A cruel role that packs emotional power
Actress Annette Bening says she chose her latest part because of its complex story
Annette Bening understands that some people aren’t going to like Nikki, the protagonist of The Face of Love, a woman who tries to assuage her grief over the loss of her husband with a man who looks exactly like him.
“I do understand why she (Nikki) does what she does and it’s not always easy to take. I found that when I played it. I had moments when I felt, ‘This is just awful.’ There’s a cruelty to it that, quite frankly, I find interesting,” Bening said in an interview.
Bening sees Nikki as “an ordinary woman in an extraordinary circumstance.”
“The fact is that this is a woman sort of lost and I like that she doesn’t know where she’s going. She takes herself on this adventure and she really has no idea of what she’s doing and it’s very dangerous and tenuous. And at the same time, she is strong, she is intelligent. She’s not a crazy person who’s out of control,” she added.
The four-time Oscar nominee said she chose the role, as with previous roles, for its emotional power. “What I look for when I read something is that I’m moved. I want to be moved and I think that’s primarily why we go to the movies or we go to the theatre. I know that’s what I want,” Bening said. “I love to be entertained. But I also like to be told stories that have more complexity, that are even tragic. If it feels true, I don’t mind it even if it’s dead sad,” she added. Bening said it helped immeasurably that veteran actor Ed Harris played Tom, the man with whom she initiates the fateful romance. “He’s (Harris) so kind of real and amazing as an actor, so present. I felt so present with him so that, for me, was a great gift. It’s like you don’t have to act, you just have to be there because he’s so there,” Bening said. As to her own feelings about Nikki, Bening is relieved not to have to decide one way or the other. “For me, I felt like I understood what she (Nikki) was doing. Is it the right thing to do? I don’t know. That’s not my job and I’m so glad,” Bening said, with a laugh. Co-writer/director Ari Posin has publicly decried how difficult it was to get financing for the film because it starred a woman of a certain age, a reality Bening knows well.
“I can think of other actresses that I know, especially some who’ve had commercial successes, and even then when they go out and try to get a movie financed sometimes they’ll run into all these obstacles. I guess it’s just sexism . . . it’s that simple,” Bening said.
Bening said several films she’s worked on have nearly not gotten made due to financing, including The Kids Are All Right (2010), for which she received an Oscar nomination.
“It’s tough anyway but then you’re trying to make a romance or an intriguing story that has an older female character as the central role, yeah it’s a challenge,” she added.