Venus in Fur (La Venus a la fourrue)

First Hit:  Very well acted film about an audition for a play based on masochistic fantasies.

This Roman Polanski film was very well made.

I loved the opening shot where the camera tracks down the middle of a street in an unknown French town on a rainy day. Opposite to a run-down theater the camera abruptly turns right and moves directly to the entryway, pauses long enough for the audience to read that auditions are being held for a play, the doors open and we move down to the stage where the director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric) is taking on the phone.

He’s speaking with someone he knows and complaining bitterly about the type of people who have auditioned for the female lead. In walks a woman dressed in black leather who wants to audition for the woman lead. Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner) pleads with Thomas for the chance and he keeps rejecting her. Slowly she convinces him by putting on the perfect dress for the lead, adjusts the stage lighting, and walks onto the stage. He agrees to do the first 3 pages.

He prompts her parts but she tells him to really put something into his prompts – "act the part" she demands. The moment Vanda begins to speak, Thomas (and you as the viewer of this film) knows she’s the one. They go back and forth of being in character to not being in character. Together they make staging changes as they get deeper and deeper into the characters. He explains that Sado-Masochism came from a combination of names; Marquis de Sade who practiced sexual sadism and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch who practiced masochism and wrote novels about it. The play they are doing comes from one of those novels.

Amalric was amazing as he transforms from the director to being directed. Seigner was sublime as she rules this film from the beginning to the end as well as ruling the director. Polanski wrote the screenplay and directed this film and it shows the amazing skill he has at creating and directing dialog based films (see “Carnage” as another example).

Overall:  I really liked this film because the actors' ability to subtly move from being the play’s characters to the film’s characters was fantastic.

Carnage

First Hit:  This film definitely shows how easily adults slide into bad behavior when they justify their actions in the service of the protection of their children.

During the opening credits we silently see an act where there are two kids engaged in a pushing match.

Then Zachary Cowan hits Ethan Longstreet with a tree branch he’s carrying. After the credits we’re in the Longstreet’s home with Ethan’s mother Penelope (played by Jodie Foster) at a keyboard typing a statement of the event. She types that Zachary was "armed" with a stick. 

Zachary's dad Alan (played by Christoph Waltz), a lawyer, opposes the word "armed" and suggests "carrying" a stick. Standing by and supporting Penelope is her husband Michael (played by John C. Reilly), and supporting Alan is his wife Nancy (played by Kate Winslet).

This short scene defines the differences between the four people. We discover that there are four different people with differing opinions about what happened and what they should do about it. The discussion continues as it waves from one slightly off topic subject to another. Alan continues to receive phone calls during this meeting.

As the discussion continues opinions start to get stronger and anger begins to raise its ugly head. Occasionally they head back to the original reason why they are together to discuss their children’s actions but when alcohol enters the picture it becomes a story about what each thinks of the other. What didn’t work about this film is that it is unbelievable that they would have stayed together continuing to have these discussions without someone leaving.

However, the nice touches like dog barks in the background and a neighbor peeking through their door as they engage in hallway discussion, gave this a feel like it was being filmed in a real building.

Foster is the most intense and high minded opinionated of the four. Although I didn’t like her character she did it well. Reilly changed the most during the discussion. At one point he was very supportive of his wife but then blurts out that she's screwed up. Winslet was great as the quiet demur one who then, when her buttons are pushed and with a little alcohol becomes a tiger. Waltz was the most fun to watch. He’s articulate, disengaged and present all at the same time. His cell phone behavior is pointed and reflective of our current societal behavior. Yasmina Reza wrote the screenplay from the play “Le Dieu du carnage”. Roman Polanski adroitly directed this film and ensured that slowly built steam as these parents turn more behaviorally childish.

Overall: This was fun to watch as each of the characters crystallized their behavior through 18 year old single malt whiskey.

The Ghost Writer

First Hit: A very good timely film with wonderfully constructed scenes.

Ewan McGregor plays "The Ghost"; the ghost writer who is selected to pick up where a recently deceased ghost writer left off.

The opening scene shows him interviewing for the job and it perfectly sets the tone for his skills and proclivities. The Ghost is brash, likes to drink, prone to pointed quips and intelligent. The project he is interviewing for is to complete the autobiography of Britain’s recent Prime Minister Adam Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan).

The manuscript is under lock and key and stored in a safe at a beach house Lang occupies while he is in the US. The beach house is modern, highly secured, has cement walls with modern art, and gas and rock fireplaces giving it the feel of a high priced bunker.

This setting prescribes that there is reason to worry about the contents of the manuscript. But after his first read of the manuscript The Ghost wonders what all the fuss is about. In fact he rolls his eyes after the first read of the manuscript.

Amelia, Lang's assistant, (played by Kim Cattrall) is the primary keeper of the key to the manuscript’s safe and is also a competitor for Lang’s romantic attention. Lang's wife Ruth (played by Olivia Williams) is a highly intelligent and Lang counts on her opinion for most of his decisions. 

As The Ghost starts work on his assignment, the World Court in The Hague starts investigative proceedings into war crimes against Lang and possibly his US White House counterpart (film suggests it George W. Bush). This complicates his work and slowly but surely he begins to become investigative about the death of his predecessor and the reason why Lang's information doesn't add up.

One of the things I liked about this film was that The Ghost doesn’t know all the answers ahead of time and there is a slow awakening towards the reasons why the previous Ghost died in addition to the how and why Lang got into politics.

McGregor is very strong in this role as The Ghost. He clearly isn’t an investigative reporter, but slowly he gets caught up in putting the pieces together and does a good job of portraying this inquisitive growth. Brosnan is very good as the smart but slightly out of touch former Prime Minister who has been manipulated and doesn’t know it. Williams and Cattrall were also very good as protagonists towards each other and supporters of Lang. Polanski clearly had a vision for this film and didn’t attempt to create suspense and drama with camera movement. He created it with simple well choreographed long shots which embedded the film with thoughtful forbearance.

Overall: Well executed and timely film about the political climate. However, I was distracted throughout the film by wondering if the film was really being shot in the US (Cape Cod area) with Polanski’s current legal trouble and noted during the credits, it was shot elsewhere.