Re-thinking Maggie

I've never thought of Maggie Gyllenhaal as a traditional beauty, and am always a little perplexed when she's cast as the leading lady. (Not that I haven't enjoyed her performances - she was great in 'Secretary', for example.) But I just saw 'Crazy Heart' last night, and it finally made sense to me.

Maggie is attractive in a way that's hard to come by these days. The first thing you notice are her sleepy eyes and a mouth that seems to curl its way around her words. This gives her a quirky appeal - makes her interesting, if not exactly beautiful. Then you notice her body. It is lithe and graceful - thin without a hint of bonyness. Its unaugmented femininity is irresistible in a way that's entirely unrelated to the way that 'beauty' is customarily served up in the media. When you see Megan Fox you instantly recognize that she's A. "beautiful" and B. "hot" - in a way that makes you think of magazine spreads for lingerie. But Maggie's beauty makes you think of sex. Not sexy ads or movies or images. Real sex. And when I say 'real' I don't mean 'raw' or 'gritty' - I simply mean 'real'. You can almost feel her skin.

And for a relatively young woman she also seems to be remarkably comfortable in that skin. There is an ease about her - a sort of gentleness. So now I get it. I didn't before. Her beauty sneaks up on you. And it's all the more powerful because it is her own, and doesn't have 'the hollywood machine' stamp on it.