Berlin loves its leading ladies more than films

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-02-16 14:51

Actress Marion Cotillard arrives for the screening of the film 'La Vie en Rose' running in competition at the 57th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin February 8, 2007. A string of standout performances by female leads, playing roles ranging from Lady Chatterley to Edith Piaf, have rescued several movies at this year's Berlin film festival, critics say. [Reuters]

BERLIN- A string of standout performances by female leads, playing roles ranging from Lady Chatterley to Edith Piaf, have rescued several movies at this year's Berlin film festival, critics say.

With 14 out of 22 main competition entries already screened, review ratings have been generally poor, with "When a Man Falls in the Forest" starring Sharon Stone scoring an average of just one out of four stars in Screen International's daily table.

But elsewhere lead actresses have been making the headlines for the right reasons, starting with France's Marion Cotillard who played legendary chanteuse Piaf in the festival's opening film last week called "La Vie en Rose".

While some critics squabbled over the structure of the film, they were united in their praise of the central performance.

"Cotillard steals the show," glowed the Hollywood Reporter.

Its critic Kirk Honeycutt called it "an extraordinarily brave performance" that will help the film connect with people of all age groups, especially among women.

Another French performer to grab audiences' attention was Marina Hands, in the title role of the out-of-competition "Lady Chatterley", based on D.H. Lawrence's tale of sexual awakening.

"As the gentle, inquisitive and warm-hearted Constance, Hands delivers a beautifully calibrated performance as a wide-eyed, often child-like woman growing into emotional maturity," said Benny Crick of Screen International.

Chinese entry "Tuya's Marriage" is among the favourites for the coveted best film Golden Bear award at the prize ceremony on Saturday, although reviews have been mixed.

For some, though, it was Yu Nan as the shepherdess and main character who stood out in a tale about industrialisation's devastating impact on the traditional Chinese way of life.

Derek Elley at Variety called Yu "very good" in a physically demanding part that required her to spend months on arid, wind-swept steppes and learn to ride a camel and a horse.

FAITHFULL SHINES

British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull won the loudest cheers from the press so far for her performance in "Irina Palm", a role that divided opinion but has not stopped the film commanding pole position for top prizes in Berlin.

The 60-year-old icon of the swinging sixties, who once famously dated Mick Jagger, plays a grandmother so desperate to raise cash to pay for her seriously ill grandson's medical treatment that she agrees to work in a sleazy sex club.

The look of horror on her face as she is taught the tricks of the trade had a packed theatre laughing aloud, yet she also commanded hushed silence when trying to convince her son that what she was doing was for the best.

Variety's Leslie Felperin disliked both the film and Faithfull, saying she "performs like she's on heavy medication after a Botox overdose."

At the other end of the scale, Ray Bennett of the Hollywood Reporter wrote that Faithfull's acting was "unforgettable".

Sienna Miller also sees her reputation enhanced with "Interview", in which she plays alongside Steve Buscemi as a celebrity starlet who meets a world-weary war reporter.

The out-of-competition film is the English version of an earlier picture by Dutch director and Islam critic Theo van Gogh, murdered by a Dutch-Moroccan militant in 2004.

He had planned to make a trilogy of films featuring Hollywood stars, of which "Interview" was the first.

"Miller can be pouty and peevish, as the role requires, but her wit and bawdiness make this her breakthrough performance," wrote David D'Arcy in Screen International.