Seven Veils, a new film starring Amanda Seyfried launches in theaters this weekend.
I sat down with Oscar-nominated director Atom Egoyan to explore how he crafted the seven layers of relationships that plague Seyfried’s character throughout the film.
Here is the synopsis:
An earnest theater director (Seyfried) has the task of remounting 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.
The source of her disturbing memories is, in part, the intense romantic relationship she had with her mentor. As she restages his work, Egoyan explained how the entire opera company is studying her:
"Seyfried starts off by saying, ‘you look at her too much.’ I think she's been too observed in her life… And there's all sorts of complicated issues around legacy like the fact that the director's wife now runs the opera company and must have known about his affairs.
The only way Seyfried can reclaim her sense of agency is with a final, defiant act at the end of the film where she defaces her professional duties.
What deepens Seven Veils is that it’s not a traditional trauma narrative as Egoyan explained:
“I mean, the thing is that we've all seen movies about the characters who are dealing with repressed or suppressed traumas, and then it kind of bubbles up and something that happens in the movie. This is what makes this film so unusual, I think, is that she knows everything that's happened to her.”
Seven Veils is a self-reflexive film about the act of directing, about how you can actively reshape your past through the creative act of making art.
The film hits theaters March 7th.
Here is the trailer:
Check out more of Atom’s work here:
The Captive (2014)
Cast: Ryan Reynolds
Distributor: A24
Chloe (2009)
Cast: Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Won: Cannes Grand Prix (2nd place)
Cast: Ian Holm
Oscar Nominated: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay
Share this post