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Face

Face (Visage)

Movie · 2009 · 4 people

Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang wrote and directed Face (French: Visage), a comedy-drama from 2009. Commissioned by the Louvre Museum, it is a co-production of France, Taiwan, Belgium and the Netherlands, running 138 minutes in Chinese, English and French. It had its world premiere in the official competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Its hero is a Taiwanese director shooting a film about the legend of Salome inside the vast Louvre. Once shooting begins, things go wrong: first the director's mother dies, then her ghost appears. With a humorous and absurdist tone, the film deals with loss and mourning and reunites Tsai's regular actor Lee Kang-sheng (as Hsiao-Kang) with the cult French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, who plays Antoine and King Herod. Fanny Ardant plays the producer and Queen Herodias, and Laetitia Casta is Salome.

Jeanne Moreau, Nathalie Baye, Mathieu Amalric and Lu Yi-ching also appear. Its Chinese title is Liǎn, the word for “face”, as is the French Visage. The film has been presented as an unconventional tribute to the Louvre by a director who has won the Golden Tulip at the Istanbul Film Festival.

DirectorTsai Ming-Liang

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Fanny Ardant Fanny Ardant Actor · 77 years old Jean-Pierre Léaud Jean-Pierre Léaud Film actor · 82 years old Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau Film actor · died at 89 Nathalie Baye Nathalie Baye Actor · died at 77

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Commissioned by the Louvre, Tsai Ming-liang treats the museum not as a backdrop but almost as a character. The story of a director trying to shoot the legend of Salome uses a film-within-a-film structure to approach loss and mourning with absurdist humour. Pairing Lee Kang-sheng with Jean-Pierre Léaud is a bold choice that sets two distinct traditions, Taiwanese and French cinema, talking in the same frame. The 138-minute running time strains the approach at times, though; some stretches are long and loose enough to test anyone's patience. Still, a cast that also includes Jeanne Moreau, Fanny Ardant and Nathalie Baye makes this a meeting not to be missed by anyone curious about an ambitious piece of cinema.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This is not one for family night. It is in three languages, runs 138 minutes and does not move the way most films do. Heavy subjects like a mother's death and grief are told with absurd humour; children will struggle to follow it and grandparents may get bored. It suits adults who enjoy art films. Better saved for a quiet evening on your own.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Jeanne Moreau, Fanny Ardant, Nathalie Baye and Jean-Pierre Léaud: seeing those names in one film quickens the heart of anyone who loves the golden years of French cinema. That it deals with grief and loss is touching, too. Yet for an eye that seeks a warm, flowing story, this absurdist telling stays rather foreign; the feeling usually sits behind a certain distance. Worth watching out of loyalty to great actors, but anyone expecting a classical narrative may be disappointed.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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