Venice, Day 3: Keira's Confession, Kate's Challenge, Madonna's Stumble

Manolis, from the Greek site Cinema News, reporting from Venice for The Film Experience.

Madonna and her W.E. cast © the wonderful photographer Fabrizio Spinetta who is sending us great shots for TFE. 

Before today's report some thoughts about Madonna's W.E. which I had the privilege of seeing; there were so many people outside the cinema trying to find a ticket. It was difficult to turn your back to Madonna and her W.E. cast who were sitting on the Balcony behind the audience, but once the lights in the Sala Grande were off, you could focus on the openings shots of her film. 

ManolisW.E.

The movie reminded me a lot of Julie and Julia. It has a similar structure but the bonding between the two Wallis’ (Cornish and Riseborough) is more vague and unfocused than that of Adams and Streep. And let’s face it, a Streep this film doesn't have. Andrea Riseborough has the showiest role, but the film doen’t help us connect her character or her motives, or help ups sympathize with her or even understand what she sacrificed for her relationship with Edward (which was Madonna’s aim as stated in the press conference). The love story of the modern day couple (Abbie Cornish and Oscar Isaac) proves more interesting than one of the most notorious love stories of all time. 

I think that the biggest mistake that Harvey Weinstein made with W.E. was leaking that it was an Oscar contender. Sure, the film has some chances in Costume Design, Music (a great score by Yann Tiersen and Abel Korzeniowski) and even Make Up (hello, Old Age!) but apart from that not much more. But the script which was co-written by Madonna is unfocused and full of cliches and predictable ‘twists’ . Madonna’s directing style fares slightly better but her visual choices are all over the place. The rich production values help make the viewing pleasant but this is not a serious oscar contender.

A Dangerous Method

This is already the third film of the competition (after The Ides of March and Carnage) that was based on a play. David Cronenberg's new film is drawn from true life events and the relationship of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Fassbender and Mortensen are excellent giving restraint utterly believable performances of these famous figures. Vincent Cassell is also good in a very small role (six minutes?). The Art Direction of the movie may have also been impressive but I couldn't see the scenery; Keira Knightley was chewing on it. Knightley's performance has caused disputes between the critics here. Some are impressed other's believe it's the film’s fatal flaw. Sorry Keira fans, but I am with the ones who did not enjoy her overracting. She cycles through every facial expression known to human kind. Needless to say that a Best Actress Oscar nomination is not out of the question. Sabina is obvious Oscar Bait and people often confuse best acting with most acting. Other strong Oscar prospects include Supporting Actor (Viggo), Adapted Screenplay and Costumes. 

Cronenberg, Knightley, Mortensen, Fassy, Sarah Gadon, Cassel are all in Venice!

I am an actress so of course I'm crazy."

Keira Knightley confessed at the press conference for the film. Other highlights from the press conference included Michael Fassbender's research for the role of Jung which he said was reading "Jung for Children: The Idiot’s handbook" and Mortensen thanking a fan for giving him a mascot doll of his favorite team San Lorenzo. When asked what he learned about psychoanalysis while making the film, David Cronenberg replied "I found out that of all my actors that are here need psychoanalysis."

Mildred Pierce

At the Mildred Pierce press conference Winslet suprised most of the audience when she confessed how difficult the role was.

...without question, my most challenging job since Titanic. Working in a TV series is much more difficult than in a film." 

Tomorrow in Venice: the premieres of ALPS (Giorgos Lanthimos Dogtooth follow up), James Franco’s Sal Mineo biopic, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion and Al Pacino’s Wild Salome.

Prediction Updates: Lead and Supporting Actress

Oscar obsessives around the web, including myself, have been hung up on the Glenn Close vs. Meryl Streep Best Actress '80s Rematch! narrative for quite awhile now with Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady still without real movie trailers to give the already popular media angle extra flavor. Less often discussed, and it's been nagging me for awhile now, is which young actress the Oscars will glom onto this year. Best Actress is often, statistically speaking, a beauty pageant who's who of hot 20 and 30something stars. This is not to say that the main race can't be between two 60-something ladies (it can if their names are Close & Streep) but we already know that that won't be the whole story even if it does turn out to be The Story.

