Amanda Seyfried explores the trauma of sexual abuse in ‘Seven Veils’

American actress Amanda Seyfried explores the trauma of sexual abuse in “Seven Veils”, a revision of the Salome myth directed by a Canadian of Armenian descent Atom Egoyan which was screened at the Berlinale this Thursday, out of competition.

Seyfried, who began her acting career at the age of 15, said at a press conference that she could relate to her character, a director tasked with making a new production of the film opera “Salome” and at the same time he sees disturbing memories from his childhood come to the surface.

“Reflecting my life in what I do is part of my job and I love it,” said the actress, who said that she understands her character well, a mother and a wife who, faced with “chasm” separation, “she sees threats everywhere and fears that she won’t be taken seriously in her career.

Seyfried, nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress in 2020 for ‘Mank’ and who won her first Emmy in 2022 for ‘The Dropout’ (‘The Dropout: Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes’), said she feels satisfied because In recent years, “richer and more challenging” characters have arrived.

He admits that his body was in tension almost the entire time of filming, and it was the most complicated “to move from feeling things from the distant past to the recent”, something that could be “confusing”, although it was finally clear to him that he was in a moment of coming to terms with his traumas.

Egoyan, who became famous in the 90s with films like “Sweet Hereafter” -grand jury prize in Cannes- or ‘Exotica’, directed in 1996, for the first time, a production of the opera ‘Salomé’, which has been staged seven times since then, the last of which was last year.

“Then I started thinking about this film and Amanda, the story is fascinating and a huge number of artists have explored the myth, from the Bible to Oscar Wilde to Richard Strauss, it’s a story about desire and what happens when you don’t have what you think you have should”, summarize.

Egoyan wanted to explore what this controversial production could say in the current environment of “identity politics and sensitivities around inappropriate sexual behavior.”

The cast includes singers who participated in the Canadian Opera Company production, Ambur Braid (Salome) and Michael Kapfur-Radecky (Juan Bautista), who sing live in the film.