Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Seven Veils,” a new psychological thriller from director Atom Egoyan, and now playing in theatres, Amanda Seyfried is Jeanine, a director dealing with repressed trauma as she mounts a production of her mentor’s most famous work, the opera “Salome.”

CAST: Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien and Vinessa Antoine. Directed by Atom Egoyan.

REVIEW: “Seven Veils” isn’t an adaptation of “Salome,” the story of violence, desire and the severed head of John the Baptist. Instead, it uses Richard Strauss’s controversial opera as a catalyst for the action.

The real world and the world of theatre converge as director Jeanine (Amanda Seyfried) remounts the opera “Salome,” a production previously helmed by her mentor and groomer Charles. Charles’s successful vision of the show suggested Salome was sexually abused by her father, a notion he reinforced with the use of upsetting videos of Jeanine’s abuse at the hand of her father.

When she says she wants to make “small but meaningful changes” to the show, the opera company management reject her ideas, even going so far as to insist on publishing Charles’s production notes in the program instead of hers. If she wants, they say, she can talk about her ideas for the show on an obscure podcast.

Her personal life is equally unsettled. Her husband may be having an affair with her mother’s caregiver, and it turns out that Charles’s wife may have known more about her husband’s proclivities than she let on.

Over time, as tensions mount, the unsettled situation uncorks Jeanine’s memories as an undercurrent of trauma is revealed.

There’s more, but it’s Jeanine’s main story that enthralls.

Rich with metaphor and suspense “Seven Veils” is an intellectual thriller about art imitating life.

As the parallels between Jeanine and Salome are revealed—the domination by male authority figures, confrontation of desire—Seyfried artfully plays Jeanine’s emotional turmoil, as a person torn between raw trauma and the “show must go on” ethos of her profession. It’s a career high for her as she portrays multitudes with a minimum of dialogue.

“Seven Veils” departs from “Salome” in its closing moments, avoiding the violence of the opera. Instead, it paints a compelling portrait of how trauma molds Jeanine’s personal and professional lives.