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Solveig Anspach • Directora

Fighting nature

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- Born in Iceland and resident in France, the director talks about the difficulties she encountered getting Stormy Weather made. Her efforts were rewarded with an invitation to Cannes

Franco-Icelandic filmmaker, Solveig Anspach talks exclusively to Cineuropa about the turbulent production process that lead to her second feature film, Stormy Weather [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. The film stars Elodie Bouchez and Didda Jonsdottir and screened in Un Certain Regard. Despite the success of her debut feature, Haut les coeurs, Anspach almost gave up on Stormy Weather, that was made in the end thanks to a Franco-Belgian- Icelandic co-production with Ex –Nihilo, Films du Fleuve and Blue Eyes Productions.

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Why did you choose psychiatry as the central theme of Stormy Weather?
“It all started when I read a newspaper article about a girl who was found wandering the streets of Paris. She appeared to be a deaf-mute and was sent to a psychiatric hospital. She was brilliant and lots of people became interested in her story. After an extenuating investigation, it was discovered that she came from England. I was fascinated by this article and without realising what I was doing, had began making a documentary that I never managed to finish. I remembered this story a few years later. Before studying at Femis, I studied psychology, an issue I find fascinating. I also saw films like A woman under the influence and Shock corridor. We made the film on location in a real psychiatric hospital in Lieges, with real patients. That allowed Elodie Bouchez to create her character: this was a completely new world for her.
Stormy Weather is a very human story about a sentiment we all share from childhood: we think the world can occasionally be unfair and want to change it. The film is the story of a girl who listens to what a woman she meets has to say: realising that she cannot change the world, the girl decides to help the woman.”

How did you cast your two female leads?
Elodie Bouchez was the last to be cast. Her auditions were excellent and her noble attention to detail and the spoken word made this actress stand out. She was ready for everything, even the most challenging requests. Elodie also has a secret side to her character.
It was a different story for Didda Jonsdottir. I spoke to all of Iceland’s actresses aged between 25 and 35 but I got the impression that they were pretending to be mad and found them to be unbelievable. Then I saw Didda enter a bar and I realised that she was the one. I offered her the role without knowing that she was a well-known poet and writer. This was Didda’s first experience of acting but her screen tests were great. Her character simply draws you in.”

Was it difficult finding the money?
“I’d say impossible! The screenplay failed to appeal to any of the professionals I approached and they did not understand the minimalism that cancelled the explanations on purpose. I accentuated this in the editing. Only Canal+ invested in the project after Arte and everyone else turned me down. My producer, Patrick Sobelman, and I have often thought that we should just give up and go home. Subsequently, Baltasar Kormakur and his Blue Eyes Productions boarded the co-production and I also got money from the Icelandic box office advances fund. On hearing about the problems I was having with this film, the Dardenne brothers read the screenplay without warning me first, liked it and also boarded the film with their Les Filmes du Fleuve. In the meantime the budget was cut from an initial Euros2.75m to Euros 1.5m, halving my crew and time at my disposal too. I was very doubtful that I would ever manage to carry forward a project for two or three years when everyone around me was saying “no”.
After all these problems, my team was rewarded with this unexpected invitation to Un Certain Regard.”

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