Ambur Braid, Atom Egoyan, Berlin International Film Festival, Douglas Smith, drama, Elizabeth Reeve, film festivals, movies, Rebecca Liddiard, reviews, Salome, TIFF, Toronto, Toronto International Film Festival, Vinessa Antoine
May 6, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Atom Egoyan
Culture Representation: Taking place in Toronto, the dramatic film “Seven Veils” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few black people and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A theater director is invited to direct the “Salome” opera version of that was created by her deceased mentor, and her work on the opera triggers unpleasant memories from her past.
Culture Audience: “Seven Veils” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Amanda Seyfried, filmmaker Atom Egoyan, and opaque dramas that have layers of symbolism and meanings.
Not all of the elements work in how “Seven Veils” draws parallels between an avant-garde production of the opera “Salome” and a theater director’s reckoning with her own troubled past. Amanda Seyfried’s gripping performance lifts the film above mediocrity. “Seven Veils” is multilayered film that some viewers might think is too overstuffed with subplots and ideas that don’t always have satisfying answers or resolutions
Written and directed by Atom Egoyan, “Seven Veils” was largely inspired by Egoyan’s own experiences of directing “Salome” for the Canadian Opera Company. The movie had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and also screened at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. You don’t have to like opera to enjoy “Seven Veils” because the actual performance of “Salome” in the movie is secondary to the drama that happens off stage.
The opera “Salome” is based on the Judeo-Christian story of Salome, a Jewish princess who was the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. Herod the Great was her grandfather. Herod Antipas was her stepdaughter. Salome wanted John the Baptist (a disciple of Jesus Christ) to be her lover, but he rejected her. Salome than persuaded Herod Antipas to have John the Baptist beheaded so she could kiss John without him being able to stop it. In the lead-up to this morbid act of lust, Salome also did a seductive dance called the Dance of the Seven Veils.
“Seven Veils” begins by showing theater Jeanine (played by Seyfried) walking through the opera house in Toronto where she will soon be leading a remounting of “Salome,” as a tribute to her mentor who died one year ago. The opera house is bustling with the activity sets being built and people getting ready for rehearsals.
Jeanine walks around as if she’s in a dream. She also sees a large video projection on the wall that shows a girl (played by Elizabeth Reeve) walking through the woods. It’s later revealed that this projection screen is a manifestation of Jeanine’s memories, and the girl is Jeanine in her childhood. Throughout the movie, other scenes of the girl in the woods play out in Jeanine’s mind.
When Jeanine was in her 20s, her mentor/teacher was a theater director named Charles. His widow Beatrice (played by Lanette Ware) knew that Jeanine was one of Charles’ favorite students, so Beatrice personally invited Jeanine to remount the version of “Salome” that Charles had when Jeanine was his protégée/student.
Beatrice formally announces Jeanine as the theater director of this production at a press event. The stars of this version of “Salome” are also introduced. Ambur Dion (played by Ambur Braid) has the role of Salome. Johan Mueller (played by Michael Kupfer-Radecky) has the role of John the Baptist. (Braid and Kupfer-Radecky had these “Salome” roles in real life.)
Other people who are involved in the production are ambitious Rachel (played by Vinessa Antoine), who has the understudy Salome role; eager-to-please Luke (played by Douglas Smith), who has the understudy role of John the Baptist; brittle Nancy (played by Tara Nicodemo), who is the show’s managing producer; and artistic Clea (played by Rebecca Liddiard), the makeup artist who has been assigned to document her “Salome” work on social media. One of Clea’s biggest makeup responsibilities for the production is to design the prosthetic of John the Baptist’s severed head.
Jeanine and Nancy have conflicts because Jeanine wants to make some “minor” changes to the production, but Nancy doesn’t want any changes at all because Nancy says that Beatrice expects Jeanine to keep Charles’ version intact. Clea and Rachel are lovers and are secretly hoping that there will be a reason for Ambur to drop out of the production so Rachel can take over the Salome role. And there’s a sexual harassment incident in this workplace that is reported to management and could derail the entire production.
Meanwhile, Jeanine has to spend a lot of time away from her home because of this job. She communicates by videoconference calls with her restless husband Paul (played by Mark O’Brien) and their daughter Lizzie (played by Maya Misaljevic), who’s about 11 or 12. The family has a nanny named Dimitra (played by Maia Jae Bastidas) as well as Jeanine’s widowed mother Margot (played by Lynne Griffin) to help take are of Lizzie. Margot tells Jeanine that she thinks Paul is having an affair with Dimitra. What Jeanine doesn’t tell Margot is that Jeanine and Paul have decided to try having an open marriage.
All of this sounds like it could be a soap opera, but “Seven Veils” is more complex than that. Jeanine has a dark and disturbing secret that comes back to haunt her the more that she gets involved in the “Salome” production. Her feelings about making changes to the production get more intense as time goes along. And her feelings about power and control of the production become intertwined with how she feels about power and control of her personal life. Although the principal cast members play their roles well, Seyfried is the obvious standout because the Jeanine is the heart and soul of the movie.
“Seven Veils” has cinematography that can be very dreamy and atmospheric but also stark and alarming. It’s a creative way of showing how fuzzy memories and harsh realities sometimes co-exist and collide. Jeanine’s secret is revealed about halfway through the movie, so the rest of “Seven Veils” shows how she copes when she’s forced to think about things that she would rather forget. “Seven Veils” is not always an easy film to watch (and some of it is downright dull and pretentious), but it has a compelling uniqueness that is appealing enough for anyone who is curious about how the story is going to end.
XYZ Films released “Seven Veils” in U.S. cinemas on March 7, 2025.