Venice Film Festival: Audience Cheers P.T. Anderson Film, Jeers Terrence Malick\'s Entry

September 3, 2012, 12:23 pm

By DENNIS LIM

VENICE - The middle weekend of the Venice Film Festival saw the premieres of the two most eagerly awaited films in the official competition. Both, as it happens, are unorthodox love stories - as well as tales of spiritual crises - by American auteurs with perfectionist reputations and loyal followings.

“The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson's maximalist drama about the complicated bonds between a charismatic cult leader and a tormented World War II veteran, screened on Saturday morning to a largely receptive press audience; early reviews have been mostly very positive. (Some examples are here and here.)

Twenty-four hours later, the lines were as long and the anticipation seemingly as high for Terrenc e Malick's “To the Wonder,” about an American man and a French woman caught in an impossible romance, but this time, jeers drowned out applause. (The film was also booed at its public screening Sunday evening - apparently a rare occurrence here.)

Both movies also continued the religious subtheme of this year's festival, which opened with “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” Mira Nair's story of a Pakistani Wall Street analyst prompted to return to his culture and faith after the Sept. 11 attacks. The competition entry “Paradise: Faith,” from the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, a darkly comic portrait of a fanatically devoted Catholic woman, has sparked some controversy in the Italian news media. (On Monday, a Catholic organization accused the filmmakers and the festival of blasphemy, citing a scene in which the protagonist masturbates with a crucifix.)

In advance of the premiere of “The Master,” it had been speculated that Mr. Anderson's first film sin ce “There Will Be Blood” in 2007 would be an exposé of Scientology. But the film's story of a fringe religion is part of a larger exploration of existential questions about man's animal nature and civilization and its discontents, as refracted through the relationship between a seductive guru (Philip Seymour Hoffman), whose teachings bear a resemblance to Dianetics, and an unlikely follower with a wild streak, played by Joaquin Phoenix in his return to acting after the notorious conceptual real-life performance that culminated in the purported documentary “I'm Still Here.”

“To the Wonder,” the second film in two years from Mr. Malick (after the Cannes winner “The Tree of Life”), represents a newly accelerated pace of production from American cinema's most elusive figure. (Mr. Malick has already shot another film, and is preparing a new one.) His first film to be set entirely in the present day, it revolves around his familiar theme of a spiritual quest , communicated as usual in voiceover ruminations (“What is this love that loves us?”), mostly whispered in French by the Russian actress Olga Kurylenko. Despite the initial reactions, the film already has its share of defenders.

As always with this sphinxlike director, Mr. Malick's film arrived shrouded in mystery, and amid reports that several actors (Rachel Weisz, Michael Sheen, Amanda Peet) had ended up on the cutting-room floor. Rumors that its nominal star, Ben Affleck, was barely in the finished film proved untrue. Though he has very few lines, Mr. Affleck is unquestionably the male lead in a love story that is said to have autobiographical resonance for Mr. Malick, who was once married to a French woman.

Mr. Malick was of course a no-show at the press conference on Sunday; Mr. Affleck was absent - perhaps because of a surprise trip to Telluride? - leaving the task of discussing the film to two producers, Sarah Green and Nicolas Gondo, and Ms. Kurylenko , best known for the Bond movie “Quantum of Solace.”

Ms. Green fielded a question about the misleading publicity materials, which show Mr. Affleck not with Ms. Kurylenko but with Rachel McAdams, who has a much smaller role. The main publicity still came from an early part of the shoot, Ms. Green said, adding, “It's obviously no question that Olga is the lead.”

Ms. Kurylenko said that Mr. Malick often instructed the actors to discard the dialogue, telling them: “Throw away the words, don't speak them, think them.” She added: “I think he's psychic.”

She also revealed that her preparation involved some substantial reading. “I had to reread three big Russian novels: ‘The Brothers Karamazov,' ‘The Idiot' and ‘Anna Karenina,'” she said.

The key personnel were all present at the press conference for “The Master,” though not all were in the mood to talk. Mr. Anderson fielded a few obligatory questions about Scientology and Tom Cr uise, whom he directed in “Magnolia.” He acknowledged that “The Master” was directly, if loosely, inspired by the early career of L. Ron Hubbard but emphasized that Scientology was merely a starting point, and that he knew very little about the organization as it is today. He also confirmed that Mr. Cruise had seen the film. “We're still friends,” Mr. Anderson said, “and the rest is between us.”

Mr. Phoenix spoke only once - responding to a question about his character's physicality, he said he did not feel he had much leeway in creating the role, contrary to what Mr. Anderson had said, then trailed off.

In an interview at the Excelsior Hotel the following day Mr. Phoenix was in a much more talkative mood, and he said that the obligations of the photo call and official premiere on Saturday had unnerved him. “It's always strange,” he said. “You walk up the middle of the red carpet and you're wondering what do I do with my hands and what am I doing here, and it's instant discomfort for me.”

“The Master” is also generating excitement among film buffs for being an analog throwback, a reminder of the unique qualities of celluloid in a digital age. With digital projection the norm today, it is one of only two movies in the Venice competition that were shot and are being shown on film (the other is Takeshi Kitano's “Outrage Beyond”). And not just regular old film, in Mr. Anderson's case - he shot most of “The Master” in the now uncommon 65-millimeter format, which affords higher resolution and was traditionally reserved for blockbusters and epics, and is committed to showing it in as many venues as possible in 70 millimeter.

At the press conference Mr. Anderson admitted that it was not the most practical decision. “The camera broke all the time and made a lot of noise,” he said. But as an aesthetic choice, he said, it was “just one of those things that felt right and looked right.” Sh own on 70 millimeter here, “The Master” has a visual crispness and richness - especially noticeable in some shots of landscapes and faces - that has made almost every other film seem flat and murky by comparison.

Speaking the following day, Mr. Anderson said that it had been a struggle to find theaters capable of exhibiting the film in 70 millimeter. “It hasn't been easy,” he said, but added, “We could get up to 15 or 16” in the United States, with four screens each in New York and Los Angeles. (The other theaters will show the film digitally or on 35 millimeter.) “But people are excited by it and it's moving our way,” he said. Even in Europe, he added, “we have people coming out the woodwork, calling us saying they can find a way to show it.”