Betraying the Make Up Artist.

I saw a clip of something tonight in which an actress had been made up to look old. The problem was, she didn’t look old; she looked like a young actress made up.

That’s why I always cringe when I watch a production in which an actor plays both a character’s young self and old self. It’s never convincing. In all my years of watching films and TV dramas, I’ve never yet seen a made up young actor look genuinely old.

And that’s always confused me a little, because it seemed to me that with all the training, experience and modern techniques at their disposal, make up artists should be doing a much better job. So why do they continue to fail so consistently?

I think part of the problem lies with them. They will insist on overdoing the lines, folds, and waxy skin until they end up with something that looks like it should be seeking a place in a fairground house of horrors. I’m sure the real problem, though, is something they can’t do anything about.

My old neighbour was in his eighties. He had good skin, few lines or wrinkles, and a full head of hair. And yet he looked every bit his age. Why? Because he had old eyes. And therein, it seems to me, lies the problem.

Eyes age in a way that can’t be faked, either by good acting or make up techniques. Eyes always tell it as it is. Trying to make a young person look old is a lost cause, and I suspect it always will be.