Two Pianos

You may take a look at the image of Charlotte Rampling in the Kino Lorber promotion for a movie named Two Pianos and ask yourself, do I look that old? The Night Porter (1974) was one of Rampling's most controversial roles and one which could leave an ineradicable memory, ("Walking on Broken Glass") on an already tortured post-adolescent imagination. The real shock is age. It becomes increasingly difficult to see oneself as the years go by and you may even find yourself dumbfounded when your college roommate comes up to you at the class reunion. At first the response to the hug may be to step back, then suddenly you see the familiar old face embedded in a mess of tired flesh. Preconception is similar to the shock absorber on a car and the process by which nature spares us from the shock of recognition.

read "Boudu Saved From Drowning" by Francis Levy (with a painting by Hallie Cohen), The East Hampton Star