First Night Nerves

I'm surprised that no one has written about this wonderful film yet. Set in a close time frame of a few days before the premiere of a new stage play, the film explores the relationship between the two female stars playing sisters who mutually dislike each other for reasons we are only guessing (at the beginning). Beside the daily bickering of the two ladies we also learn about the ones close to them and the general frenzy of the theater people before the opening night.

At the beginning of the film you get the picture that the elder of the two stars was for some years in semi-retirement and this would be her comeback. The younger one seems to have become famous through appearing in movies and now wants to show off on the stage too. The sympathy is with the elder and the antipathy towards the other seems to have something to do with her career. The fact that she is a widow also is an important part of the story.

The younger actress appears to be drawing more attention from the press, she seems to be eager to show that she is the better actress and even tries to meddle with the text to get more out for her role.

What I so much like about the film lies in the word "seems." Nothing is really the way as we pictured it at the beginning. While we get more and more facts about the two of them the sympathy starts the become more balanced between them. Beautifully done!