If there is a balm for the summer movie blues this year, it’s going to be the wide release in art-houses and on VOD of Roman Polanski’s latest film, Venus in Fur. Our very own Dominic Mill has a lot to say about the movie in his review, and within about a month, we in the US will be able to decide for ourselves if this is Polanski’s return to top form. Our lucky neighbors across the pond will get Venus in Fur on May 30, though, and it’s from the UK that the latest trailer arrives.
The film fetures Mathieu Amalric as Thomas, the director of an adaptation of the novel Venus in Fur, who auditions one more actress (Emmanuelle Seigner) for the titular role. It turns into a lot more than just that, though, which this trailer demonstrates, as actress and director vie over interpretation, theory, and obsession. It’s right up Polanski’s alley and I just can’t wait to get a chance to see it.
In further Polanski news, development on his next project D carries on apace. The director has been hard at work on the film surrounding the notorious Dreyfuss affair and now, it’s been reported through Italian outlet il Giornale (via The Film Stage) that writer Richard Harris has delivered a complete script, and a cast has begun to come together in preparation for filming in January. So there’s good news on that front as well.
As someone who has greatly enjoyed most of Polanski’s recent work, from the thriller The Ghost Writer to his disturbing chamber drama Carnage, I’m looking forward to both Venus in Fur and D, once they make it across the pond to America. Polanski always produces something interesting and I’ve no doubt that his latest films will be provocative, at the very least.