Jane Campion on Jane Campion by Michel Ciment

Author:Michel Ciment
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2023-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Frannie discovers her sister dead.

When Frannie meets Malloy, she’s going through a period of depression and withdrawal.

It’s your first film set in a big city, and you’ve managed to capture its atmosphere, thanks, in particular, to Dion Beebe’s very mobile camera.

Laurie Parker and I spent a week talking with Dion Beebe and the production designer, David Brisbin. We had numerous films on video at our disposition, and David suggested the idea of using a wide range of colours to make the half-darkness, using warm colours rather than limiting ourselves to green, blue, and dark tones, as the story was dark enough in itself. Dion and I planned how the camera could contribute to the story and what we could do within the constraints of the budget, which allowed us nine weeks of shooting. We talked about the direction of the actors: I didn’t want to be too prescriptive, but, on the contrary, relaxed: I needed to allow them some freedom so that would be very present on screen, like in Coppola’s The Godfather.

We also recalled the opening sequence of Holy Smoke and decided that it would be good to film the whole of In the Cut in that register, allowing the actors to perform the scenes and only afterwards looking to structure what we’d filmed. This was our modus operandi: the actors, particularly Meg, would develop their way of acting a scene and their movements, and the camera—with a few necessary adjustments on their part—would adapt to their ideas. Dion is very sensitive visually; intelligent and deep. Most of the motifs in the opening sequence come from him. We understand each other perfectly, and this way of filming—where we basically trusted our instincts—was invigorating because nothing was really established before shooting, even though Dion had made storyboards, which he later abandoned! I should say, however, that we did make use of them for some sequences—for example, the intimate scenes, where the choice of angle was important.

At the beginning, the scene where she descends the stairs in the bar is like diving into her unconscious.

That’s exactly what I wanted to suggest. In the story, this scene represents a sort of mythical underworld, which is also the start of a voyage. She enters into the world of the detective film, like Alice in Wonderland, but a darker version! It’s the story of renewal, and at the same time a love story, which wasn’t exactly the theme of the novel, which was more focused on sexual encounters.

The last shot, of the door closing on the couple’s intimacy, confirms that it’s a love story.

Susanna defined her novel for me in this way, but not without a touch of irony in her voice. I told her that I was taking her at her word and that it was like that that I would shoot her story. It wasn’t so easy—the story is anti-romantic—but ultimately, that’s what it’s about.

Although there are elements of suspense and characteristics of the thriller with the four suspects—the inspector, his colleague,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.