A woman desperate to retain a living sense of her dead son – ‘After Him’

NDTV Lumiere | Movies | July 23, 2009 at 11:33 pm

“A mother’s grief warps into a suffocating obsession in After Him, a sombre study of aching loss and broken hearts… an unsentimental drama that refuses to sweeten the story of a woman desperate to retain a living sense of her dead son.”
– Allan Hunter, Screen Daily

After Him revolves around a grieving mother, who develops an unhealthy interest in the man who accidentally killed her son. Starring legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve, After Him, a poignant exploration of maternal grief, is being aired on NDTV Lumiere TV Channel on 28th July, 10 pm

An interview with director Gaël Morel

Was the film’s starting point your desire to work with Catherine Deneuve?
No! The starting point was the character. I was more or less inspired by something that happened in the small village where I’m from. Kids coming home from a nightclub had a car accident. One of them was killed and his mother totally rejected the other passengers who survived. I imagined the contrary. In this type of situation, some people really do forgive, like Camille, though it’s not easy to live with. I always start with an almost “tabloid” base and then try to get something particular that is nothing like tabloids or naturalism. I talked to Christophe Honoré about my ideas. I had already written “Le clan” with him. He was enthusiastic about the project from the outset. We started writing without really thinking about the actress who would play the role. Once the screenplay was finished, three or four months later, Christophe, who knew I was interested in Catherine, pushed me to offer it to her. I wasn’t sure.

Why? Because she refused a film you offered her ten years ago?
Yes! When you write for an actress and she says no, you’re disappointed and it’s only normal to be scared of the same thing happening a second time. At the same time, I remembered her saying she prefers missing an appointment to missing an encounter. So an encounter was still possible. I wasn’t sure… But Christophe encouraged me to do it and deep down, I said to myself, “I didn’t write the role for her. I wanted Camille before I wanted Catherine.” In the end, it was a good fit with Catherine Deneuve’s personality. She is an actress who does not like to be flattered. She wants to be treated as an actress. When I sent her the screenplay, I wrote her a note saying it was not a role written for her but at the end of the screenplay, I said to myself it would be too bad to not offer it to her…

Did she hesitate?
She answered pretty quickly. Once she’d said yes, she was unsure. But paradoxically, it was a positive time because Catherine asked the right questions about the role, the screenplay and her ability to commit to a subject like this. The story obviously moved her, maybe even scared her and there was no way she’d do the film without taking it seriously. I got the feeling she wanted everything to be in the screenplay so we had a few discussions. Then one day, she suggested doing a reading. I hate doing readings. When I work, I want it to be as alive and informal as possible. I hate being shut away in an office. So we met in a bar, but I couldn’t see myself reading it out loud. Neither could she! In the end, we turned the pages together and sometimes, she asked a question. When it was over, I told her I didn’t like readings. She said, “Nor do I. I don’t know why I suggested it!” It was pretty funny. Then I said, “Well?” and she answered, “I’ll do it.” It was in May last year. It was a beautiful moment. Once Catherine was in the role, I wanted to totally redo the screenplay for her. Knowing she’d be saying the lines gave me wings to rewrite the dialogues.
Après lui is the second film after Le clan that you’ve written with Christophe Honoré. How are you complementary as writers?
When I met Christophe, he had a small town shyness that touched me and reminded me of my own. At the same time, there was something very peculiar about him – a sort of honesty and integrity. I liked that about him. Also, I liked his books a lot. We shared certain themes. Even if we’re not from the same social class, we have a lot in common. We’re complementary in our love of cinema. He has more distance than me. He has a more overall view. I’m more emotional. I dive into a film spontaneously, without analyzing so much.

