Austrian writer/director Patric Chiha
wrote the screenplay for Domain specifically for actress Béatrice Dalle, a relatively
risky bet given Dalle’s run-ins with the law and unpredictable behavior.
Dalle was once fined and given suspended jail sentence in Paris for attacking a meter maid writing her a ticket. She met Guénaël Méziani, who would become her second husband, as she was volunteering at the Brest Hermitage prison. He was then doing a 10-year sentence for rape. They got married in jail.
Chiha's bet on Dalle paid off. As THR's Neil Young put it,
"As a fiercely intelligent but helplessly self-destructive mathematician who's a bit too chummy with her teenage nephew, Dalle shows that, in her mid-40s, she's lost little of her dangerously feral allure."
On Sunday April 25th in a Q&A following San Francisco International Film Festival screening of the film, Dahia described Dalle’s masculine, slightly military way of standing, talking and walking in death-defyingly high heels (even through Austrian forests) as more important than what she said. Indeed, he cited the rhythm of her character Nadia’s heels clicking across the screen as a central theme of the movie.
“Nadia is a woman who loves the rhythm and who loses the rhythm” Chiha explained. “The film’s emotion comes from clashes of the rhythm.” When asked about Nadia’s array of fashion-forward shoes, Chiha smiled and said “no films without high heels for me.”
The film is erotic but very personal, exploring dark territory, yet tastefully evading taboo. Domain unfolds as the provocative Nadia unravels in front of her 17 year old nephew. It’s hard to imagine an actress better suited to bringing out the nuances of Nadia’s role than Béatrice Dalle.
Domain plays again at the Kabuki at 6:15 on Tuesday April 27th and again on Wednesday April 28th at 9:30.
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