There are symbols in everything that one sees. It almost makes the film full of terrors.
I read in the press notes that filmmaker Atom Egoyan directed a stage production of the opera “Salome.” For those of you unfamiliar with the biblical tale, it was about a woman named Salome who dances for Herod, and is asked by her mother Herodias to get the head of John the Baptist, who opposed the marriage between Herod and Herodias. Egoyan was interested in exploring what the production of it would mean in our current culture, which led to him writing the script for his latest movie “Seven Veils.”
Looking at this movie is quite vibrant, as we see how the women in the story deal with sexual abuse in the past and the present, and how the opera must be presented. There’s a lot to unpack for us, and I was trying to understand the meaning of it all. The director delivers with the right intentions, but he doesn’t have the screenplay to really delve deep into what goes down. It feels as though we’re looking at a website with small character bios which seems easy to follow, but doesn’t have the ambiance to ignite the story.
Egoyan reunites with his “Chloe” star Amanda Seyfried as Jeannie, a theater director, who returns to the stage world to aim “Salome” with Johann (real life opera singer Michael Kupfer-Radecky) playing John the Baptist and Ambur (real life soprano Ambur Braid) playing Salome. Under her saying “Conquer the World,” she wants to make some “small but meaningful” changes to the production, but she’s been also asked to make it more personal. And boy, it couldn’t be more personal.
We also see flashbacks of young Jeannie dancing blindfolded, while a swing with tangerines moves, all staged by her father. Something happened in her childhood for her to reflect on during her stage direction. And she often prays to her dead mentor Charles, who originally appointed her to guide the opera.
She also Skypes with her daughter Lizzie (Maya Misaljevic), husband Paul (Mark O’Brien), mother Margot (Lynne Griffin), and her caretaker Dimitra. It’s conceivable that Paul is fooling around with Dimitra (Maia Jae Bastidas), while Jeannie is away. I think I can read between the lines, but do we need to make it sound angry or routine? Not really.
And there’s also her former friend Clea (Rebecca Liddiard), who is designing the decapitated head for John the Baptist, and must make a documentary on it. Things get complicated when Johann makes a pass at her, even when it’s on tape, and it happens to come when her girlfriend Rachel (Vinessa Antoine) is Ambur’s understudy hoping for her breakout role.
I was taking a liking to “Seven Veils” for its representation of what goes down in this side of the entertainment world and the people who help create those shows. And Seyfried is perfectly cast with the right tone and complexity as a theater director using her tragic experiences to influence her direction of “Salome.” Now, that is something worth developing more into.
And attractive as it looks, and it looks attractive (with the cinematography done by Egoyan’s collaborator Paul Sarossy and the editing done by David Wharnsby), the images and dance sequences seem to upstage the characters and their own turmoil. “Seven Veils” should be a great-looking picture, but it also has to make its story great. There should be a perfect balance between both elements.
A biblical story so controversial due to its sexual themes, biblical subject matter, and unconventional portrayal should be adapted into plays and movies, and it has. And a film about a stage production, which also reflects on our reality, should be a thought-provoking film. “Seven Veils” wants to be thought-provoking, but it doesn’t push itself to new limits. At the very least, Seyfried is the center of this movie.
In Select Theaters Tomorrow