BEING MARIA – directed by Jessica Palud
“I want to be free as an actor to explore where a scene can go, but if it’s going to be a fight scene or a sex scene, you’ve got to stop the fudging because you can’t just see where it goes.”—Greta Gerwig
This truth memorably articulated by filmmaker Greta Gerwig and experienced by her firsthand when co-directing and acting in the 2008 indie, “Nights and Weekends,” gets at the heart of what allegedly went so very wrong on the set of Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 erotic drama, “Last Tango in Paris.” Based on Vanessa Schneider’s 2023 memoir, My Cousin Maria Schneider, published 12 years after its subject’s death at age 58, this harrowing film by Jessica Palud (who served as a third assistant director on Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”) portrays how the 19-year-old Schneider was forced by Bertolucci to commit explicit acts on camera for which she hadn’t been prepared. Anamaria Vartolomei, whose astonishing performance anchored the best film I saw in 2022, Audrey Diwan’s abortion-themed drama, “Happening,” is equally riveting here in the title role, playing another woman whose bodily autonomy is robbed from her by unfeeling men. Céleste Brunnquell delivers a revelatory turn as Noor, the young university student who later shares a welcome afternoon of consensual intimacy with Schneider—now years into her heroin addiction—before falling into the role of the actor’s long-suffering caregiver. Schneider’s story, as recounted here, serves as a vital cautionary tale for the dangers inherent in “letting a scene guide you” when real physical contact is involved. If you’ve ever wondered why intimacy coordinators have become an industry standard in recent years, here is exhibit A.
-Matt Fagerholm
Now playing in select theaters.
I KNOW CATHERINE, THE LOG LADY – directed by Richard Green
Most people know Catherine Coulson as the log lady from Twin Peaks. But did you know she was also a camera assistant in the 1970s, and a theatre actress during the later part of her life in Oregon? For me I was zeroed in on Catherine as a camera assistant, and the cinematic work she did for David Lynch and John Cassavetes. I wish they had delved more into her work as a camera assistant, but Catherine had such a big life, and I imagine a miniseries might have been the better format to capture all the pieces. But what made this documentary for me was the intimate moments we spend with her and the people she loved those last days. Along with being a regular in Twin Peaks’ first two seasons, she was able to play a small part (but huge in performance) in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return (2017) right before she passed, days actually. In the documentary we go deep with the crew, family, and friends about what it was like filming those scenes. It seemed like for everyone on the set it was truly a spiritual experience.
-Rebecca Martin Fagerholm
*Interview coming soon with director Richard Green and Catherine Coulson’s great niece!
“I Know Catherine, the Log Lady” will be screening at the David Lynch retrospective at the Music Box Theatre on April 14th. Get tickets.
