# Visage (ヴィサージュ) (2009 film)
**Visage** (French for "Face"; Chinese title 臉; released in Japan as ヴィザージュ) is a 2009 feature film directed by the Malaysia-born, Taiwan-based filmmaker [Tsai Ming-liang](https://www.edgepedia.org/tsai-ming-liang), in which a Taiwanese director travels to the Louvre in Paris to shoot a film based on the myth of Salomé.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) It was commissioned and co-produced by the Musée du Louvre, screened in competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and became the first film to be included in the Louvre's permanent collection.[2](https://prod-img.taiwanplus.com/exhibition/2025/Taiwan_Cinema_Handbook.pdf) • [1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) The film is a Taiwan, France, Belgium, and Netherlands co-production, spoken in French and Mandarin.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Tsai Ming-liang; his ninth feature film[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage) • [4](https://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IJAPS-132_ART7.pdf) |
| Commission | Commissioned and co-produced by the Musée du Louvre as opus 1 of the series "The Louvre Invites Filmmakers"; the first feature given official license to shoot within the Louvre[5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/face-2009-11) |
| Cannes | In Competition, 2009 Cannes Film Festival[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) |
| Runtime | 138 minutes per Cannes and QAGOMA listings; 141 minutes per IFFR and Eye Filmmuseum listings[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) • [3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage) |
| Principal cast | Lee Kang-sheng, Fanny Ardant, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Laetitia Casta, Jeanne Moreau, Nathalie Baye, Mathieu Amalric, Lu Yi-Ching[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/108221/) |
| Languages and format | French and Mandarin; shot on 35mm[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage) |
| Release | France 4 November 2009; Belgium 11 November 2009[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/108221/) |
| Awards | Golden Horse Film Festival 2009: Best Art Direction and Best Makeup & Costume Design; Asian Film Awards 2010: Best Costume Designer and Best Production Designer[7](https://circe.nl/films/visage/) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film follows Hsiao-Kang (Lee Kang-sheng), a Taiwanese filmmaker who speaks neither French nor English and travels to the Louvre to make a film based on the myth of Salomé. He insists that the French actor [Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-pierre-leaud) be cast as King Herod, and so that the film can have a shot commercially, the production company hands the part of Salomé to a model known throughout the world. Problems arise as soon as filming begins.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/)
Amid the confusion of the production, the director learns of his mother's death. The producer flies to Taipei to attend the funeral, while the director falls into a deep sleep in which his mother's spirit seems unwilling to leave her old apartment; the producer is left waiting, alone in a strange city. Filming eventually resumes.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) The Queensland Art Gallery describes the film as an elliptical, autobiographical meditation on filmmaking and cinema, in which the director's difficulties in France are intensified by the death of his mother while he is away.[10](https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/cinema/screening/visage-face-2024-12-20)
The story is told largely through images rather than conventional plot. The MUBI critic David Phelps wrote that the elaborate story, including the mother's death and haunting and the French producer's trip to bury her, is "told entirely as visual evidence": the only proof that Léaud's character has gone to Taiwan is that he is burying ashes with Taiwanese rites, and the only indication of the mother's death is a shot of the director crying.[11](https://mubi.com/fr/notebook/posts/cannes-2009-through-the-looking-glass-visage-tsai) Song and dance scenes tell parts of the story without dialogue.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage)
## Production and the Louvre commission
The Louvre asked Tsai in 2006 to make a film drawing on the museum's art holdings, and the outcome was *Visage*, the first film admitted to the Louvre's permanent collection.[2](https://prod-img.taiwanplus.com/exhibition/2025/Taiwan_Cinema_Handbook.pdf) The Harvard Film Archive describes it as the first feature given official license to shoot within the Louvre, and notes that it was partly funded by the museum as opus 1 of the series "The Louvre Invites Filmmakers."[5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/face-2009-11) Tsai shot the film among [Leonardo da Vinci](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-da-vinci)'s masterpieces in the museum.[8](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/visage/268186)
Production companies included JBA Production, Homegreen Films Co., Le musée du Louvre, Tarantula, Circe Films BV, and ARTE France Cinéma, with Jacques Bidou and Marianne Dumoulin among the producers.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage) The film received support from CNC (France), GIO (Taiwan), the Nederlands Fonds voor de Film, Eurimages, and La Région Ile-de-France, and its script was developed with the support of the MEDIA program and the Atelier of the Cannes Film Festival.[7](https://circe.nl/films/visage/) In a November 2009 interview with *Libération*, Tsai described the film as an expression of his "desire to go toward pure cinema," saying that "the museum partly protects [him] against the immediacy that crushes films' consumption."[9](https://necsus-ejms.org/the-care-for-opacity-on-tsai-ming-liangs-conservative-filmic-gesture/)
## Cast and the French cinema connection
Lee Kang-sheng, Tsai's longtime leading actor, plays the director, and Lu Yi-Ching plays the mother.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage) The French cast includes [Fanny Ardant](https://www.edgepedia.org/fanny-ardant) as the producer (and, in the film-within-the-film, Queen Herodias), Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine and King Herod, and [Laetitia Casta](https://www.edgepedia.org/laetitia-casta) as the star who plays Salomé.[12](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D138198.html) • [1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) [Jeanne Moreau](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeanne-moreau), Nathalie Baye, and Mathieu Amalric also appear.[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/108221/)