There are three more slots to consider and more than that if you include the possibility that Close or Streep might not happen, if you include the precursor awards (which have room for more players) and the Supporting Actress category which has slightly more diverse preferences but which is still a sucker for a new "it" girl.

Which young beauties will be competing for gold? There isn't room for all of them.

Fresh Faces.
Which will Oscar get a Mulligan / Lawrence style insta-crush on?
ROONEY MARA, 26, with sociopathic edge and punk styling in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
FELICITY JONES, 27, doing young romance drama in Sundance hit Like Crazy.
ELIZABETH OLSEN, 22, winning acclaim as cult member in Martha Marcy May Marlene and probably winning credit for being talented younger sibling of the gajillionaire Olsen twin sisters.
MIA WASIKOWSKA, 21, proving she can carry a film and also be excellent while doing so in Jane Eyre.
ANDREA RISEBOROUGH, 29, soon to be winning "best in show" attention for W.E. 
JESSICA CHASTAIN, 30, seemingly in every other movie released in 2011 and hardly recognizable from one to the next.  

Already Stars.
Oscar's sweet spot for Best Actress wins is late 20s to early 30s. 
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, 26, serving mental patient realness in A Dangerous Method.
KIRSTEN DUNST, 29, undoubtedly memorably victimized in Von Trier's Melancholia.
MICHELLE WILLIAMS, 30, doing biopic iconography for My Week With Marilyn and romance for Take This Waltz 
EMMA STONE, 22, who won't get nominated for The Help but the enthusiasm about her career this year is totally hogging some of the spotlight that the other hopefuls are going to need. 

Who do you think will be showered with love and media attention 'round the holidays this year? Who will come up wanting? Which of the newbies will ever have careers as big as the "already stars"? Share your projections / wild prophesies in the comments.

Best Actress chart | Best Supporting Actress chart

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Dangerous Method"

In the series Yes No Maybe So we parse out movie trailers to determine just how excited we are about an upcoming movie. Today... David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method in which two very infamous doctors of psychiatry (Freud and Jung) find a perfect guinea pig in unstable Russian woman Sabina Spielrein;  Psychoanalysis is born, though it hasn't quite worked out its doctor/patient boundaries just yet.

YES
Viggo Mortensen, David Cronenberg's chief muse these days, plays Sigmund Freud and their second reunion after the masterpiece A History of Violence (followed by the compelling Eastern Promises) would be enough for a sober grunted "yes" on its own. Stir the Crazy of Freud/Jung into the mix with justifiably Most-Wanted Michael Fassbender in the lead role of Carl Jung and the yes becomes as hysteric as Jung's patient Sabina played by Keira Knightley (who is obviously out to raise her game as an actress lately).

NO
On the other hand, sexual repression and experimental psychiatry aren't the easiest topics to portray without the possibility of unintentional laughs or hindsight ridicule in these arguably more enlightened times. The trailer does have a weird fallback mode in which someone says something we're to register as Shocking or Telling and... cut to: Fassbender immediately shifting his intense glance to the side.

MAYBE SO..
Though Cronenberg is one of the world's most fascinating auteurs and Viggo and Fassy two of its most genius actors, the trailer gives off the distinct aroma of Keira...

As in... this will all live or die or, rather, doze off with boredom or leap off the psychiatrists couch with abandon if she's up to her central role. I worry that they refer to her as Russian and Keira doesn't sound Russian at all in the trailer? And given that her role is extreme with the theatrics, will she be Oscar beloved or sliced up with the critics knives?

Keira The MadwomanKeira Oscar-Clipping It.Keira the Masochist "PUNISH ME!"

Will this feel like a stage play with the all the talking and observing in offices and bedrooms?
Will the trio of famous faces invest the heady mind games with heart, body and soul?
Will Cronenberg finally have an Oscar hit on his hands what with the true story, biographical figures and period detailing?

