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APPLAUSE Send This Review to a Friend
The year is young, but we already have one great new performance by an actress. The talented lady is Paprika Steen, and she does a dynamite acting job burning up the screen in the Danish import “Applause.” The riveting film has been directed by Martin Pieter Zandvliet, who co-wrote the screenplay with Anders Frithiof August.
Steen bares her soul in the role of Thea, an actress trying to leave alcoholism behind her and get her life together for a fresh start. Meanwhile, she is performing the role of Martha in a Danish stage production of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Steen actually did perform the part on stage, and the film cuts back and forth between her fierce portrayal in the theater and her turbulent private struggle off-stage. Interestingly, when we see Steen in the play, the camera doesn’t show the other characters to whom she is speaking, but keeps the focus on her in what was a real performance that was filmed.
The director is unsparing in his close-ups, with Steen’s blemishes unhidden in what is surely an ultra brave outing for this remarkable actress, who is attractive in a natural, non-movie star way. As Thea, she runs the gamut from depression to moments of hope, from desperation in trying to have a close relationship with her two children to the frustrations of not being able to cope with motherhood. The children are living with her former husband Christian (Michael Falch) and his new wife. They want to do the right thing, but Thea is psychologically unstable and her erratic behavior while she attempts to regain custody puts a strain on their efforts to be conciliatory. The moments when Thea tries hard to be a good mother against all the odds and the scenes with her children are deeply moving, at times heartbreaking.
Thea is portrayed as a loner, and we see her in a clumsy sexual encounter with a man from Germany whom she meets in a bar. After a hostile start, they wind up in her apartment and what ensues underscores how sad her life has become. As for the drinking, she tries hard to shed her reliance on booze, but the battle is ever uphill.
The director has spoken of his admiration for John Cassavetes, and one familiar with the rip-roaring acting of the wonderful Gena Rowlands in his film “Opening Night” may be struck by the comparison with “Applause” in the giving over of the screen to a bravura performance.
“Applause” merits a wide audience and Steen’s achievement surely should be remembered at awards time. AWorld Wide Motion Picturs Corporation release.
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