Venus in Fur

How this film uses it

Vanda the actress and Wanda the character in the play work as mirrors. As Vanda reads, she starts to speak for the character, and Thomas increasingly identifies with the male lead.

Where to see it

The audition: Vanda reads for the part of Wanda while Thomas reads the male lead, and the two start trading the lines as if they mean them.

How this film uses it

Vanda seems unprepared, yet she knows the whole script, runs the theatre's lighting board and brings costumes that fit Thomas. The film never explains how. You decide whether she is a clever actress or something stranger.

Where to see it

The lighting board: Vanda adjusts the theatre's light board without hesitation, though she has presumably never seen it, and brings out a full set of costumes.

How this film uses it

Almost the whole film stays in one Paris theatre with two actors. The stage, the lights and the empty seats become the whole world, and the stage itself becomes a way to show who is in charge.

Where to see it

The empty theatre: After a day of auditions, Thomas is alone in the theatre when Vanda arrives soaked from the rain.

How this film uses it

The play they rehearse and the real argument between them run side by side. When Vanda attacks the script as sexist, she is also talking about Thomas, and the play starts to comment on the room.

Where to see it

Vanda's critique: She calls the play soft-core S&M pornography, and Thomas defends it as a faithful adaptation of a literary classic.