American Venus comes to Canada

0 Comments POSTED: September 9, 2007 12:41 | By: Katarina Collins

A packed house at the Scotiabank theatre watched the premiere of Bruce Sweeney's American Venus last night. The audience, peppered with slick media types and handsomely dressed Canadian actors, was clearly excited to see the tale of an unstable mother unable to let her ex-figure skater daughter grow up and leave the nest. The family drama is set against a backdrop of American/Canadian relations, when mom follows daughter from their home in the U.S. to her new home in Vancouver.

A woman next to me in the line before the film said "I'm so thrilled to be seeing it. My husband and I are here with 16 of our friends. I had to line up for two hours to get tickets ... twice!"

The film is full of funny moments, which elicited relieved laughter from a crowd that was otherwise almost as tense as Rebecca DeMornay's manic mom, Celia. One audience member asked how the actress (who shone in the role) prepared for it. Bruce Sweeney quipped "I think Rebecca's been preparing for this role her whole life".

When asked to explain the film's title, Sweeney joked that his producers wouldn't allow him to use his original title "A Histrionic American". He expanded on DeMornay's character, saying "I wrote her as a histrionic person. That is to say, her close relationships or her supposedly close relationships really aren't. She's a person who has a low tolerance for frustration and who sexualises relationships ... and has an exaggerated manner."

One of the funniest and most disturbing aspects of the film is DeMornay's unrelenting obsession with guns. At home in America, shooting at the range soothes her. In Vancouver, where her daughter has moved, she's confronted by Canada's considerably stricter gun laws. The results are humorous but also disturbing, as her character's frustration gets more and more out of control.

When asked about the gun obsession, Sweeney explained "In many ways, it's a metaphor for addiction. I've seen too many films that are just about drug addiction and I wanted another kind of addiciton and what I tried to convey in the film is that through the process of shooting the gun, through hearing that bang, bang, you can see her face ... she stays in control and it kind of soothes her. To have that feeling and then she's robbed of it."

American Venus screens again on Monday Sept. 10, at noon, at the Scotiabank Theatre.