Venus in Fur **½ (NR) Roman Polanski directs this subtitled French erotic tease, occurring between two characters in one long evening. Mathieu Amalric (resembling a younger Polanski) is casting a play he adapted from an old novel, with sadomasochistic sexual obsession as its driving theme. At the end of a long, frustrating day of auditions, an actress (Emmanuelle Seigner) breezes in, chattering rapidly about why she’s late, and why he should give her a shot. She even brought costumes suited to this period piece, and claims to have the same first name, Vanda, as the woman she hopes to portray. They start running lines in a fascinating spiral of entanglements, blurring the lines between exploring the dark sides of characters on the page and the two live people playing their roles in that darkened theater, creating potential new scenes on the fly. The actress often becomes the director, mirroring her character’s role as dominatrix/Goddess of Love opposite the male lead. Control of the situation careens between them, causing a sort of recurring emotional whiplash effect for them and the audience.
The psychological dance grows surreal, raising questions of how autobiographical this tale may be for its adaptor, and just how did this seemingly ditzy wannabe actress learn so much about him and his script? Might she be a figment of his imagination, or a manifestation of the eponymous deity, serving as Muse?
Seigner superbly delivers on all the sexy, playful, smart and elusive qualities of her character; Amalric holds his own. Unfortunately, the screenplay starts to unravel before the end, leaving viewers with less payoff than other psychological pas de deux endeavors that come to mind, like David Mamet’s Oleanna, or the Alan Rickman/Madeilene Stowe pairing in Closet Land. Despite the shortcomings of the tale, Seigner’s performance makes this an entertainment option worth considering. (7/18/14)