The Legend of Lylah Clare

Kim Novak once again tackles dual roles in this wildly unhinged satire of the Hollywood system and power in the film industry.

Lylah Clare is a mythical movie star whose death has long been shrouded in mystery. When unknown ingenue Elsa Brinkman (Kim Novak) is cast in the principal role in a biopic about the doomed thespian, she is almost immediately seduced by the heady Hollywood lifestyle, not to mention by tyrannical director Lewis Zarken (Peter Finch, Network); she quickly assumes Lylah’s previous status on his arm, in his film and in his bed. Soon, the lines between reality and delusion begin to blur: the spirit of Lylah herself lays claim to Elsa, at times taking hold just long enough to deliver blistering take-downs of her adversaries.

With echoes of her iconic role in Vertigo and references to her own transformation at the behest of Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn, she plays the role with trademark empathy while embracing the inspired chaos of the piece. Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly, MIFF 1998) directs with feverish intensity, transforming sound stages, mirrors and camera lenses into sites of psychological entrapment, while Novak delivers a haunting dual performance that blends innocence (quickly lost) and bravado. The Legend of Lylah Clare remains a savage, self-reflexive meditation on Hollywood’s capacity to consume the women it immortalises. Largely dismissed on release, it has since been reclaimed as a camp cult classic.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival