• About Us
  • Sasha Stone
  • Editor Ryan Adams
  • Clarence Moye
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Awardsdaily - The Oscars, the Films and everything in between.
  • Home
  • Oscar Predictions
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Podcasts
  • FYC Gallery
  • Interviews
  • All News
  • Home
  • Oscar Predictions
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Podcasts
  • FYC Gallery
  • Interviews
  • All News
No Result
View All Result
Awardsdaily - The Oscars, the Films and everything in between.
No Result
View All Result

Venice Dispatch – The Truth

by Zhuo-Ning Su
August 28, 2019
in Film Festivals, News, Venice Film Festival, Venice Film Festival
9
Venice Dispatch – The Truth

Another year, another trip to the dreamy sun-kissed wonderland that is Lido. For the 76th time, cinema-lovers from around the world shall gather on this otherwise unassuming island off the coast of Venice to celebrate achievements in the seventh art.

It’s actually absurd when you think about it – choosing to sit in the dark en masse and stare at a lit surface all day long when the most beautiful beach is right across the street, glittering in the late summer heat. But there is something mystifying, timelessly appealing about watching people act out stories on screen, isn’t there? That mystery is part of what Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s familial drama THE TRUTH addresses as it opens this year’s Venice Film Festival on a gentle, charming note.

At the center of the story is Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve), a revered French actress in her seventies who’s no longer getting the meaty parts as she used to over an illustrious career. During production on her latest film, in which she plays but the late-life portion of a mother character, her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) comes to visit from the States, husband (Ethan Hawke) and daughter in tow.

Ostensibly, Lumir’s in town to fete the publication of her mother’s revealing autobiographical book. As she stays on, however, unresolved family business, especially the emotional baggage of a professional performer and those around them gradually come to light.

The role of Fabienne is a fabulous creation and Deneuve absolutely nails it. As an old-school movie star who scoffs at anything not shown in the cinema (“those TV series on the internet”) and has no time for celebrity activism (“the day an actress gets political it’s all over, for she has abandoned imagination and chosen reality”), Fabienne is one stone-cold lady who considers it her mission to sacrifice everything for the only sacred place which is the screen.

She’s ready to sleep her way to a good part, openly admits to neglecting her child and betraying the trust of loved ones because, as she casually lectures her tearstreaked daughter, “I don’t have to be a good person, I don’t have to be a good mother. I’m an actress. You won’t appreciate it but the public will.”

These are strong, borderline heartless statements, which Deneuve delivers without any hint of cruelty but pure conviction. Lucid, vital, resolutely unsentimental, her performance cuts to the essence of acting. The fact that she’s one of the most iconic screen presences of our time naturally adds another, meta-level of persuasion that charges the scenes.

What I enjoy about scenes like this is that not only are they magnetic to watch, but we get a rare, direct insight into the alluring, if the inherently odd proposition of acting itself – literally having someone pretend to be other people for a living. Does it give license to or maybe even require the performer to steal from their own life, to save the most intimate truths about themselves for public consumption?

As Olivier Assayas previously posited in his film CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (also starring Binoche in the lead role), the truth can become a tricky matter in an actor’s obsessive pursuit of authenticity. Kore-eda’s latest peels back the often glamorized surface of the acting profession to examine a process that’s as mysterious as it is suspiciously immoral. And I, for one, found myself fascinated.

Those nervous about Kore-eda making his foreign-language film debut (predominantly French) can be – partly – relieved. I would say the filmmaker’s signature humanistic tone and lyrical imagery are very much intact here, even if the fluency of narrative is somewhat compromised. The fact is, when your movie is such a juicy showcase for a superstar of Catherine Deneuve’s caliber, it tends to lose steam whenever she’s not in the picture. Also, people shouldn’t expect an emotional heavy-hitter like SHOPLIFTERS (Palme d’Or winner and one of my favorite films of 2018), as THE TRUTH is less plot-driven and a more low-key affair all around.

But you know what, as the festival opener signaling bigger, wilder things to come, this autumnally relaxed drama with intellectual aspirations will do just fine. Now let’s see what else Venice has got up its sleeve to keep visitors willingly away from the beach.

