Venus in Fur

Venus in Fur is Roman Polanski’s latest film with French subtitles and features only two characters. Venus in Fur is hot, so hot someone in the audience actually whimpered. Based on David Ive’s play which was inspired by Austrian Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 semi-autobiographical novel, the film stars Emmanuelle Seigner (who is married to Roman Polanski in real life).

It’s set in an old Parisian theatre and delves into a fantasy world, exploring domination and submission in a bizarre and complex obsessive role-play situation that is breathtakingly erotic. The psychoanalysis, the tempo, the script, all work well to create this intellectual situational drama where actress and director play the ultimate game of seduction. (MS)

***1/2 /5

Limited Release at Palace Cinemas