Ploy

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Cinematographer Chamniwikaipong, Charnkit

Executive Producer Iamphungporn, Charoen

Film Editor Yukol, Patamanadda

Music Riddim, Hualampong

Music Shimizu, Koichi

Producer Vorarat, Rewat

Production Design Chaimongkol, Wittaya

Production Design Chantarangsri, Saksiri

Screenwriter Ratanaruang, Pen-ek

Sound Kalayanamitr, Akritchalerm

Sound Shimizu, Koichi

Production Company Five Star Production Co. Ltd.

Principal Cast Everingham, Ananda

Principal Cast Panyopas, Lalita

Principal Cast Papanai, Phorntip

Principal Cast Sakuljaroensuk, Apinya

Principal Cast Sarasin, Pornwut

DESCRIPTION

TIFF NOTE

Ploy, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's perceptive and witty study of marital unhappiness, is suffused with aseptic atmospheres and a glacial eros. Dispersing fragments of a lover's discourse throughout the film's dreamlike settings - where only the talk of intimacy and emotions feels real - the celebrated Thai auteur skilfully spins a tale about the consequences of jealousy in a worn-out relationship. After a decade of life abroad, Wit (Pornwut Sarasin) and his wife, former actress Dang (Lalita Panyopas), find their marriage on the verge of collapse when they return to Bangkok for a funeral. An anonymous five-star hotel suite welcomes their new-found coldness and distance. Then Ploy (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), a mysterious young girl, innocently materializes in front of Wit in the hotel lounge, asking him for a cigarette. Captivated by Ploy's puzzling appeal, Wit invites her up to his room to rest for a few hours until her estranged mother arrives from Stockholm. Already annoyed by a woman's scribbled phone number that she has found in her husband's jacket, Dang is not happy hosting a female stranger - and an attractive and nubile one at that. But Ploy, unperturbed, makes herself at home, nonchalantly using the bathroom and going to sleep on the sofa. Meanwhile, down the hall, the barman Nut (Ananda Everingham) meets the maid Tum (Phorntip Pananai) to engage in steamy lovemaking. While Wit and Dang eviscerate the state of their marriage in room 603, Nut pleasures Tum, his head buried under her skirt, in room 609. Or is Ploy just peacefully dreaming the parallel scene? Using a visual grammar that favours stasis and ellipses over the peaks and valleys of traditional narrative, Ratanaruang doesn't choose between reality and dream. Nor does he seek remedies for Wit and Dang's relationship - he lets his protagonists surgically dissect it. A spectator in front of his own creation, the director leaves the audience enveloped in a languid daydream, his impeccable style autographing an original new work that is funny yet pensive, playful yet serious - and always charmingly elegant.

FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING HISTORY

TIFF CINEMATHEQUE PROGRAMMING HISTORY

TIFF YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMMING HISTORY

SUBJECTS

RELATED RECORDS

FRL-24469 video