The last Polanski I saw was "Carnage" (2011), an adaptation of a riveting four-actor stage play. "Venus" goes one step further, as a two-actor play. Even more significant is that the stage is, well, A STAGE. This is one of the sub-genre I personally enjoy most, a play (or movie adapted therefrom) about a play.
In one sentence, the plot is about an actress, while arriving late, succeeded in persuading the director to give her an audition, and what ensued. What ensured is all about the battle of the sexes and, even more intriguing to many, SEX (from very subtle to very blatant). Sex aside, the most mesmerizing attraction of this movie is the oh-so-very-clever shifting of dialogue and scenario, both, between the two protagonists and the two characters they are acting out in the audition (as there was nobody else available, the director played one of the characters in the play that was being auditioned). It's so seamless that very often you can't tell (or lose sight of) what it is.
Mathieu Amalric is among the French actors best known globally, for both his French work such as "King & queen" (2004) and "The diving bell and the butterfly" (2007), as well as his participation in Hollywood big-budget projects such as Spielberg's "Munich" (2005). Less prolific as Amalric (her IMDb listed acting credit of 34 compared with his 88) Emanuelle Seigner, Polanski's wife, was also seen in "The diving bell and the butterfly" as well as in Marion Cotillard's "La vie en rose" (2007). The performances of the two of them in "Venus" are standing ovation caliber.
In one sentence, the plot is about an actress, while arriving late, succeeded in persuading the director to give her an audition, and what ensued. What ensured is all about the battle of the sexes and, even more intriguing to many, SEX (from very subtle to very blatant). Sex aside, the most mesmerizing attraction of this movie is the oh-so-very-clever shifting of dialogue and scenario, both, between the two protagonists and the two characters they are acting out in the audition (as there was nobody else available, the director played one of the characters in the play that was being auditioned). It's so seamless that very often you can't tell (or lose sight of) what it is.
Mathieu Amalric is among the French actors best known globally, for both his French work such as "King & queen" (2004) and "The diving bell and the butterfly" (2007), as well as his participation in Hollywood big-budget projects such as Spielberg's "Munich" (2005). Less prolific as Amalric (her IMDb listed acting credit of 34 compared with his 88) Emanuelle Seigner, Polanski's wife, was also seen in "The diving bell and the butterfly" as well as in Marion Cotillard's "La vie en rose" (2007). The performances of the two of them in "Venus" are standing ovation caliber.