Cantica Untaru (little romanian girl)

Because she was neither trained nor experienced, she didn't even get what they were doing and who were those people, so Tarsem and crew had to manipulate her innoconce and naiveness through her co-stars, captured on camera as we see in the first half...but at the end of the hospital scene to the fantasy scene she learned that she's being filmed and the people are actually actors and film crew, she began to follow instructions and advices on how to act.

OMGosh - i thought her performance was Amazing!

Cantica reminded me so, so much of my own granddaughter when she that age (at about 8 years old), with her little round face & button nose...

in just a few days (March 21st) Cantinca will be 16 years old...
if you've a mind to, go to Google Images and type in her name to see what a lovely & beautiful young lady she has turned out to be...

according to her bio: "When she was three years old, she told her grandparents that she would like to became a theatre actress waiting for people to give her flowers on a stage...."

it seems she hasn't done much since The Fall...
i wonder if she'll continue her acting career?





I don't feel old ~ I don't feel anything until noon...

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Chubby cute kids usually don't grow up to be attractive unfortunately.

Yes, this has been often commented on. It's almost shocking. You don't realise how unrealistic other child actors really are until you see this.

From the commentary, several bits are semi-improvised---including her first big speech where she says that Alexander The Great should've given every soldier a leeeetle bit of water. That was her ad hoc response when asked 'what would you do?' And then she starts biting the sheet. The most realistic child portrayal I've ever seen. You could never -write- those kinds of things and child actors would never do them.


What I find most interesting is that one doesn't think of 'improvisation' when talking about Tarsem's movies... they're so staged. But it's just a case of perfect casting and letting her do her thing.

It was probably the greatest natural performance by a young child I've ever seen, but I agree with some of the other posters here that this had a lot to do with the director-and-actor interaction, the way Tarsem got that performance out of that unlikely, and I think absolutely adorable and wonderful, child. It's also true that the script-plus-improv in the dialogue was responsible for that performance as well. Watching a film like this makes you realize how really rare it is that you see people talking to each other in films like they actually do in real life, especially when it comes to children.

Imagine the film with the typical "actor's" performance from a child, without the hesitations and feel of real speech, with a "beautiful" (as in, perfectly groomed little starlet, or perfectly mussed up by a team of makeup people) child, and see what you end up with. The sense of reality in that character is the absolute center of the film, as far as I'm concerned. With it, you have a great film. Without it, it falls.

I loved this film for the little girl - LOVED this film, she was SO CAPTIVATING.
But watch "Ponette" or "Spirit of the Beehive" and you will see many children acting the same, barely "acting" - they are usually tricked into thinking the situation is somewhat real. Really, if you loved this, though, you will probably love Spirit of the Beehive.

She was indeed very good when she WAS acting but most of the time she wasn't acting imo. That's why her performance seems even more impressive because every actor is trying to convince us (& themselves) they are not acting but in her case I get the impression she is just being herself and reacting the way she normally would.

A lot of credit can be given to the director and Lee Pace for giving the scenes the improvisational flexibility to work with every child's strongest attribute...their imagination!

I believe (based off my own experience as a child) that at that age you sort of bounce between the realm of imagination and 'reality' anyway. Unfortunately, for most people that fades as we become adolescents and adults (the film 'Inside Out' is a good example).

For those mentioning the kid in 'Looper' I agree his performance sticks in the memory. I remember looking up his imdb when I saw it a few years back.