ENTER TO WIN HERESeattle Weekly Presents: SIFF Venus in FurFriday | May

Published 7:30 pm Friday, May 9, 2014

ENTER TO WIN HERE

Seattle Weekly Presents: SIFF Venus in Fur

Friday | May 16

4 pm | Harvard Exit

Polanski’s latest is an adaptation of a contemporary stage version of Sacher-Masoch’s story by David Ives, which Polanski sets now in a theater in Paris. Thomas (superbly played by Mathieu Amalric, who resembles a young Polanski) is searching for an actress to play the lead role in a stage version. Dripping from the rain and late for the audition, Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski’s actual wife) stumbles into the theater just as the director is getting ready to leave. It’s a coincidence that her name is Vanda, just like in the novella—or is it? Mesmerized by Vanda’s performance, Thomas forgets about leaving. Vanda’s no flaky dame, more like a skilled manipulator who has the play’s dialogue memorized and makes postmodern, feminist commentary about the 19th-century writing. She hypnotizes the director with her sharp-tongued bravado and strength. Stage-bound as the action might be, the two veteran actors’ chemistry and the sure hand of a master director keep the playful power struggle sharp, dynamic, and entertaining.

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