Inglourious Basterds keeps growing as not only a favorite QT film, but as one of my faves period, for quite a few reasons not the least of which it shows off one of my favourite things abt QT ...for actors he allows. ..

I dont know much abt his routine but I know tht since he started out I've rarely seen a director his match for pulling some of the most free ranging, interesting, life giving performnces from folk whom otherwise we might not hve ever seen or whom the business already gave up on

In inglourious the obvious is Christolph who gives a masterclass in politeness and civility as cruelty in disguise, but what about Melanie Laurent, (an accomplished French actress who the rest of America still doesn't know what to do with)..

Everytime I watch Laurent in this movie I disover different levels to the brilliance of her performance. She doesn't try to hard to feign her fear, or to disguise it, it's such an authentic display of the tensions at play in ones mind in this situation..

It's a nod to both the desire to not be discovered and the natural impact of a traumatic experience instantly recalled..(Also the music really works for me for reasons Im not able to explain)

The anxiety appears subtlely in almost everything thing she does, how she breathes, how she eats the strudel and finds tht slight moment of delight in her eyes just before it disappears again into the darkness ..that wrinkles that can't quite fo itself into a smile near the end..

@sheilakathleen wrote a fuckin spot on bit of insightful genius about the genius of this scene and Laurent's acting in this piece here, from chekhov to directors getting out of the way, I found myself nodding myself into a crick in my neck.. http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=38570 

For his part Waltz too is brilliant. What makes Landa such a vile incarnation of evil is not merely that he's charismatic or civil, it's that they serve only the purpose of torture, deceit, and interrogation. He doesn't just want to eat he wants to play with his food ...

I have a running theory that Landa did not merely forget the cream, he does it consciously or unconsciously as part of the act, it's again part of this delaying of satisfaction routine he's on, it's manipulation and control...

Anywho the real Landa however brief makes a couple of appearances in the film and one of them is here...again I think this is done intentionally...one last try at getting her to slip...but ...she doesn't going to Sheila's point...she remains poised tho ever so slightly shaken..

Until....wow...this scene that part I'll never forget it in all my days, I think I sometimes revisit the whole thing just to see it again..

But I have another favorite scene it's second to Laurents but again exemplary of the things @sheilakathleen wrote abt QT and getting our of the way, it involves Fassbender, and August Diehl in the tavern ..

I remember seeing Diehl's eyes the 1st time I saw this scene & feeling somethng in the pit of my stomach. Tht look of realization it's absolutely terrifying, but as if its not enough, there's the faux smile, the look of disgust, his face is like wtching the gathering of a storm

Theme there's Fassbender, he himself has been disgusted w/ Diehl's presence from the beginning, but here there is some vulnerability, visibly shaken in the eyes. It's small bit its in the blinks as he realizes the resolve of the man across from them amd from there his own fate..

He realizes and then sttles into it, and both his drink, and his last drag from the cigarette feel authentically like that of man trying to get all he can out of each before he goes...it's a shining example of the power of the eyes to be directly responsible for story, & sbtxt..

I'm so glad Tarantino didn't go with music here, there ain't any need, it's another example of him knowing how to get the fuck out of the way, both of these scenes are also exemplary of the immense talent of Salle Menke, an actors underrated best friend is the editor.