When you were writing, how exactly did it work?
I hate everything to do with the conventional image of “work”. I can’t see myself sitting down at the table with Christophe to write – for me, that’s like school – and in the same way, I can’t see myself doing a reading with actors – that’s too much like the office. If we make films, for me at least, it’s to escape all that. So Christophe and I just kind of chat. We talk non-stop, throwing down ideas. The principle is that we never stop to write but we take a lot of notes. Initially, we don’t write an outline for the screenplay. Once you have one, you stick to it. While we’re talking, we try and decide on a direction and a story. Then we give each other scenes to write, we read them, correct them and bounce off each other. For me, it’s important that we’re never locked in. It’s the same for the characters. I hate data sheets because you freeze a character before you even invent a story for him. What I’m looking for is the moment when everything is possible for a character. For me, it’s vital to work from the fact that we’re always a mystery to other people. It’s about entering into mystery, not psychology. For example, it’s hard to say what Camille is looking for but she is motivated by something she knows or seems to know, that we don’t know. With the character of Camille, we’re in the dark. It’s a mystery right up until her last look. Even though I don’t intend to express anything specific and neither does Catherine, this look says a lot.

What was the hardest part when you were writing?
The start. With the way we work, the start is always laborious. And since we don’t want to write data sheets, we write scenes that we know won’t be in the final version. We have to write them to make the character exist, at least in our heads, even if we end up sticking with the mysterious aspect. The end was hard for “Après lui”, too. Why choose one option over another? Christophe and I both wrote an end without talking about it. Mine was delirious and romantic. His was very distanced. The film’s ending turned out to be a combination of both!

Did Catherine Deneuve ask you a lot of questions about the end?
Yes, of course. I felt there shouldn’t be an answer. There was no reason to give the film a standard ending when we’re dealing with a new kind of feeling and an unprecedented character. Catherine was a little worried but I was convinced that the end would work if the film worked as a whole. Because if the film has worked, we empathize with her at that moment. We’re inside her head, caught up in her obsession, seeing things through her eyes. Today, when I watch the ending, I see a lot of things. First, there is a normal look. The fact that the shot continues means we read something else. Then the music starts and we read something else again. Then it goes black and we read something else yet again.

Did you have the idea of giving the role of the young man to Thomas Dumerchez, your actor from Le Clan, from the outset?
No. It came to me when we were doing the casting. I saw nearly every actor who was 18 to 22. I ended up choosing Thomas because I felt he wouldn’t have to play Franck. He had it inside him. He has three great things that are rare and contradictory that you don’t often see in young people, much less young actors: light, youth and sadness. As a director, it meant that I was shooting with the actress who made me want to make films and the actor who made his first film with me, who I found in the streets. It’s a fantasy for every director, being able to bring together the person who sparked your vocation and the one you introduced. It tells a story of cinema. I like the idea of a film telling a story of cinema. It was in keeping with what the film is about – a mature woman with someone growing and developing… On set, it was the same story! Catherine was really there for Thomas. She made him feel comfortable. She had a special relationship with him that was her way of dissipating Thomas’ anxiety at having to work with her. It was beautiful the way they got to know each other.

What was the first image of Catherine Deneuve you ever saw? Is that what made you want to make films?
My first image of her was in Belle de jour. I don’t know if it’s the first film of hers that I saw but I know it’s the first film I saw that made me want to make films. I saw it on TV as a kid. I was 9 or 10. For me, it’s a movie for children! I saw Belle de jour as a film that tells a story about a woman who does something bad and who suddenly realizes that a friend of the family’s knows what she’s done. For a child, it is about breaking rules. It’s so meaningful. It was really that film and her in that film that made me love cinema. From then on, I was interested in her. I saw that there were names that kept coming back in her career. I was interested in those directors, then in others. My love of cinema was really born through her. Meeting her was one of the great things that happened to me on the set of Les roseaux sauvages. It was only after we shot Après lui that I told her all about it! She knew how much I love the actress but she didn’t know how important she was for me as a filmmaker.

