Roman Polanski - «Based on a true story»

Cinema Wednesdays - Alexandre Wälti

Some films need a verse to be commented on and summarized. Because they leave you wondering. Because they leave us with the strange sensation of an incomplete work.

That's the prevailing impression on release of the film. Based on a true story by Roman Polanski, freely adapted from the novel by Delphine de Vigan. The trailer was intriguing. The final result only half satisfies. This is the story of Delphine, author of a best-selling novel, played by Emmanuelle Seigner. In a moment of deep doubt, she encounters a strong, seductive but also manipulative woman, the actress Eva Green. At first, Elle, as she is known, is real, and then Delphine and the viewer become confused.

«One more book and I'll split in two».»

This is what Delphine confides at the start of the film, after an exhausting signing session. It's a foreshadowing that doesn't yet reveal the main character's destiny. In this respect, the plot keeps its promises, even if we are too quick to guess the outcome.

Emanuelle Seigner and Eva Green, that's something else. The duo works. We have nothing to say about that. We're thinking above all of the excellent performance by the former, who goes through every emotion, even physically. She transforms from scene to scene, from livid to luminous, from gloomy to candid, and so on throughout the film. She marvels when She encourages her, she destroys herself when She threatens her. Elle's omnipresence tortures Delphine, delighting her, touching her, weakening her with each scene, lie and confession.

There's a tension that builds to a crescendo. It resembles the uncomfortable tension between Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan in The Ghost Writer by the same director. But it doesn't run through the whole film, and that's precisely the missing half of the work. It never fully reaches the viewer, and is concentrated almost exclusively in the face-to-face encounters between Delphine and Elle. When Elle starts answering all Delphine's e-mails. When Delphine thinks she has the upper hand over Elle. The theme of the literary ghostwriter can also be found in both features. It's Elle's job.

Semi-convincing tension

Roman Polanski succeeds in the tour de force of losing the viewer. We're thinking in particular of the few characters who intervene in Delphine's day-to-day life to create ongoing confusion: Delphine's press attaché, the archivist at the Lycée Balzac library where the author was due to give a lecture, the publisher and the e-mail he supposedly received, and so on.

The director has mastered the art of deceptive clues. He shows the viewer false leads, then makes them true, only to disprove them, and so on. It's a successful game, since at times we get as lost as Delphine.

But the rest isn't totally convincing: the empathy for Delphine doesn't work, and the dialogue is too flat and tension-free. The film lacks the heart to really touch. The tension, befitting a psychological thriller, ebbs and flows when it should hold the viewer in suspense throughout. Perhaps that's just the way it's conceived. Finally, product placements abound and are too obvious. It's almost annoying.

In the end, Based on a true story by Roman Polanski is technically masterful, but empathy is never fully aroused for the characters. This is a pity. Hence the initial skepticism that spoils the final result. Is this intentional? The question remains open. The film alternates between uninteresting and intense scenes. Incomplete as a verse without its poem.

«For a bored heart».»
Paul Verlaine

Write to the author: alexandrewaelti@gmail.com

Photo credit: © Ecran Large