11/15
An earnest theater director is tasked with re-staging her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome. Some disturbing memories from her past will allow her repressed trauma to color the present. This is Amanda Seyfried’s second time starring in a film directed by Atom Egoyan since Chloe (2009). Referenced in Amanda the Jedi Show: I ALMOST Walked Out | The Best and Worst of TIFF 2023 (2023). There is a fascinating and disturbing Hawthorne story where a father, a leading cutting-edge doctor, is fiercely protective of his daughter. As a child, he slowly introduces her to a deadly poisonous plant. When she matures, anyone who gets too close to her will suffer and die. The plant’s poison is infused into her lifeblood. The woman is beautiful and terrifying. “Don’t you love,” she asks, “that no one can bring you down?” Her answer cuts to the heart. “Father, I would have preferred to love someone.” Jeanine is a theatre director trying, like the woman in Hawthorne’s story, to break free from the shadow of heartless people. Suffering abuse from her father, mentor, husband, and now an arrogant actor – abuse they call “love” – Jeanine tries to heal and move beyond it without losing what is essential and good in herself. She struggles to break free from the traps that have been set for her. To find something different. “Take away one meaning and others intensify.” I love Egoyan films for their depth, surprising twists, and explorations of intriguing themes (passion, misjudgments, abuse, attempts to find a way forward after mistakes are made, love, perspectives different from my own, and more). In following a woman adrift after abuse, Seven Veils continues in typical Egoyan veins. The film is set in the Canadian Opera Company building, just a few blocks from where I saw the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Even though Egoyan spent too much time inside the theater for my taste, I understand why they did it. Egoyan directed the opera company’s real-life production of Salome and modeled much of it on Seven Veils. Even some of the actors from the actual opera are in the film, too. Jeanine is brought to life skillfully by Amanda Seyfried. Off topic: Why did Seyfried get surgery? Not that she looks bad now, but she looks much better in Egoyan’s previous film, Chloe. (Long sigh) When I think about Seven Veils, I like it better. Getting beyond the trauma of abuse is a fascinating topic. Someone who said they loved me hurt me so much. It’s a struggle sometimes to see that I’m worthy of love. In Jeanine’s battles I see my own.