Film review: Masochistic fantasy dominates Polanski’s Venus in Fur

Roman Polanski may be best known for directing films such as Rosemary's Baby (1968), and The Pianist (2002), but he's also directed plays and operas over the course of his lengthy career. The theatrical world has often been a source for works he has made for the big screen.

A few years ago, Polanski adapted French playwright Yasmina Reza's Le Dieu du Carnage into an English-language offering starring Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. This time, he turns American playwright David Ives' Tony award-winning Venus in Fur into a French-language film featuring only two players: actor-director Mathieu Amalric, and Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seigner.

One rainy evening, a woman named Vanda (Seigner) walks into an almost empty theatre where writer-turned-director Thomas Novachek (Amalric) has been auditioning actresses for his play, Venus in Fur. Unimpressed by the 35 hopefuls he has already seen, the fledgling director is ready to call it a day. But Vanda manages to talk him into letting her read for the part.

Thomas is pleasantly surprised to find that Vanda is able to transform herself into the 19th-century object of adoration at the centre of his adaptation of Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs. This well-known story of fantasy and fetish derives its inspiration from the life of the author who gave his name to the word "masochism".

Thomas is so mesmerised by Vanda's performance that he is unable to tear himself away and head home to have dinner with his fiancée. He stays, even though the actress offers some unsolicited comments about elements of his play which exasperates him so much he almost loses his temper.