Translated interview
Forgotten women
Matthias Greuling, in: Die Furche, 13th of December 2019
// Additions or clarifications for translating purposes are denoted as [T: …]. It’s a very short interview, but a good excuse to post pictures of these three 😎. The interview is only with Céline. //
Céline Sciamma made a period love drama with ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, for which she won the Best Screenplay in Cannes this year.
[T: Omitted description of the film]
Interviewer: Observing people is always at the centre of your work. Why are you interested in this?
Céline Sciamma: Cinema is inherently more appearance than substance. And the people, who observe others, are always at the centre of my films, at the same time we as an audience also watch these people watching others: a merry-go-round of gazes, you could say, a roundelay. I also make sure that each film creates a fresh and independent look on the characters and the story. That may seem experimental, but I see it more as an individual voice for each project.
I: You were heaped with praise for the film in Cannes, where you won for the Best Screenplay this year. Does this flatter you?
CS: Of course! It is the most important place for cinema in the world. At the festival in Cannes, you act is if there is nothing more important in the world than cinema for two weeks. And in this context, I am very pleased if my film is well received.
I: What was the starting point for making this film?
CS: I started from different desires that I wanted to make a film about. I thought a very long time about this film before I could even put it on paper. Just the title ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, it existed very early on. It was like a road map to the film for me. In terms of content, I wanted to talk about an artist, and it immediately crossed my mind to portray a painter. The late 18th century was a productive time for female painters, they had great successes at that time, were respected, but were later erased from art history. That made me incredibly furious when I researched it. All these pictures that have been withheld from us! It was not only the realisation how art history forced them into invisibility, but also the consequences which annoyed me: when I look at these pictures, they disturb and move me, because I missed them all my life. That's why I told this story: to make these forgotten women visible. [T: Also see here, here, or here]
I: How many more films can you make about love?
CS: It was a desire, really. There was this desire in the beginning, to do a love story. When I was writing, two contradicting desires were fighting within me. On the one hand, I wanted to show step by step what it’s like to fall in love, the pure experience, all the pleasure. The staging was focusing on confusion, hesitation, the romantic exchange. On the other hand, I wanted to catch the echo of a love affair, how it lives on within us in full.
Pictures: [1], [2], [3]