Wasn’t it a little paralyzing when you found yourself giving her a role and directing her?
I evacuated all that by basing Camille not on the images I had of Catherine from her previous films but on the first image I had of the real Catherine when I saw her on the set of Les roseaux… She came to see André, dressed in jeans with her hair tousled, half held back by a pencil. I was determined to film her the way I first saw her. I thought jeans really suited her and it was important for the film for her to have that untamed hairstyle. Her hair needed movement. To accentuate the character’s nervousness and despair she had to have no handbag and no accessories. With her, once you start a professional relationship, things are clear. I think she came to the film with a lot of apprehension. She was resigned to it being complicated and hard, because of the screenplay and the story it tells. It was the same for me. I thought shooting would be complicated because I’d never worked with someone that big.

Did you change your way of directing?
In fact, I don’t have a method, besides taking into consideration the person in front of me. I often do very composed shots. I prepare the shooting script really carefully. I go to the setting several times. I plan each character’s movements. Suddenly, I understood Catherine’s fear of not being comfortable with how I direct and asking for rehearsals to see how things would be laid out. For me, it was already laid out in my head. But I soon realized she loved melting into what I’d imagined. We got to know each other and developed a very personal relationship. She was impressed by the crew, whose commitment and quality in some ways made the tough subject easier. They made the shoot festive and almost tender. In fact, there was a real love story between her and the crew. It was as if we took it on together. It was a real pleasure and taught us all something. I was really happy to meet someone whose life is cinema. I don’t feel like I’ve met many people like that before.

There are scenes where we feel she is overwhelmed by emotion…
For those scenes and all the others she didn’t put up any resistance. Since everything was held together by the crew and me, she was able to let herself go… The first time we see her at the hospital with Guy Marchand, she tries to speak but can’t. She looks like she is suffocating. It wasn’t written. It’s like she tried something, like the scene was improvised. I still don’t understand how she did it. I think she has a method but it is so perfect, it’s invisible.

It’s the first time she’s worked with Guy Marchand.
I wanted to give her a husband she’s never had on screen before. And I like the idea of building bridges between films and filmmakers. There are not too many I feel a connection with: André Téchiné, François Ozon, Christophe [Honoré]… I loved Guy in Dans Paris and he was the best idea I had for playing Catherine’s husband. That made two good reasons. He has a sort of intensity, a beautiful humanity that really doesn’t get used enough in films today. I like unexpected castings. This is what made me choose Elli [Medeiros]. She’s someone I like a lot in real life and when I was seeing Catherine regularly to talk about the screenplay, I thought to myself that if she said yes, Elli would play her little sister. For me, it was obvious. The two of them have something familiar in their femininity, their allure, their beauty and their voices. They also share something volcanic. Also, I wanted actors who speak fast. I wanted to avoid something naturalistic and too expressive.

You work again with your partner from Les Roseaux sauvages, Elodie Bouchez.
It was important to me that Elodie play Catherine’s daughter. First up because, as I said earlier, I like films to also be stories of cinema and it was a pleasure sharing the moment with Elodie. When we were working on Les roseaux…, she saw how overwhelmed I was when Catherine came to visit us. It was wonderful bringing them together. Especially since Elodie is one of the best actresses of her generation. She is in the same family of actors as Catherine. In their own way, both of them have a gift that makes everything easy. They never perform, they incarnate.

There is also Adrien Jolivet who plays Mathieu, Camille son and Franck’s friend. We only see him in the opening scene but his joyous presence stays with us throughout the film…
I wanted to open with a joyful scene between Franck and Mathieu. Something spirited, entertaining, immediate, unbridled and striking. The rest was going to be so tough that the more joyous the first scene was, the stronger it would be for the film. But it was something Christophe and I really questioned when we were writing. We didn’t find it straight away. We wondered what could make both Franck and Mathieu laugh. A bet? It was too theoretical. Then we had the idea of dressing them as girls for a stag night with one of their friends. I was lucky to have Adrien Jolivet to play Franck. He blended into the film with a sort of beauty and grace. There is a moment in the scene that I find really moving. He is in front of the mirror. He looks down. There is a tracking shot on him. And we know he is going to be sacrificed! It touches me even more because Adrien is also sacrificed as an actor since this is his only scene. He knew it and accepted it and he’s perfect. He is in a state of grace in this scene. I think it’s strange that we don’t see him in more films. He’s so modern and intact.

