07-16-2015 -- I'm generally willing to watch Juliette Binoche in just about anything. (She was brilliant in "Trois couleurs: Bleu" as well as "The English Patient.")
But this, despite being a film, is a very wordy play ... and then a play within that play ... and possibly another play within that play ... it got to the point where this was clearly an actors' exercise, for the benefit of actors, the audience be damned.
It's a lot to ask of film audiences to simply bear witness to angsting actors and actresses, playing roles within roles.
The settings and backdrops are dramatic and enticing. But the story continually falls back to the inner angst of an aging actress along with that of her personal assistant -- both her "real" personal assistant and the one in the play within the play.
But this, despite being a film, is a very wordy play ... and then a play within that play ... and possibly another play within that play ... it got to the point where this was clearly an actors' exercise, for the benefit of actors, the audience be damned.
It's a lot to ask of film audiences to simply bear witness to angsting actors and actresses, playing roles within roles.
The settings and backdrops are dramatic and enticing. But the story continually falls back to the inner angst of an aging actress along with that of her personal assistant -- both her "real" personal assistant and the one in the play within the play.