- Title: Polanski's return to female psycho-drama divides Cannes critics
- Date: 27th May 2017
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 27, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) ACTRESS EMMANUELLE SEIGNER, DIRECTOR ROMAN POLANSKI, ACTRESS EVA GREEN POSING PHOTOGRAPHERS SEIGNER, POLANSKI AND GREEN TURNING AROUND PHOTOGRAPHERS SEIGNER, POLANSKI AND GREEN WALKING UP STAIRS CAST KISSING FESTIVAL DIRECTOR THIERRY FREMAUX POLANSKI KISSING FREMAUX PHOTOGRAPHERS / SEIGNER, POLANSKI AND GREEN ALL THREE HOLDING HANDS GREEN WAVING, SEIGNER AND POLANSKI GOING INTO PALAIS
- Embargoed: 10th June 2017 19:07
- Keywords: Eva Green Based on a true story Roman Polanski Cannes film festival
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE/ VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: CANNES, FRANCE/ VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0016IM5NIL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Roman Polanski, whose 1960s films "Repulsion" and "Rosemary's Baby" focused on women in mental torment, returns to the same theme in a film that screened at Cannes on Saturday (May 27) to mixed reviews.
"Based on a True Story" stars Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner as Delphine, a successful author who makes friends with an overly-keen fan Elle, played by Eva Green, in a relationship that quickly takes on elements of "Single White Female".
The French-Polish Polanski is still unable to make films in the United States since fleeing the country in 1978 due to fears that a plea bargain with prosecutors over his sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl would be overruled.
But he has continued to have a successful career and remains active at 83, securing a premiere for "Based on a True Story" in an out-of-competition slot at Cannes.
Polanski cast Eva Green - who is French but made her career in English-speaking movies, including in the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royal" - as a character who switches from best friend to violent stalker and back and could ultimately be a figment of Delphine's imagination.
The Hollywood Reporter's Deborah Young praised "Based on a True Story" as "a masterfully made psychological thriller in the traditional mode", but Nathalie Simon in Le Figaro called it "grotesque, predictable and funny - not a good sign for a thriller". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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