An excerpt from the director's interview (involving key plot points!)

Rowland 2022-09-12 20:41:53

(self-translation)

Q: How did you come up with the story, characters, setting, location of Lara Croft?

Luc Dardenne: Originally I wanted to make a movie about a woman. But I don't know who, where, what happened. Just know it's a woman. Then, in 2002, I met a man in Brussels who told me a story: her brother was an addict. The mafia offered him a deal to marry a prostitute in Albania. The agreement included making the woman a Belgian citizen through marriage. And use this status to continue to marry other Algerian men. And he himself can get part of the payment when he gets married, and the rest can only be received on the day of divorce. His sister, the storyteller, reminds him to be careful. Because there have been drug addicts who married Aren before and eventually died of drug overdose. The police suspect that everything is the work of the mafia. Murder can not only be sealed, but also saves the cost of divorce.

Her brother ultimately did not accept the deal. But the story left a lasting impression on me. We changed it a little later: no prostitutes, because we thought it was a bit old-fashioned. But Albanian women are not bad. Or even if not, as long as it's an immigrant. In order to get an ID card, she joined a marriage fraud group and faked marriage with a Belgian drug addict. Is this woman the kind of villain who does not care about life and death for her own gain? Or on the contrary, she saved the addict's life at a critical moment? Is she going to save him or not? ... So, the woman's idea gradually became clear. Next is dealing with the social and moral situation.

Q: What is it about this situation that appeals to you?

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: Deception. A woman who becomes an accomplice tries to find a way to escape from the deception she takes part in. We love this theme. At first the woman is attractive, she is the protector of secrets. Then she must choose between keeping or revealing the secret. This is the first time we've made a movie about a woman, the first time there's a passion scene and nudity. These things have never been done before, we want to do and hope to be successful.

Q: Classical theatrical structures usually progress to important decisions. Your films, on the other hand, always appear at the beginning or soon after, and then focus on how the characters deal with the ending or the crime.

JPD: What really interests us is the murders that have been committed or are being committed, and the associated roles after that. In this film, as opposed to "Son" (which also has a murder, but the murderer is not the protagonist), we have a man killed by an overdose in the middle of the film. The purpose of this is to show Laura's reaction afterward. Did she feel guilty once the murder happened? Will accomplices be reported? Will she not accept her portion of the pay? Or did she choose to go back to her hometown and continue to be herself? Can she bear to be an accomplice in such a murder? Even after the man was saved, she still didn't tell him the truth. In short, we are interested in whether a woman can completely forget everything she has done and the crimes she has participated in in the name of love, life and happiness.

A lot of our films focus on: committing murder, whether it is possible for a person. In real life, the answer is obviously yes. Everyone knows that. But we're trying to put our characters in the dilemma of killing or not killing! If killed, will they feel guilty for it. For the purposes of this film, Laura's crimes are apparently so serious that she herself creates a child out of thin air that doesn't even exist. Imagine that the dead man can be resurrected in the form of two people's own flesh and blood.

Q: Why didn't you show the man being murdered, or Laura finding out he was murdered? Instead of shocking the audience with sudden bursts, let them slowly become conscious.

JPD: It would be more interesting for us to go back to Laura and let the audience discover Claudius' death through her. The plot where Laura learned of her death was also omitted. This omission makes it possible at a certain point in time to create a child in the woman's body. In theory we think so. When we first started writing the story, we had already decided not to show the disappearance of Claudius. But she hadn't thought of making her feel like she was pregnant. I think we can only make "pregnancy" possible by keeping the death of a man out of the picture. If it does show up, then Laura can't feel like she's pregnant. Because he has disappeared, disappeared from the film. He rode away, simple as that.

LD: I also think not showing death makes the film more visceral. Both for Laura and for the audience. More in Laura's mind, heart, and body, and in the imagination of the audience. Not showing it allows the audience to identify more fully with Laura, with her inner world.

Q: This way is also more shocking!

JPD: Yes. Like my brother said. Because he disappeared, his death was kept a secret from the audience. We don't know how it happened, but it's better to imagine than to see!

Q: You often work with non-professional or inexperienced actors, but you have worked with Jérémie Renier three times. Is the relationship unusual?

LD: He entered the film industry with us and made two films together, both of which failed. After that, we did some stage plays together. But when our films were actually watched and reviewed, it started with The Promise.

JPD: We entered the film industry at the same time, and we were both in our forties. He has a fifteen-year-old son. There is some kind of tacit understanding and trust between us. To this day, we still hope to make another movie with him. Of course, he's a great actor. Every time he worked with us, he was able to pass on our understanding to other actors without much explanation. Help them get into the situation. He has qualities beyond the realm of an actor. For us, this is precious and amazing.

Q: Unlike your recent films, Lara the Silent was shot in 35mm. There are also a lot of fixed positions. Why choose this style?

LD: Because we thought we needed to observe and analyze this woman. Instead of simulating her activities in front of the camera, as Rosetta did. It takes a little distance and a more stable camera to observe this mysterious woman with a very complicated head. He was telling the truth to one person, but not to another. She takes up most of the picture. So we observe her. Sometimes with sympathy, sometimes with hatred, sometimes with great understanding. Anyway, we observe her. We ask ourselves, who is she?

Q: Is this a political film?

JPD: This film is about right now, about men and women in their respective names, ready to murder someone. We also talked about the somewhat humble value of life. You could say it's politics too. But we never saw it as a political film. We want to tell a story about modern man. In Europe, there are many directors who are targeting the same field: immigration. The most chaotic side of European life at the moment. This is not a trial. Movies are best suited for such subjects.

View more about Lorna's Silence reviews