 

 

 

 

Tags: Hirokazu Kore-edathe truthVenice Film Festival
Zhuo-Ning Su

Zhuo-Ning Su

Berlin-based freelance festival journalist. Sees too many films for his own good.

Next Post
New Photos From Judy  With  Renée Zellweger  and Finn Wittrock

The Judy Soundtrack Is Coming! Renée Zellweger Duets with Sam Smith and Rufus Wainwright.

Sign up for Awards Daily's Breaking News

* indicates required

A Q&A with the Filmmakers and Cast of Shortlisted Live Action Short, ‘Da Yie’

A Q&A with the Filmmakers and Cast of Shortlisted Live Action Short, ‘Da Yie’
by Joey Moser
March 5, 2021
0

Jayro Bustamante On the Powerful Pain of International Feature Contender ‘La Llorona’

Jayro Bustamante On the Powerful Pain of International Feature Contender ‘La Llorona’

(Photo: Shudder)

by Joey Moser
March 5, 2021
0

Fernando Frias de la Parra On the Loneliness of a Different Kind of Immigrant Experience for ‘I’m No Longer Here’

Fernando Frias de la Parra On the Loneliness of a Different Kind of Immigrant Experience for ‘I’m No Longer Here’

(Photo: Netflix)

by Joey Moser
March 5, 2021
0

BAFTA Preview: When Voting Members Can’t Be Trusted to Pick the Right Nominees

by Sasha Stone
March 4, 2021
28

Berlin Dispatch – Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

by Zhuo-Ning Su
March 4, 2021
0

DGA Preview – All Directors Great and Popular

DGA Preview – All Directors Great and Popular
by Sasha Stone
March 4, 2021
19

Berlin Dispatch – Azor / All Eyes Off Me

by Zhuo-Ning Su
March 4, 2021
0

Colman Domingo On Cutler Being a Brother to Levee and a Friend to Ma for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’

Colman Domingo On Cutler Being a Brother to Levee and a Friend to Ma for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020): (L to R), Glynn Turman as Toldeo, Chadwick Boseman as Levee, Michael Potts as Slow Drag, and Colman Domingo as Cutler., Cr. David Lee / Netflix)

by Joey Moser
March 4, 2021
3

‘Raya’ Bravely Confronts the Dangers of a Divided Nation

‘Raya’ Bravely Confronts the Dangers of a Divided Nation

(Photo: Disney)

by Clarence Moye
March 4, 2021
2

Diane Warren, Laura Pausini Deserve To Be “Seen” and Recognized For Their Beautiful “Io Si”

Diane Warren, Laura Pausini Deserve To Be “Seen” and Recognized For Their Beautiful “Io Si”

(Photo: Netflix)

by Kevin Dillon
March 4, 2021
0

‘Promising Young Woman,’ ‘Mank’ Among Nominees for 23rd Costume Designers Guild Awards

Promising Young Woman is Disturbing, Original and Unforgettable
by Clarence Moye
March 4, 2021
13

Watch: Scott Wheeler Discusses the Makeup and Prosthetic Work Behind ‘One Night in Miami’

How ‘One Night In Miami’ Screenwriter Kemp Powers Used an Iconic Friendship to Explore Competing Ideas of Activism and Masculinity

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

by Shadan Larki
March 3, 2021
1

Producers Guild Preview – News of the World Remains the Only Big Studio Offering in the Oscar Race

The State of the Race – A Trial Separation Between Critics and the Oscars
by Sasha Stone
March 3, 2021
59

Join us Facebook

AwardsDaily Crew

  • About Us
  • Sasha Stone
  • Editor Ryan Adams
  • Clarence Moye
  • Contact Us

ADTV Crew

  • ADTV Home
  • Megan McLachlan, Co-Editor
  • Clarence Moye, Co-Editor
  • Jalal Haddad, Senior Contributor
  • Joey Moser, Senior Contributor
  • Kevin Dillon
  • Shadan Larki
  • Ben Morris
  • David Phillips

Follow on Twitter

ADTV Twitter

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertising on Awards Daily

© 1999-2021 AwardsDaily.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Oscar Predictions
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Podcasts
  • FYC Gallery
  • Interviews
  • All News

© 1999-2021 AwardsDaily.com