Seven Veils

I went through this pretty uncomfortable - sure it's about uncomfortable things, but the real reason for my uncomfortableness is just whole conception, approach of script and directing.

Surely opera fans will like it better. I don't need opera, bad things happen without musical background in real life. And even in some movies. Staged bad things ? Yeah, that's is what is big part in this, even aside from stage.

Acting was overall pretty good, however Amanda Bigeyeied did not seem as right for that part.

Was she (I mean character who played) watched with her daughter that bloody chopped head scene on TV near to end ?

Maybe director wanted that people think about it after watching :-)

Seyfried acting is excellent. Reality turns out to be even more tragic and complicated than the opera plot. Or perhaps we could say, that this is a way to convey a reality as dramatic as an opera, without taking focus from the work they are all doing.

I enjoyed it, though the subject can be hard to watch at moments. The work of a director can be fascinating and I really liked the way she developed it, without second guessing herself even though she is new, even when everybody seems against her, or even when they all try to make fun of her and assume they all know better than her because they are some part or it.

In dark-drama "Seven Veils" Amanda Seyfried (as strong as ever) directs a remounting of the opera 'Salome' that her now deceased mentor & lover originally directed. In rhythm with the production (involving the likes of Rebecca Liddiard (good), Lanette Ware, Vanessa Antoine, and actual opera stars Ambur Braid & Michael Kupfer-Radecky) Seyfried evokes emotions from her own childhood trauma and current troubled marriage. Experienced writer / director Atom Egoyan clearly immersed himself in Richard Strauss' opera (and Oscar Wilde's play it was based on) which fans of may really enjoy - but for others this may be too 'artsy' to entertain.

It's an opera-based (Salomé) drama set in Toronto in 2023. Jeanine (Elizabeth Reeve/Amanda Seyfried) is usually a play director who has agreed to remount "Salomé" at the request of her deceased mentor's wife, Beatrice (Lanette Ware). Jeanine has just separated from her husband, Paul (Mark O'Brien), who has remained at home with their daughter Lizzie (Maya Misaljevic), and Jeanine's widowed mother, Margot (Lynne Griffin), who has dementia. Margot's caregiver, Dimitra (Maia Jae Bastidas), also plays a role.

"Seven Veils" portrays Jeanine's efforts to mount the opera against her personal history reflected in the earlier 1996 "Salomé" directed by her mentor, Charles, that utilized her difficult family experiences shown in home movie-style flashbacks. Jeanine juggles Internet connections with her family and her efforts to shape the "Salomé" production in personal ways. Her direction involves complex relationships with the leads of John the Baptist (Michael Kupfer-Radecky) and Salomé (Ambur Braid), their understudies (Douglas Smith and Vinessa Antoine), and the props manager, Clea (Rebecca Liddiard). Sometimes, Jeanine's decisions mystify others, and other tensions within the company increase the drama. The film ends with opening night.

One reviewer calls Atom Egoyan a visual director. That fits "Seven Veils," as the images overwhelm a complex story a mile wide and a couple of inches deep. Jeanine's character is the only one with depth; a little more focus would have helped the story's coherence. Egoyan's concept is clever, but the execution falls short. "Seven Veils" is an interesting watch, but it's not certain what we've learned in the end.

Bit of an arts buffet this, perhaps too much so.

Atom Egoyan takes the Biblical tale of Salome and John The Baptist, turned an Oscar Wilde play, turned a Richard Strauss opera, turned an Atom Egoyan staging of said opera, into a fictionalized staging of said opera in film form. Whew.

Amanda Seyfried, she of the crazy wide eyes, seems miscast as the dictatorial director. She looks young enough to play her daughter in some unsettling childhood flashbacks. A thing she does not do. Opera is not a young man's game, neither a young woman's, and though Seyfried handles this challenging role superbly, accepting her in the ruthless role is a stretch.

As usual, Egoyan weaves a tangled web of interleaved plotlines, some juicy, some not so much. Power dynamics, sex clashes, hidden histories, career manipulations, bubble up in the troubled staging of Salome. Lots of backstage drama, and plenty of on stage as well. Egoyan cranks out an excellent class in opera directing, and Seyfried shines in fighting to bring her unorthodox version to fruition. The opera looks great, especially the beautiful shadow sequences, and perhaps the stage should have been the focus rather than all the happenings behind the scenes.

Almost everything comes together in the end, but there are too many unresolved plot lines left for an audience to ponder over. A fine attempt, but when all is sung and done, it ends about as well as it did for John The Baptist.

• hipCRANK.