Restylane? It's a Fine Line, But No Thank You
Janet W. Battaile
Editor
Posted:
01/4/10
These days, it's my mother I see when I look in the mirror. It's not that we resemble each other so much, although we do share some features. It's the telltale lines in my face. Little lines around my mouth, around my nose, around my chin. Just like hers, when she was my age. Back in those days (decades ago), there wasn't anything much you could do about that, except smile them away, which is what my mother did. She had an infectious smile, so genuine and unbeguiling. Nevertheless, it used to make me sad to see her face aging before me. She was always so young, so full of life, so gay (a word she was fond of using until it came to have a different meaning). I just couldn't imagine her old.
The subject of aging came up recently in our ongoing commentaries about the talented and lovely Meryl Streep in the Nancy Meyers movie "It's Complicated." As Bonnie Goldstein noted, there has been some discussion of whether La Streep's radiant looks got an assist in the gravity department. It's certainly possible, but I would reckon it fell short of a lift, which would hardly be necessary with those extraordinary cheekbones. A little Restylane here and there maybe. But there were plenty of shots in the film where her lines were clearly visible. (Unlike that other dowager diva, Diane Keaton, in "Something's Gotta Give," Streep wasn't compelled to wear high-necked tops, even in the summer, to tamp the turtle.)
And I was unexpectedly comforted by the sight. As much as I fret about my own lines, I liked seeing them on her, and it made me feel better about myself. As Bonnie stated, all those cosmetic enhancements now available to women of a certain age count for little compared to the character in their faces. And Streep's character was so natural and genuine that whatever flaws were found in her face were completely subordinate to the woman she was. That's what we see, as well, in the countenance of Keaton and Helen Mirren, to name two other older women who have grabbed the celluloid spotlight. That and the confidence that they are at the top of their game. That's what makes them glow, and it comes from within, not from ironing out the surface.
So I will keep smiling, the lines be damned. And remember my mother's elegant attributes when I look in the mirror.