how does Venus in Fur end?

[Claire8]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 3:33am

I saw Venus in Fur in 2011 and today I saw the 2013 French film adaptation (I don't think it's been released in America yet - I saw it at the French film festival in Australia). I actually can't remember exactly how the play ended - I think the film ending was different though... Can anyone remind me? Thanks :)

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 3:35am

just a note, its actually making its US debut at the Tribeca Film Festival next month!

[atuomala]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 11:36pm

The play ended in a black-out , after Vanda and Thomas fall onto the couch together (I believe that they are out of their Vanda and Kushemski character roles at that point), but the play has a very open-ended finish that allows the audience to interpret the ending however they see fit.

[Claire8]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 11:46pm

Thanks. It was definitely different then!

[choitoy]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 3:31am

Major spoilers about the ending below:

I just saw a regional production in Seattle. Our ending has Thomas still tied to a pole, but on his knees, and is downstage right. Vanda is standing on top of the chaise (center stage), pulls out a "real" fur that is hidden inside a pillow, and she basically beckons him into saying her "real name", which he does while his arms are outstretched (like beckoning to a god). There's thunder and lightning effects, and a wind comes out of nowhere (off-stage) and blows papers all around. After all this, there's a blackout. I was left with the impression that Vanda was supernatural all along and merely playing with Thomas and his ideas/ideals (though, I also read the script before seeing the show, and I had my mind made up that she was Aphrodite posing as the human "Vanda" the whole time). My sister who saw the play didn't know what to think. Was she really who she says she is? She kinda wanted to think that Vanda was human and real.

[Claire8]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 3:35am

That sounds very similar to the film ending- although she was naked, bar the fur.

I didn't get the supernatural vibe when I saw it on Broadway but there was definitely a 'magical' vibe to the film- the music helped that.

Some of the ambiguity of what they were saying as themselves vs in character was lost because the English subtitles were italicised when they were 'in character'. I preferred the ambiguity. Other than that though I thought it was a great film

Updated On: 3/15/14 at 03:35 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 7:26am

Sounds to me as the movie's ending is very much like the Broadway production's.

Vanda is the mythic and triumphant Venus. She appears to Thomas as Vanda because he has defied the gods (read; the natural order) by his self-love and arrogance. He learns that neither Vanda nor Venus, nor any woman, nor anyone - whether sacred or profane; resistible or irresistible, easily dismissed or passionately exalted; powerless or all-powerful, a "bad actress" or his ideal leading lady - is to be trifled or toyed with or denied her* holy humanity.

To deny humanity in anyone is to deny your own. God is coming and she is pissed!

*her or his, that is; Ives's brilliant play both masterfully explores and radically transcends the battle of the sexes; it addresses all power relationships.

[followspot]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 4:37pm

[Lightning and thunder, louder. She takes a triumphant stance, her feet planted, legs spread, hands on her hips]

VANDA: "And the Lord hath smitten him and delivered him into a woman's hands."

THOMAS: HAIL APHRODITE!

VANDA: Good.

[Lightning and a deafening crack of thunder. Blackout.]