#REVIEW: “SEVEN VEILS”

By Mr. Will Wong

Visionary Writer/Director Atom Egoyan is ready to unveil SEVEL VEILS after premiering it at TIFF ’23 to acclaim. The Drama-Thriller reunites him with Amanda Seyfried, whom he last worked with in 2009 Erotic Thriller CHLOE.

Having directed the Opera SALOME in the past, Egoyan gets meta here in this story centering on Jeanine (Seyfried), a Theatre Director tasked with directing a production of Salome, which prior was directed by a much older clandestine lover who recently passed. The request coming from her lover’s wife to honour her late husband. Jeanine’s father also was a part of that said production, which featured footage of her as a child. Set post-#MeToo, Egoyan explores a woman confronting past-trauma, while also having an opportunity to revise history and the dark story through a new empowered lens, much to the dismay of those overseeing the production.

Our attention is grabbed right away and SEVEN VEILS is told with a gripping intensity. Pieces of Jeanine‘s backstory are exposed through others and we begin to wonder whether her involvement with the Opera is actually a calculated torture.  All while Jeanine is navigating her aging mother and troubled marriage. She is a woman on the verge, and thus, a lot is at stake professionally and personally if she breaks.

Seyfried navigates Jeanine‘s collected cool and passionate outbursts masterfully, as she pushes her players to execute her vision for Salome. She would know best, her own story in many ways parallels that of that Opera’s titular character, in this clever story about a story.

The Production Design, more so late when we see the Opera, is both anticipated and impressively executed. And Mychael Danna who has scored some of Canada’s greatest Cinema, creates a lingering feeling of unease that helps evoke Egoyan’s very specific vision here. Egoyan does it again and makes it feel edgy even with much of the story’s unsettling themes are implied and suggested.

Elevation Pictures release SEVEN VEILS in theatres March 7, 2025.

Our Interviews with Seyfried and Egoyan here.