A funny thing happened when I was looking through the full set of photos from the London premiere of Miral (Julien Schnabel’s new film): I had to really hunt for photos of Freida Pinto’s full body shot. Nearly all of the photos of Freida were close-ups of her face – it’s like photographers are so enchanted with her beauty, they forget to do their jobs and get some fashion pics. Anyway, Freida is wearing Alexander McQueen – black with gold detailing. I really, really like it – it’s oddly subdued and edited for a McQueen piece. Also: I love her hair, and her makeup is awesome. Well done, Freida.

Freida’s boyfriend Dev Patel didn’t walk the red carpet with her – and he wasn’t even in town. But no worries about the couple – Freida told the red carpet journalists that Dev is filming in India: “I’m here until tomorrow, so there’s no way I can celebrate my birthday in India, and that’s where Dev is filming. But my family are here so I’m going to just celebrate with them a bit later.” She turned 26 years old yesterday.

As for the movie, when hearing or reading the cold, dry description, it sounds very angsty and upsetting. It’s about a Palestinian girl growing up in an orphanage/school, and she falls in love with a Palestinian freedom fighter/terrorist (the lines are blurred, what can I say) just before the first Intifada, circa mid 1980s, or at least that‘s what it seems like in the film, although the first Intifada is defined as starting in 1987. The film is based on a book by Palestinian journalist Rula Jerbeal. Pinto told journalists, “It is a film about hope. It is a film about perseverance. It’s a film about education being key to devote to peace. And Rula’s mentioned this many times, and I think it’s really beautiful, she said Gandhi said this, the father of my nation. ‘There’s no way to peace, peace is the way.’ And I think it’s as straight forward as that.” The film is getting so-so-reviews – one critic calls it “plodding” but there is much admiration for trying to tell the story of this period of Middle East history through the eyes of a young Palestinian woman. Here’s the trailer:

I think it looks interesting. Rental-worthy. Guess who else was at the premiere? Benecio del Toro, looking rough!

Photos courtesy of WENN.