La morte e la fanciulla

It is easy to heap praises on a film based on a good play--the subject overwhelms you. It is however not so easy to probe what is attractive in a good film beyond the two obvious elements--the subject and the acting.

I confess that I have loved Polanski's "The Ninth Gate" for the teaming of Polanski and Wojciech Kilar. This is the second film where the duo weaves magic with great music--beyond the Schubert piece around which the film revolves. The two gentlemen from Poland are truly gifted.

There is another person I admire and that is Rafael Yglesias. When he works on a screenplay, he makes the original look very different. He did that with Hugo's "Les Miserables" and got brickbats from purists. With Ariel Dorfman's literary work, the liberties are not so striking.

The cinematography of Tonino Delli Colli, Polanski's collaborator in "Bitter Moon" is again riveting: cloudy exteriors; stark interiors. The close-ups and long shots of Weaver are those of a lawyer, making the viewer a party to the "court case in progress"

Finally, this is Sigourney Weaver's finest film and can at best be only compared to her performances in "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Year of Living Dangerously."

Polanski is a director who has made good and indifferent films. I congratulate him on putting together his team of actors, cameramen, musicians and others to make this one. Only "Chinatown" and "Tess" were more enjoyable than this work of Polanski (including his early cinema).

"Death and the Maiden" begins in a purposely disorienting way--a woman walks around her secluded, South American villa, preparing dinner, when the power suddenly goes out. Her husband is returned home by a stranger after his car gets a flat; later, after assuaging his wife's spastic bouts of unexplained paranoia, the stranger returns with the husband's spare tire. The husband, wanting to reward the man's generosity, invites him in for a drink. The wife, who is extremely on edge, escapes the house undetected and steals the stranger's car, pushing it off a cliff and into the ocean below. After this, the film settles down into a three-character psychodrama of the highest order.

Roman Polanski, a director who can mine tension with a bare minimum of means, uses deliberate lighting, specific camera angles, and a well-paced narrative to create a film where the suspense is endlessly being ratcheted up a notch, often in ways that are quite surprising. The wife, Paulina (Sigourney Weaver), suspects the stranger (Ben Kingsley) of raping and torturing her years ago; her husband, Gerardo (Stuart Wilson), is a lawyer who is enlisted to get the man's confession. The game of psychological cat-and-mouse that ensues is absorbing.

Both Kingsley and Wilson fare well in their roles, but it is Weaver who energizes the film. Her performance is absolutely (this deserves all caps) RUTHLESS, filled with moments of raging violence, icy detachment, and degradation (emphasized in graphic recollections of torture); if you thought Ellen Ripley was fearless in the face of the Queen Alien, "Death and the Maiden" shows an altogether different kind of tough exterior for the actress. In a way, I was reminded of the graphic revenge that took place in the infamous rape drama "I Spit on Your Grave"; while "Death and the Maiden" is superior, it is just as similarly driven (though the rape and torture is left to our imaginations), and its psychological edge, matched with top-drawer performances, moves it further from a 'filmed play' and into more visceral terrain. And, as he's so good at doing, Polanski keeps us guessing till the very end.

Highly recommended.

In this movie, Sigourney Weaver is thoroughly believable with her trademark edge, rarely seen in other women actors. The doctor, although obviously with selfish motives, kept me guessing until the end as to whether he was guilty of the crimes of torture she claimed he committed against her, having not seen the face of, but only having heard the voice of the man she remembered. You don't know the truth until the end. It is very riveting. Her relationship with her husband is very realistic, as well, and very revealing about both of their characters. All three roles were depicted as intensely real. I enjoyed this thriller from the moment it began to the very end. You are immediately engaged in her reality, rather than experiencing a slow build up seen with most movies. Very satisfying because no character was one-sided, but they were multi-dimensional, with each having a unique history. Bravo!

Rarely does a film with only three actors create such unbearable tension and cover political aspects too. Also, the film has great actors: Ben Kingsley gives the impression that he himself didn't know whether his character was guilty or not; Stuart Wilson is a typical confused lawyer-husband; and Sigourney Weaver probably gives her best performance – of course, she's got a good role.

I enjoy stories, where people get in situations so terrible and unnatural that they are unable to see their extent. They cannot think clearly and so their thinking structure changes and they begin to take completely absurd things into consideration. Every person reacts a little differently to the situation. I love this, and that's why I give this movie the best rating. I couldn't find any flaws in the movie, actually.

When it comes to dark and morbid thrillers, there's no one around that can handle them like Roman Polanski does. It is with that in mind, therefore, that I say Polanski is the best man for the job of adapting Ariel Dorfman's stage play; 'Death and the Maiden'. He proves this with the resulting movie, which is a thrill ride, combined with a character study all wrapped up in a layer of morbidity; needless to say, the film really hits home. Polanski handles this story, and his actors with the utmost precision and I have no qualms with labelling this movie as one of the man's masterpieces. I have no idea quite why it hasn't been better received, as although it's not up there with the likes of Knife in the Water, Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby; this is Polanski doing what Polanski does best, and when he's at his best; the man is brilliant. The story follows a chance encounter between a political lawyer and his neighbour, whom the man's wife is certain, is the same man who brutally beat and raped her while blindfolded under the reign of a fascist regime. What follows is a three-way character study between the victim, the man she thinks is her oppressor, and her husband; who is caught in the middle.

The themes of truth and justice are rampant in this tale and as we watch to see if the villain of the piece really is the man who oversaw torture in the oppression, we are always reminded of the idea of the difference between a right and just punishment, and otherwise. As this is based on a stage play, it is the actors that are very much the star of the show. The three-pronged cast makes for a great ensemble, and every single one of them impresses. Sigourney Weaver gives determination and anger to her victim, and it is easy to believe that this woman really was tortured and beaten. Stuart Wilson is great also as the man caught in the middle of a horrible situation, but it is Ben Kingsley that provides the real standout performance. He manages to skilfully tread a line between an evil madman and a pathetic innocent victim brilliantly, and he ensures that at all times we are asking the question "did he?". Polanski's direction is superb, and the thing that most impressed me is the way that he firmly positions the tale in the middle of nowhere. This ensures no distraction, and makes sure that we are put firmly within our character's plight.

On the whole, this is one of the best films that Polanski ever made. Considering his prowess as a filmmaker; that is really saying something and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this film to anyone who enjoys movies.