MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE
ACMI 2, Tuesday August 2, 9pm
Robert Greene's film about Christine Chubbuck, the TV reporter who shot herself live on air in Florida in 1974, is a remarkable, challenging, intensely self-aware piece of work.
Indeed, even to describe it as being "about Christine Chubbuck" is to oversimplify and misdirect.
It is, on its surface at least, an observational documentary that follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil as she prepares to play the role of Chubbuck in a narrative film.
But that film only exists for the purposes of the documentary about her preparing for the role (and to be absolutely clear, or thoroughly confusing, this film is in no way related to Christine, the biopic starring Rebecca Hall, which also screens at this year's MIFF).
Yes it's circular, but in no way egregiously tricky, for Greene's real subject is identity and identification.
His questions are big ones: who was Chubbuck; why did she do what she did; what does her dreadful act mean; what happened to the footage of the event – not seen since that fateful day – and why is he (and why are we) so keen to see it, or to see it recreated?
Above all, it asks how far can a director push an actor in search of a performance?
Greene at times plays (or is) the villain but Sheil is never less than heroic in her multi-faceted quest for truth in all its uncomfortable guises.
Utterly compelling.