Polanski's return to female psycho-drama divides Cannes critics

Record ID: 877030

  • Title: Polanski's return to female psycho-drama divides Cannes critics
  • Date: 27th May 2017
  • Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** POLANSKI ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE WITH CAST OF 'BASED ON A TRUE STORY' PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (French) DIRECTOR ROMAN POLANSKI SAYING: "I have never made a film where there are two opposing female characters - it's always two men, or a man and a woman, but the thriller aspect was what pulled me to this."
  • 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: LVA0026IM5NIL
  • 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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