The casting is built around homage to [François Truffaut](https://www.edgepedia.org/francois-truffaut). The Japanese database Movie Walker-style notes on the film describe it as Tsai's tribute to the Nouvelle Vague director he admired, gathering stars Truffaut loved, including Léaud, Ardant, and Moreau.[13](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55040/) According to the *Taipei Times*, Tsai repeatedly said the film originated with his desire to film the aging face of Léaud, whom he first saw as Antoine in Truffaut's *The 400 Blows*; in one scene, Truffaut's three muses, Moreau, Baye, and Ardant, assemble at a dining table in apartments once occupied by [Napoleon III](https://www.edgepedia.org/napoleon-iii) and hum the theme song from Truffaut's *Jules and Jim*.[14](https://www.taipeitimes.com/images/2009/10/02/TT-981002-P13-IB.pdf) The IFFR synopsis also notes references to the filmmakers Truffaut and Rivette, to Western art, to the Bible and Buddhism, and to Tsai's own earlier films.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage) Costumes were by [Christian Lacroix](https://www.edgepedia.org/christian-lacroix).[5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/face-2009-11)
## Style
*Visage* continues Tsai's slow, image-centered style while departing from it in some respects. The film's structure is distilled into a series of choreographed, elliptical episodes set within the inner chambers of the Louvre and in a mirrored, wintry Tuileries.[5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/face-2009-11) Phelps observed that where earlier Tsai films explore buildings that operate like organisms, each room and shot in *Visage* is nearly self-contained, staged in real time like an installation piece; the film's motifs include a woman taping her window and mirror shut with black tape, musical sequences in the snow, a real elk wandering through fake snow, and a ghost reaching into the frame.[11](https://mubi.com/fr/notebook/posts/cannes-2009-through-the-looking-glass-visage-tsai) The opening credits show calligraphy of the Chinese character for face, 脸 , fading in on a white screen.[9](https://necsus-ejms.org/the-care-for-opacity-on-tsai-ming-liangs-conservative-filmic-gesture/) The film's title is reflected in its emphasis on faces shown in close-up, which one scholar of slow cinema noted is unusual for the genre and gives the film a more intimate feel.[15](https://theartsofslowcinema.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/tsai-ming-liang-visage-2009/)
## Release and reception
The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival in Official Competition, where it was nominated for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/) • [7](https://circe.nl/films/visage/) It was released in France on 4 November 2009 and in Belgium on 11 November 2009, distributed by Rezo Films, with international sales by Fortissimo Films.[6](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/108221/) It screened as the opening film of the tenth Tokyo FILMeX in 2009.[13](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55040/) It later played at festivals including Toronto, Vancouver, Pusan, Chicago, Rotterdam, and Göteborg.[7](https://circe.nl/films/visage/)
Reception was divided. At the Sydney Film Festival, an SBS reviewer called the film impenetrable and confounding for all but the most acute cinephiles, noting its non-linear plot and long dialogue-free passages.[16](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/face-review/pi35icllc) In the [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) 2009 critics' poll, one contributor named it among the year's disappointments while noting that others disagreed, citing Mark Cousins' top five.[17](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/films-2009) The French site Première called it Tsai's most accomplished film since *Vive l'amour*.[18](https://www.premiere.fr/film/Visage/critiques) At the Golden Horse Film Festival 2009 it won Best Art Direction and Best Makeup & Costume Design, and at the 2010 Asian Film Awards it won Best Costume Designer and Best Production Designer.[7](https://circe.nl/films/visage/)
## A note on the Japanese title
The Japanese release title of Tsai's film is ヴィザージュ , sometimes printed as "Visages."[13](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55040/) • [19](https://filmarks.com/movies/15060) A separate 2009 Japanese film also titled ヴィサージュ , a 92-minute action feature directed by Kagawa Takayuki about a young man born into a family of criminals, was released on 12 December 2009; the two films are unrelated.[20](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/2002)
## References
1. [VISAGE (FACE), Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/visage/)
2. [Taiwan Cinema Handbook, TaiwanPlus](https://prod-img.taiwanplus.com/exhibition/2025/Taiwan_Cinema_Handbook.pdf)
3. [Visage, International Film Festival Rotterdam](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/visage)
4. [The many faces of Tsai Ming-Liang, IJAPS Vol. 13 No. 2 (2017)](https://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IJAPS-132_ART7.pdf)
5. [Face (Visage), Harvard Film Archive](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/face-2009-11)
6. [Face (Visage), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/108221/)
7. [Visage, Circe Films](https://circe.nl/films/visage/)
8. [Visage, Eye Filmmuseum](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/visage/268186)
9. [The care for opacity: On Tsai Ming-Liang's conservative filmic gesture, NECSUS (2012)](https://necsus-ejms.org/the-care-for-opacity-on-tsai-ming-liangs-conservative-filmic-gesture/)
10. [Visage (Face), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art](https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/cinema/screening/visage-face-2024-12-20)
11. [Cannes 2009: Through the Looking Glass ("Visage," Tsai), MUBI Notebook](https://mubi.com/fr/notebook/posts/cannes-2009-through-the-looking-glass-visage-tsai)
12. [Visage, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D138198.html)
13. [ヴィザージュ, 映画.com](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/55040/)
14. [Taipei Times, Around Town, 2 October 2009](https://www.taipeitimes.com/images/2009/10/02/TT-981002-P13-IB.pdf)
15. [Tsai Ming-Liang – Visage (2009), The Art(s) of Slow Cinema](https://theartsofslowcinema.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/tsai-ming-liang-visage-2009/)
16. [Face Review, SBS What's On](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/face-review/pi35icllc)
17. [The films of 2009, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/films-2009)
18. [Visage (2009) : Critiques, Première](https://www.premiere.fr/film/Visage/critiques)
19. [ヴィザージュ, Filmarks](https://filmarks.com/movies/15060)
20. [visage (ヴィサージュ), Japanese Film Database](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/2002)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license