place in my heart. The book and movie are delightful.

Daddy Long Legs has it all: So playful and Parisian! The costumes! The music! Slightly inappropriate with the age-difference trope!

Kevin Bacon plays the titular character in I Love Dick and the whole thing is a visually fascinating, messy, complicated look at desire.

I find most Hallmark movies insipid, but the lead actors' chemistry, locations and script for Her Pen Pal made it super enjoyable.

Books

You can read Lady Susan by Jane Austen on Project Gutenberg.

I cried multiple times while reading the romance-novel-in-text Way Down Deep. The ending felt a bit rushed to me, but it's an HFN and the characters are beautifully fleshed out despite learning about them in short messages. Their emotional journeys are unbelievably compelling.

From the smart banter and hilarious plot, to the funny heroine and gorgeous grumpy hero, The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl is one of the best romances I've read this year. Can't wait to read the whole series.

In Flashed, a former male model and party boy gets in a near-fatal accident and hides away at his secluded ranch. He reluctantly hires a local art student as his live-in cook and housekeeper with one rule--she’s not allowed to see him. So she resorts to texting him.

Stay is about an exclusive virtual assistant service that promises its VIP clients anonymity--until the owner figures out that the customer sending her mildly flirty texts requiring her attention at all hours is a hot hockey superstar. 

The World Needs More Love Letters is a wonderful letter writing project.

The Penpalooza penpal project started in Spring 2020 as a way to connect people during the pandemic, and now has more than 10K members.

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The sweet, sexy romantic cinnamon roll: there's no better hero in all of Romancelandia. Let's explore this gooey hearted, tender fictional confection and why this character brings all the feels.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

The Onion article that inspired the whole thing.

Movies/TV Shows

Ashton Kutcher was a sweet doofus in That 70s Show and he grew up to be the hot cinnamon roll of No Strings Attached.

The opposites-attract romance of Long Shot only works because of the sweet, relatable cinnamon roll that is Seth Rogen.

You only have to see a few scenes from Ted Lasso to get the quirky, gooey, warmhearted charm of this series.

Bill Hader is the best cinnamon roll ever in Trainwreck.

Hugh Grant and his group of kind-hearted friends in Notting Hill qualify as one huge cinnamon roll.

The 40 Year Old Virgin has the usual Judd Apatow bro excesses, but cinematic cinnamon rolls Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd keep things mostly tender and sweet.

Luke Wilson loving and helping Sarah Jessica Parker fly her freak flag in The Family Stone epitomizes the cinnamon roll hero.

Books

Ren Bergman is the sweet, soft hero of Always Only You, the second book in the Own Voices Bergman Brothers romance series by Chloe Liese. Every single Bergman brother is a cinnamon roll, and this entire series is so diversity-and-disability-positive it just warms the heart. 

The heroes in Kate Clayborn's books Love Lettering and Love at First are tender-hearted, introverted, intellectual geeks, and I don't think there's a better combination. Featured in the Intimate Worlds episode. 

Marie Lipscomb writes body-positive romances. and the plus-sized hero and heroine in Amped, her third and latest book in the Vixens Rock series, are kind, caring and absolutely irresistible.

The cinnamon roll hero of The Sweetest Fix is a baker who can bake cinnamon rolls and other treats at his NYC bakery, making this story a cinnamon roll meta-experience. He's also a big, burly, sexy dirty talker, as only the best Tessa Bailey heroes can be.

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Intimacy and love can be found in the most unexpected places. In sci-fi and fantasy-tinged romance, that means online, offline, synthetic or organic, from a lab, with creatures on earth or heaven above. Open hearts find love everywhere.

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

Movies/TV Show

Her inspires so many questions: what is true intimacy? Is love chemistry, an accident of fate or a created experience? It's visually interesting, the sound design is stunning, the acting is superb, and the script is thought-provoking. Its multi-talented director Spike Jonze won an Academy Award for the screenplay. Many have taken a stab at analyzing this intriguing movie.

City of Angels is based on the 1987 Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire. It's a much less complex, but still beautiful--if tragic--love story. Meg Ryan was in her prime, and Nicolas Cage was never better (excepting Moonstruck of course).

I wrote a whole college paper on Wings of Desire. There's so much to unpack in this beautiful film, especially the idea of beings on another astral plane witnessing, supporting and loving human beings through their desires, fears and earthly suffering.

Upload is a heartwarming dramedy series that imagines a subscription-based virtual afterlife, except "Heaven" is a luxury mountain resort that you could probably never afford while alive, complete with angel-like customer service reps. The central romance between an angel and her digital charge is the slowest of slowburns, and when they finally express their love for each other, the series ends. They're planning a S2, so hopefully we get more of this couple.

Book

Sci-fi and fantasy romance is a brand new thing for me, and I was shocked at how much I loved the sci-fi romance Tangled Wires. The tone of this book is as cool and smart as I'd imagine a human-android relationship might be, and there's a fascinating plot twist, too, to prove we're not always in charge of experience--or love.

Well, leave it to the academics to be buzzkills about love :) This multi-year metaphysical philosophy project attempts to define love: Emotion? Experience? Desire? Biological urge? 

The old-school modem sound effect in this episode is used under a Creative Commons license from freesound.org.

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