Interview (2007)

Interview is an intimate film by Steve Buscemi, based on the Theo Van Gogh film of the same name. The lead characters are played by Buscemi and Sienna Miller, and the film's main action occurs between them. As a somewhat disgraced journalist, Buscemi's Pierre has been removed from the political beat and relegated to "people profiles". His assignment is the popular actress Katya, played by Miller, who is in equally unfamiliar territory with a man who knows - and seemingly cares - little about her.

I'm not sure how closely this film follows the original - though now I'd really like to see it - but I have a feeling it's far superior to this version. The structure is really clever; and the "action" is really focused mostly on the dialogue between the two, the power-play, the seduction, the emotional manipulation and catharsis. Beginning in a restaurant, a public space, the interview between two rather unwilling participants quickly sours when Pierre confesses his assignment to Katya is, in fact, a demotion for him. Katya, a public person, and already defensive, given Pierre's failure to fawn on her as the rest of her world does, dismisses him and leaves. An accident (which imdb tells me was an accident itself in the original) leads them to Katya's apartment - a private space - and sets the stage for the drawn-out psychodrama about to take place. Fittingly, before the little twist at the end, Katya remains in her private space (in the original Van Gogh used the actress' own apartment in Amsterdam), while Pierre has returned to the public, standing on the street, returning to work.

So, two people, pretty plausibly thrown together in a rather unique set of circumstances, who proceed to drink, smoke, make out, do drugs and verbally tear into one another, full of biting, suggestive, and deeply intimate dialogue, with a clever twist thrown in at the end. Great, no? No. Maybe in the original the relationship between Katya and Pierre (also the actors' real names) is more believable and compelling, but here it falls flat. Katya isn't very interesting, and it's hard to buy her as a huge, loved actress, although (meta-alert) that is allegedly what Sienna Miller is. Pierre's anguish seems somewhat passe, not particularly passionate, and I don't understand his attraction to Katya. A good effort, a well-crafted film, good cinematography by Thomas Kist (who was also DP on the original), not the best performances. Bonus points for using Noonday Underground.