So many questions... so much worth analyzing.

Watch the trailer at the film's official site!

Are you a Yes, No or a Maybe So...?

Reader Writes: David O. Russell and Keira Knightley *LIVE*

Wanted to share two recent e-mails I got from longtime TFE readers about their own cinematic-adjacent adventures seeing the stars live.

BBats recently took in a double feature of Citizen Ruth and Flirting With Disaster at Cinefamily and Oscar-nominated directors David O. Russell (The Fighter) and Alexander Payne (Sideways) spoke to the crowd.

Alexander Payne and David O. Russell at the Cinefamily event

BBats writes:

I was listening to your latest podcast (love it) and wanted to share Russell's answer to a question about Nailed and if it will ever come out.  Russell said that the production company used Nailed, Taylor Hackford's Love Ranch, and a Philip Noyce film that would have starred Scarlett Johansson (never shot) as a shell game, shifting money between the three when it was needed. Hackford wouldn't work on Love Ranch unless he got paid first, and Russell got shut down for the final time that same week -- they had been shut down 7 or so times.  When trying to get it going again, Russell shopped it around in rough state like a "two dollar whore" and nobody wanted it.  He said he wanted to move on and leave all the badness behind him.

And with the success of The Fighter, I guess he won't be needing to beg for much work (my opinion).

BBats also recommends attending any event that Russell speaks at because he's hilarious. I can vouch for this myself as mentioned in this post about his Museum of the Moving Image interview. Payne spoke about Citizen Ruth, the 1996 abortion-debate satire starring Laura Dern, which you MUST see if you haven't.

The original title for Citizen Ruth was "The Devil Inside." Mr. Payne said two of his favorite jokes he's written are when Ruth punches the kid and the helicopter scene where Ruth shouts at her mother. (I won't spoil the joke for those who haven't seen it). The movie was given the go ahead by Harvey Weinstein in a Lincoln towncar. He was being pestered by producer Cathy Conrad and he relented saying, "Oh all right."  It took five years to get the greenlight.

Meanwhile across the pond, Rami saw the new production of THE CHILDREN'S HOUR on stage in London during previews.

Elisabeth Moss and Keira Knightley in The Children's Hour

The star-studded affair (Keira Knightley, Ellen Burstyn, Elisabeth Moss and Carol Kane. Whew) opens officially tomorrow. As you may know this is the play which inspired the movies These Three (1936) and The Children's Hour (1961), the latter starring Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn. Maclaine is now embarrassed about her participation (see the documentary: The Celluloid Closet, 1995) The play is about a school girl who spreads a lesbian rumor about two teachers at her boarding school. The rumor isn't true except that it hits too close to home for one of the teachers and sets in motion a terrible series of events.

Rami writes:

Overall I thought that the entire production was strong. The set design was effective if sparse, with the boarding school set consisting of blueish grey wood panels and a very tall bookshelf.

The first half, which could use some pacing work, focuses mainly on the young school girls. I have to admit that Hannah grated as Mary, sticking to one note of  ‘lying angry little girl’ and rarely getting out of it. However, there is a wonderful pivotal scene in the first half between Moss and Carol Kane (who plays her aunt) where they discuss Karen's (Knightley's) engagement. Kane pushes and prods and Moss gets angry while trying to control her emotions, trying not to admit what she knows is true.  

The second half of the play is much stronger, Ellen Burstyn does nice subtle work as the grandmother who is inclined to believe the child's lie. The final scenes are very strong. Moss is nothing short of exceptional, from her initial despair, to her confrontation with her Aunt, to the joy when she thinks they've been saved to her utterly heartbreaking confession of love. Knightley never overplays it and is mostly reactive, but the moment when she lets all her rage and fury flow out lingers after you leave the theater.

Oh how I wish I could fly to London at the moment!

Have you ever seen The Children's Hour or Citizen Ruth?