06/10/2023 - The uncategorisable duo spoke about their new feature film, which introduces a darker dimension into their universe

We met with Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon, an uncategorisable duo who are making their return with The Falling Star [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon
film profile], a fifth feature film which follows in the same poetic and burlesque vein as its predecessors while introducing a darker dimension to their universe. They opened up about their new movie, which was presented in competition at the Namur International Francophone Film Festival (FIFF) after being unveiled in a world premiere on Locarno’s Piazza Grande.

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Cineuropa: How did this project come about?
Dominique Abel: It’s quite a special film for us, because it’s the first one we’ve written ourselves! In the ‘80s, we made a play, a detective story. At the time, we quite enjoyed thinking that we could transpose that humour and suspense to the big screen. But it was quite naive of us, because we’d never made films before, and it was a little ambitious for a first feature film. So we carried on making theatre, we made short films and wrote other feature films too. It might have been that we didn’t feel capable of rereleasing it because detective stories were too meaningful. It was only after four feature films, and a few more years under out belts, no doubt, that we found a solution.

Fiona Gordon: It also feels like the period we’re going through today, quite a tumultuous one, is a lot like the one we experienced in our youth. People are worried and angry; they feel like nothing ever changes. When we were 20, there were communist fighting cells, the Red Brigades, lots of protests, and you realise that nothing has actually changed. We wanted to talk about that too, but in our own way. Not by preaching but by revealing the distress which an unjust world can create.

It’s a really funny film, and very dark. Why did you introduce this element into your work?
FG: It was a challenge. For our fifth film, we wanted to experiment, do things differently. But we’re really attached to the formal side of cinema. We don’t look at the world from any particular angle, we see it more as a book whose pages you turn and each page offers up a different picture. It makes us cry or it makes us laugh.

How did you approach the intersection between your highly coloured world and the film noir aspect?
FG: We wanted to get away from primary colours whilst also introducing intense colours: mustard yellow, bordeaux... In our minds, these intense colours go hand in hand with detective stories, they’re nuanced rather than clearly defined. Black and white colouration in detective films is often very clear-cut, there’s no grey, there are very dark shadows, very strong light. We see ours as a black and white film with colours.

What’s the secret behind your filmmaking? Where does your taste for the artisanal come from?
DA: From poverty, I reckon (smiles). We come from the theatre world where you don’t have access to the real world, so we have to use the imaginations of our authors, our actors and our audience to plug the gaps. We pretend, all together. It’s almost childlike, but very delicate too. We wanted to maintain that kind of naivety.

FG: We’re DIY filmmakers through and through. Our movies are very much pulled together! We don’t have any fixed ideas to begin with. We have seeds of ideas and we’re open to what happens in rehearsals.

DA: It’s all about the actors we choose. The right casting is essential because you can’t twist an actor’s arm. We look for people who are capable of moving audiences by being different.

FG: We’re uncompromising when it comes to sincere acting. We would never sacrifice that for a laugh. In fact, if the acting isn’t authentic, the film wouldn’t make us laugh. You often need to keep things very simple when directing actors. That sincerity is where the laughter and emotions come from.

(Translated from French)