Directed by: Kevin Reynolds
Starring: James Franco, Rufus Sewell, Sophia Myles, David O'Hara
Factual error: The poem Isolde recites, John Donne's "The Good-Morrow", is a 17th-century work, which is centuries later than the movie's time period.
Factual error: In the scene where Tristan is making his return from Ireland and the crowd is gathering around him there are two hens in the foreground. One is a Rhode Island Red and the other is a Black Plymouth Rock. Both of these are American breeds of chicken and did not appear until many hundreds of years after this film is set.
Factual error: In the scene where Tristan is making his return from Ireland and the crowd is gathering around him there are two hens in the foreground. One is a Rhode Island Red and the other is a Black Plymouth Rock. Both of these are American breeds of chicken and did not appear until many hundreds of years after this film is set.
Question: Does anyone know if makeup/cosmetics or other beauty practices, such as women plucking eyebrows and facial hair, existed during this time period? I know that this is just a movie and the actresses are supposed to look attractive, but I'm curious if it would have really been around back then.
Answer: The historical sources from the time in question are scant - it's not called "the dark age" for nothing. Having said that, beauty practices like plucking eyebrows and make-up have existed since ancient times. We can safely assume that there were certain ideals of beauty, and ladies of all times strove to meet them. These ideals have changed frequently over the times, so plucked eyebrows may or may not have been the fashion in early medieaval Britain.
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Answer: For Dark Age beauty hints look at the website of historical novelist Octavia Randolph, on https://octavia.net/ Your question is brilliantly answered in the section https://octavia.net/early-cosmetics/ The Pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons and Vikings were buried with grave goods, items they used in everyday life. Archaeologists often uncover burials of men and women who were buried with elaborately carved combs for hair care, tweezers for plucking out surplus hair, ear scoops and small wash basins. There is good evidence that people processed herbs and flowers as cosmetics and make-up.
Rob Halliday