Roman Polanski's 'Venus In Fur' Draws Mixed Reviews In Cannes Competition

Roman Polanski’s Venus in Fur premiered on Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the competition for the Palme d’Or. Based on the play by the same name, Venus in Fur stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski’s wife, and Mathieu Amalric. The play, originally written in English by David Ives, has been translated and tweaked to create a French film that Karin Badt from The Huffington Post calls “a cinematic misty nightmare.” This, it appears, is a good thing.

Venus in Fur is about an actress auditioning for a part in a play. Alone in a theater with the play’s director, Vanda (Seigneur) pushes herself to become the strong, sexually aggressive, female the role requires. Essentially, the story is one of dominance and sexual power plays between Vanda and the director, Thomas (Amalric).

After being accused of raping an under-aged girl in 1970s and fleeing the U.S., Polanski cannot step foot in the country without being arrested. As a result, some audiences find that his films are tainted by sinister, sexual undertones.

“…Critics have detected a scattering of personal elements in this latest film: both in its allusions to child abuse (recalling Polanski’s pedophilia conviction) and its subtext about whether a director-actress relationship is inherently sadistic. In this movie, Polanski directed his own wife, Seigneur,” writes Badt.

During a press conference for the film, Polanski made waves when questioned on his personal relation to women. “Today even giving flowers to a lady has become indecent. Trying to level the genders is purely idiotic, and I will be Marxist, and say it is the result of the progress in medicine, and the outcome of the pill. The pill has changed greatly the women of our times, masculinizing her…It is a pity,” Polanski told the room of reporters.

Venus in Fur premiered to mixed reviews, no doubt in part due to the risqué nature of the film and the controversial director. However, critics have been applauding the actors’ performances, specifically Seigner. “[Seigner and Amalric] make this chamber piece lip-smacking entertainment, giving the dense text the semblance of more intellectual heft or sexual transgression than it ultimately contains,” writes David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.