The scene is very tender, even sensual, making it almost ambiguous.
I’ve always liked hybrids, mixing, confusing sexes and sentiments. It was like a nod to the people who follow my films. I enjoyed throwing them a red herring. I imagined the stories they would be expecting: “She’s going to find out her son is gay.” At the same time, the red herring is soon thrown aside. Even if, like I said before, we’re always a mystery to other people.

Après lui is often filmed in sequence-length shots.
When you do a sequence-length shot, everyone is tense, from the camera assistant to the leading role. We’re all at each other’s mercy. We navigate between miracle and catastrophe. It creates a professional tension and a human, emotional bond. I think that’s why there was this connection, this love between the crew and Catherine. When you do a three-minute sequence-length shot, you say to yourself you may never get what you’re looking for. You know exactly when you have to start over and when you get it, you say to yourself it could be better! It’s obsessive, just like the film.

It can’t only be for intensity on set or crew unity. The sequence-length shots are also there for the effect they have on the viewer.
Of course. First up, Catherine is such a skillful actress. She’s so alert and lively that I wanted to catch her in movement, not freeze her. And a sequence-length shot is embracing and gentle. The subject is so harsh and brutal that I thought it created a real empathy for Camille. In principle, she is not a very appealing character. She makes a choice about her son’s death that we may or may not accept. She takes it so far she even ends up rejecting her own daughter! We had to be with her, without giving any explanations or excuses to understand her. We could only be on her side esthetically. Being on her side meant embracing her, accompanying her.

The music is important in the film. It is not only there to accompany or highlight feelings but often it is part of the action. Is it because music is very important in your life?
Yes. There are movies, of course, but I also read a lot and listen to music. They are my two passions. For me, pop music is a little like cinema. Both of them have an immature element. They both give the impression that it’s impossible to get over no longer being a teenager. We get older and those emotions stay with us. It was important to me that this was in the film. The concert scene is very important to me. I find it really moving. It says something about the characters. It’s not neutral, listening to this music and looking this way. As for the song by Beth Gibbons, it was Catherine who got me to listen to it and gave me the record. I wanted to put it in the film. It was a souvenir from the shoot. And since I know how important music is to her, I was happy to give her a scene with this song, “Mysteries” – especially that scene where the record is brought by the girl who had a fling with her son. It was for very personal reasons. I had to have the song in the film. I like the idea of making a film like a magic potion, putting in lots of ingredients we love.

‘The Tatianas’ come up a lot in the film. There are posters everywhere and we see an excerpt of their concert.
For me, they incarnate youth. It’s a small group. They’re all between 16 and 18. I discovered them on MySpace and I liked them a lot. I heard later that they’d been chosen as a back-up band by Razorlights, a really successful British group. I was excited about maybe contributing to their success in a country like France, which unlike English speaking countries, always seems suspicious of its youth when it doesn’t treat them with contempt. This explains why we have no qualms about introducing laws like the CPE (the first job contract). It’s the same story even in cinema…

Music participates in the energy that the film gives off. It is like a counterpoint to the theme of mourning and death.
It’s what I wanted: a lively film on a subject that could scare people off. I always try to bring life, crowds, light and colors. I didn’t want the film to be dragged down into something moribund and deadly. Sequence-length shots are also about not ever stopping. On the question of death and mourning, there are as many different approaches as there are people. That is why the character Camille is both unprecedented and mysterious, even more than I thought. It was a big surprise when we were editing. When we were shooting and even when we were writing, we thought it was about someone’s downfall. When we edited the film, I was surprised to realize that contrary to expectations, the film was not about a woman who gets lost. In fact, it was about a woman who saved herself.

Catch ‘Boarding Gate‘ at PVR Forum, Bangalore
show timing: 10:45 am & 9:00 pm

*** “The clock keeps ticking in this taut thriller” – Nikhat Kazmi, TOI