PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVES

"Meeting Venus"

A FILM ABOUT PERFORMANCE

This highly recommended film, produced in 1991 and directed by Istvan Szabo, may be a little difficult to find on the video shop shelves now, but it is a fascinating piece for those involved in the performing arts and especially those who act. It has the wonderful mixture of a story that makes penetrating observations of the personal interactions amongst a diverse group of creative talent and also contains some exceptional performance moments to enjoy observing for their own sake. It is also a well-told story. All this makes for a very entertaining film.

"Meeting Venus" is the story of the rehearsal of a Wagner opera. Commencing with the arrival of the conductor, Maestro Zoltan Szanto (NEILS ARESTRUP) it ends with the performance. It documents in dramatic terms the process from rehearsal to performance. Inevitably lives are affected by the nature and ambience of any production and this being a Wagnerian journey the events which unfold are Wagnerian in proportion. The characters swing from moments of high passion to despair; from moments of great success to utter and desperate fear of failure; from moments of great friendship and support to humiliating abuse and all this is permitted within a benevolent bureaucracy in the pursuit of art.

Performances in this film are at their worst very very satisfactory and at their best exceptionally good. In this light the individual achievements of Glenn Close alone are reason enough for watching this film.

Outstanding Highlights
Watch for the fabulous scene (approximately 41mins and 30secs from the Meeting Venus title card) where Maestro Szanto (NEILS ARESTRUP) vents his rising frustrations at the piano and is joined in his angrily comic song by Diva Karin Anderson (GLENN CLOSE). Here story and characters unfold through an exhilarating trust and open sharing between the two performers. A wonderful interactive performance process.

Another moment of exhilarating performance (in a scene which commences approximately 1hour 20mins and 20secs from the Meeting Venus title card) is provided by GLENN CLOSE when her character having committed herself emotionally to a relationship is delivered an unexpected surprise. The circumstances of this revelation in themselves are interesting because her realization is triggered not by a major announcement or unexpected event but by a silence. So this incident is particularly interesting because it is largely sub-texturally based and also because it is a wonderfully trusted performance moment. Here is a moment of surprise played out to the full. It is not pushed, manipulated or exploited but trusted and explored. It is a wonderful example of -

• how simply the dramatic value of a moment of surprise can be used
• how far a moment of surprise can be expanded in time and yet be truthful and real
• how the phases of a surprise inter-mingle
• how important it is to intuitively assess the circumstances when playing surprise
• and how the shifting centre of gravity that results from any surprise effects the muscle tension of the whole body (even though this one is only viewed in a Medium Close Up)

This is great work. This is well told story. This is entertainment with purpose.

Well worth watching.

April 2002

See also "Bedazzled" & "Lost in Translation"

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