Multiple responses re query: films about film actors lost in roles

Jennifer Steele [[email protected]]=20
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Late entry: Face/Off.
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Jackson, Tony [[email protected]]=20
=09
thanks for the help with this. assuming we haven't missed anything, i have =
to say i'm surprised to find that there is no straightforward film-story eq=
uivalent to a double life and black swan, a serious consideration of a film=
 actor losing him/herself to the film role.=20

tony j

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Henry Bacon [[email protected]]=20
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I can't resist suggesting that Elizabeth does not really get caught in=20
the role of Medea, almost the opposite: by falling silent in the middle=20
of a performance she has dropped out of the role. Afterwards she just=20
insists on being silent. But what does happen is that Alma is on the=20
verge of becoming Elisabeth - in some sense. This film really is open to=20
interpretations.

We are already moving away from the original question, but there are=20
interesting films which depict characters assuming alien roles and then=20
getting caught in them. Rossellini's Il Generale Della Rovere is a great=20
example: Vittorio De Sica has the role of a petty thief who reluctantly=20
accepts to pretend to be an actually dead resistance hero and ends up=20
heroically sacrificing his life.

By the way, as I recall it, Jean Genet is supposed to have written=20
something to the effect: "One has to be careful when assuming roles, as=20
one may end up becoming what one pretends to be." Could someone give the=20
reference?

Best regards
Henry
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Holly Chard [[email protected]]=20
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Another suggestion to add into the mix:

TROPIC THUNDER - Robert Downey Jr in blackface as "a dude, playing a dude, =
disguised as another dude". A satirical swipe at Hollywood method actors wh=
o "immerse" themselves in their roles.

Obviously, the film also offers some interesting possibilities for discussi=
on of the politics of identity and representation...

Holly
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Jesse Ataide [[email protected]]=20
=09
Norma Desmond in "Sunset Blvd" comes immediately to mind.

It seems mine and most of the other suggestions so far have generally
entailed some type of mental instability causing an acting role to take
over an individual's life, but I also wonder about something like that
ambiguous climactic moment in Assayas's "Irma Vep" when the separation
between Maggie Cheung and the character she is playing in the film  becomes
very blurry, if only temporarily. Or perhaps Lola Montes in Oph=FCls's film=
,
though maybe that's thinking of "losing herself in a role" more abstractly
than intended (though I think the argument could definitely be made).

-jesse
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From: Guadano, Luis [[email protected]]

Bolivar I am, a 2002 co-production (Bolivia, France) is also a very good an=
d funny example.
L
Dr. Luis Guada=F1o
Assistant Professor of Spanish


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