BY OWEN SHAPIRO

Narrative - 76 Minutes

 

An experimental narrative about an actress who after failing an audition to play the role of Camille in a theatrical production, becomes the center of interest for two filmmakers looking for a star for their new film.

 

AWARDS / SHOWINGS

  - Frames of Mind Exposition, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY

  - London Filmmakers Cooperative Showcase, England

  - Edinburgh International Film Festival, Scotland

  - Athens International Film Festival, Ohio

  - Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

A narrative film about a woman who fails to get a part in a stage play, gets a role in an independent film, and fails that too. As the title suggests, it is also and exploration of the whole question of 'acting' -- realism, reflexive film, the central anxiety of the actor: what is it to be seen (by the camera) but not see (the audience)? What renders this variation on a familiar theme so remarkable is the opacity that the material is allowed to retain. Thus the question of voyeurism is not raised only to be spuriously 'solved' (or for the question to be accepted as its own solution); instead it is worked through in intelligent permutations -- self-examination in a distorting mirror; a shower-scene superbly edited with an eye to erotic effect; the actress in a room whose walls are hung with dumb blond lithographs. Every scene is a lovingly worked into the narrative and, as we approach the end, the retrospective subtlety of the project becomes enchanting. A film that raises, both deliberately and (more courageously) unintentionally, the most interesting questions, about power, sex and images. Some of its answers are great too.

 

-Chris Auty