Visage

Although he speaks neither French nor English, he absolutely insists on assigning the role of Herod to Jean-Pierre Léaud. To give the film a boost, the production assigns the role of Salome to an internationally renowned top model. But a build-up of problems begins on the first day of the shoot. 

"Shortly before they start shooting, the filmmaker's mother dies. The film is dedicated to her. Her death inspires the Taiwanese filmmaker for the most beautiful image in the film. Some scenes were shot in Hsiao-Kang's apartment, the same one we have seen since The River. The usual leak that this apartment has in almost all of Tsai Ming-Liang's films has become a flood. Lee Kang-Sheng takes his final leave of his mother who is lying on a floating mattress, before setting out for Paris to shoot the film about Salome. The coming of death appears very gently in these dreamlike scenes." Olivier Cheval, Muséoscopies. Fictions of the film museum (Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre, 2018) 

Tsai Ming-Liang, Face. France-Taiwan, 2009, 138 min, 35mm, colour, original version with French subtitles 
With Fanny Ardant, Laetitia Casta, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Lee Kang-Sheng 
Cannes Festival, 2009 – official selection