Canada,
2002, 95 min
Shown in 2003
CREDITS
- dir
-
Michael Mackenzie
- prod
-
Bob Krupinski
- scr
-
Michael Mackenzie
- cam
-
Eric Cayla
- editor
-
Denis Papillon
- mus
-
Philip Glass
- cast
-
Patricia Clarkson, Colm Feore, Caroline Dhavernas, Bernard Hepton, Louise Marleau
-
COMMENTS
Skyy Prize contender. Michael Mackenzie in person.
It’s 1888, a time when photography and electric lights are new innovations, the Eiffel Tower is rising to the heavens, and Impressionist painters scandalize the decadent Parisian aristocracy. Into this milieu steps the Baroness (Patricia Clarkson, winner of this year’s Sundance Special Jury Prize for The Station Agent), an American heiress, wife of a dissolute British nobleman and enthusiastic adopter of all the latest modern technological marvels. When her ambitious plans for starting a sophisticated salon fail and Parisian high society rejects her, she switches the focus of her formidable energy to her new maid, Emily (Caroline Dhavernas), an enfant sauvage, raised by pigs. Firm in her belief that “culture should be for everyone,” the Baroness undertakes Emily’s education, only to discover dangerous gaps in her own. Michael Mckenzie adapts this provocative examination of perception, art, technology and society from his own play, using as a recurring leitmotiv the then newly invented silver-backed mirror that fascinates the Baroness and Emily even as it alters their insights into the world around them. Shot in high-definition digital video, the medium echoes this evocative drama’s themes as it reflects back on how our own era’s technological advances constantly challenge our perceptions.
—Pam Grady
FACTOID #10
In 1960, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, which has inspired many women to jump into fountains, was pulled from the San Francisco International Film Festival’s program by the distributor and replaced with Roberto Rossellini’s Night over Rome.
