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poniedziałek, 21 października 2013

“For me this is about life, not death.” – an interview with Uberto Pasolini.



“For me this is about life, not death.”
 – an interview with Uberto Pasolini.

 The day is October 11, 2013 and the 29th Warsaw Film Festival opens with the screening of the film “Still Life” – the story of a man (Eddie Marsan) caring for those who have been forgotten at the end of their lives by making sure they will be given a proper funeral. The director Uberto Pasolini tells about his inspirations, Eddie Marsan’s performance, the meaning of the title and the importance of acknowledging other people’s lives.

What inspired you to tell this story?
The idea came from reading an article in an English newspaper. It was an interview with a woman who used to do this job in the Westminster borough. She was often the only one present at the funerals she arranged because in the majority of cases she didn’t find any relatives. I started following two other funeral offices in south London. They told me that not only in most cases the families are not found, but even when they are, the people have no interest in participating in the funeral. I also went to the union of all the funeral offices of Greater London. The majority of people there who organize the ceremonies don’t even attend them because they are either too busy or they do that job in a very bureaucratic way. I was struck by this idea of people who have been forgotten at the end of their lives. And this image of a lonely grave, which you see at the end of the film, was really the image where my thinking about making the film took off. An interesting thing from my point of view was that whereas it started as an examination of a social phenomenon, of isolation in the western world, mainly in big cities, it became much more personal.
Have you ever felt lonely yourself?
I have felt loneliness in the last few years of my life because I’ve divorced from my wife and I don’t live all the time with my children. There are evenings when I come home to an empty house – you open the door and it’s all dark, there are no noises, no smells, no nothing, no life. I felt the loneliness of those moments and I tried to imagine what it means for those moments to be your constant in life. These people are always alone – if they’re lucky, they talk for one or two minutes to somebody who puts their food in a shopping bag at the supermarket – and that’s the extent of their human contact. What’s important to me is to be more interested in other people’s lives, not just the lives of my family or people I come into contact at work with, but people who I would not normally meet or want to talk to. I think this exchange, that interest in somebody’s life can enrich you. If the film wants to make you think about anything it is the importance of continuous exchange with other people.
Once you got the idea and the script was written, an actor for the main role had to be chosen. In your short speech before the screening you mentioned Eddie Marsan’s really scary performance in “Happy-Go-Lucky”. What made you choose this particular actor since he made you so frightened?
I do not like Eddie’s performance in “Happy-Go-Lucky”. I don’t think it’s real in spite of the fact that I’m sure there are people like that but somehow I did not believe it. I had worked with him 10 years ago, before “Happy-Go-Lucky”. In this film he played Napoleon’s valet and he had six lines and three scenes. And in those six lines and three scenes he managed to create a complete, round human character. Not only was he the real person but because of the way he interacted with the emperor, who was played by Ian Holm, he gave him a human side too, a less imperial quality. And all this doing almost nothing – because the wonderful talent and technique that Eddie has is to be able to convey complex emotions with his very, very low “acting volume”, if you want to call it that. Another great talent he has is that of generosity. It’s always about the story, the character, what the film needs, what the director’s after – and then about his performance. Both when he’s in a scene by himself and in a scene with other actors he’s very generous towards others, he takes into consideration what will the other actor need to help his or her performance. He liked the script very much and we go along very, very well. I think he’s the best thing in the film. I’m very happy because it’s the first time he’s a lead in a film – he tends to be used as a character actor and not the leading man.
Despite its gloomy subject, the film does have some humorous moments, even if they are very dark and ironic.
I like to find humor in everyday situations, a humor that belongs to the real world. I don’t look for it – when you work with a scene you catch something and you remember something. It’s not a hard work, as if you’re writing a comedy and therefore you have to say, “every scene needs to have two laughs and a visual joke.”
What made you place this story visually in a cartoonish universe? The surroundings aren’t very realistic, everything is in the shade of blue, the main character’s everyday life is very idiosyncratic and it creates humor.
For me that world is a real world. We shot in real apartments and real offices. We made some small changes to the office in order for it to be exactly the same as the office in Westminster. It’s true, there is a lot of blue color – however, during the course of the film the color gets gradually saturated as the main character’s life opens up a little bit. It’s something that most people don’t notice, which is correct, I was hoping for it to be subtle. We did a little work with the sound – it’s sort of muffled and undistinguished at the beginning and then, gradually, it becomes much more specific and distinct. Also, the camera starts moving just a little bit more, as the film progresses. Some people feel it’s a fable because they don’t know or believe that such a job exists. I think of it as something real because the central character for me is completely real – he is me. Unfortunately, that’s what I am like.
You eat a can of tuna and an apple every day?
Absolutely, that’s very much me – picking up the crumbs and putting them back in the coffee, that kind of thing – that’s what I do, it’s sad but… It goes back to what we were saying about finding comedy in real life. I try to stay away from unreal situations.
The problem with the Polish title of your movie is that it’s very unambiguous. “Zatrzymane życie” means literally “a stopped life”. The original title can be interpreted in various ways, due to the use of the word “still”. Would you say it’s a movie about something that is motionless, dead and still or about something that still exists and does not end with death?
You can read it in different ways. For me this is about life, not death – about the need to engage with other people and to remain alive by engaging with other people’s lives. It’s about recognizing other people’s lives, which is what the central character does. What he wants to do, when he collects those little things in people’s apartments and writes the eulogies, is reminding the world, which is not listening, that this person had a life which has to be recognized before it’s forgotten forever. One of the things that is really important is that he is not a sad character. He’s a bit different from us, we might wish that his life was more complex, we like the idea that his life is opening out. There is a change in him and he appreciates that but he’s not sad about his old loneliness, he doesn’t feel lonely – he’s solitary, but not lonely. It was very important that the audience didn’t feel pity for him. We shouldn’t judge it on our notion of a successful life and in the same way we shouldn’t judge the life of his neighbor. He did end his life sadly, but he had also lived a life, he had children, he had love affairs, he saved somebody from dying in a war, he was a good friend. Recognize other people’s lives and don’t judge them too much. They’re still lives. They’re as good as yours.

Jakub Michalik

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