Review of Venus in Fur (2013) by Manny C — 08 Aug 2014

The thought of Roman Polanski taking on David Ives' two-hander, Tony-winning play focusing on an actress and the director she's auditioning for is almost two good for words. That's Venus In Fur, taken from Ives' play which is itself taken from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novella of sadomasochism of the same name.

In it we have actress Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner), entering a theater in Paris to audition for exhausted director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric). Initially, Vanda appears unprepared and sloppy but then she proceeds to entice, arouse and ultimately degrade her would-be director, and that's something he perhaps wanted--or needed--the entire time.

It's not hard to see why the now-80 year old Polish filmmaker was so taken with this material, but what surprises and ultimately disappoints, is that Venus in Fur, for all it's rich subtext, is mostly missing the usual Polanski mischief and touch.

It's nearly devoid of the claustrophobic tension that has illuminated much of Polanski's work, from Rosemary's Baby to Chinatown, and sometimes comes off more like his last feature and stage adaptation, Carnage.

Thankfully we have the actors to transcend such traps, especially Almaric, who probably not coincidentally resembles the diminutive filmmaker. Seigner is all sexual stealth and coiled to spring (and is also the director's wife).

Sure, there are some visual gags that recall Polanski's inspired perversity, but too often Venus In Fur restrains when you most want it to bite. Good, but not great.