The Great Acting Blog: “The Paradox Of Authenticity”
We’ve all seen movies which contain scenes where the star actor is playing the piano, and at some point the filmmaker decides to pull back and reveal to us that the actor really is playing the piano, that he’s not faking it. It’s heartwarming to see a filmmaker buff-up the credentials of his actor in this way, but in so doing, he damages his own film. Why? Because the audience are no longer watching it, instead, they’re thinking; “oh look, he’s really playing the piano.”
Similarly with graphic sex scenes. Filmmakers try to make them seem as “realistic” as possible in order to help the audience believe in the film. Of course, the reverse happens, the illusion of the film is shattered, as the viewer wonders; “are the actors really having sex?”
In each case, the aesthetic integrity of the film has been violated by a search for authenticity.
This is why I say that performances drenched in emotionality are less effective than performances driven by action, where emotion is simply a by-product of the action. When emotion is pushed to the forefront of the performance, it damages the aesthetic integrity of the piece because we stop watching it and instead observe the actor’s technique; “is that actor really crying?”
The greatest performances are mysterious, they do not give up their secrets quite so easily. It is often difficult to pinpoint their greatness, in fact, at first we may not even think they are that great until they sink in. These performances are integrated into the overall piece we are watching and we experience them as such.*
Artists need only strive to express the piece they are working on, they don’t need to worry about some generalised notion of authenticity that will only create harm.
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