VENUS IN FUR / La Vénus à la Fourrure
West Coast Premiere • Comedy, Drama • France, 2013
DCP • 2.35 • Dolby 5.1 • Color • 96 min
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Written by: David Ives, Roman Polanski, based on the David Ives play, adapted from the novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Cinematography: Pawel Edelman
Film Editing: Margot Meynier, Hervé de Luze
Original Score: Alexandre Desplat
Produced by: Robert Benmussa (RP Productions), Alain Sarde,
Cast: Emmanuelle Seigner (Vanda), Mathieu Amalric (Thomas)
International Sales: RP Productions
U.S. Distributor: Sundance Selects • ifcfilms.com
U.S. Release date: June 20, 2014 (New York), July 4 (Los Angeles)
Alone on a dark stage still dressed for a previous production of Stagecoach, Thomas is on the phone, frustrated that he hasn’t found the right actress for his new play, an adaptation of a Sacher-Masoch novel about a man who signs a contract to be the love slave of the Victorian dominatrix he adores. Thomas is dubious when a vulgar, rather common woman shows up late for the auditions, bedecked in leather and studs. He refuses to hear her audition, but when she claims her name is Vanda, the very name of the character in his play, he relents. As Vanda reads, a transformation takes place, one that arouses much more in Thomas than his curiosity. Based on the play that took Broadway by storm, you will have no choice but to submit to this engrossing psychosexual pas-de-duel, in which there is no give and take, but only take and take back.
In one way or another, since his remarkable first film, Knife in the Water (1962), writer/director/actor Roman Polanski has been making movies about the urge to manipulate and dominate others. Whether it’s through the paranoia of a vulnerable mother-to-be in Rosemary’s Baby (1968), or the violent attempt to prevent horrific crimes from being uncovered in Chinatown (1974), or two sets of passive-aggressive parents facing off in the more recent Carnage (2011), there is always a fierce battle going on, sometimes just beneath the surface, but sometimes very much on the surface. With Venus in Fur, a film based on co-writer David Ives’ play which was based on a novel, Polanski has cast his wife Emmanuelle Seigner opposite Mathieu Amalric, who is the spitting image of a thirtyish Polanski, suggesting that the film is not only a reflection of the director-actor relationship, but perhaps that of husband and wife as well.
“Polanski may not have originated Venus in Furs but it manages to be the most perfect of distillation of his oeuvre.”
- James Travers FILMSDEFRANCE
“But there’s a masterfully light touch at work, both from the director and his two wonderful actors. They make this chamber piece lip-smacking entertainment, giving the dense text the semblance of more intellectual heft or sexual transgressiveness than it ultimately contains.”
- David Rooney HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“Primarily a vehicle for Mrs. Polanski, Emmanuelle Seigner, who engulfs the screen with a juicy comic performance that does full justice to a demanding role.”
- Scott Foundas VARIETY
