Romy Schneider, playing the victim?
Identity has
always been a real problem for actors, especially for the actors who choose to
follow the Stanislavski method, which consists in a deep impregnation in a
role. Some actors are sometimes too invested in their roles and some roles can
be very impressive on a human person. A lot of movie actors who played the role
of a psychopath or a tyrant suffered from
psychological troubles as a consequence. They can also have physical
after-effects because of the changes they imposed on themselves, for example to
lose weight and then to put on weight for another film, to work hard on body
expression, or to look different from their previous image according to the
situation… It is a very tiring job; that’s why a lot of actors die prematurely.
It is the case, for instance, of Romy
Schneider who was a victim of her role as a princess when she was sixteen in the film Sissi. The public couldn’t disassociate her from this
role and her professional life was consecrated to breaking this reputation; she refused any similar roles and she searched for completely different
characters, usually as fragile women. This certainly contributed to her tragic
suicide…
It is often
difficult for an artist to extricate him or herself from public opinion, or from
the label that the spectators put on the actors. The public knows that Daniel
Radcliffe “is” Harry Potter, a small wizard with round spectacles and a magic
wand, and, in the public mind, he can’t really be anyone else. But an actor
isn’t only one character and the public doesn’t give him a chance to express his
entire talent.
Many actors
are victims of their roles and of the public’s judgement. It affects their
career but it can also be dangerous for their lives…
Eléonore PARADIS has chosen film critic as a career.
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