Davos 1917 [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Jan-Eric Mack
fiche série] represents the biggest co-production effort between Switzerland and Germany on a series so far. Swiss director Jan-Eric Mack is one of the three directors who worked on the series, which boasts a historical setting and an international cast and crew. We talked to him about his vision for the look of the show (which airs from 17 December in Switzerland and 20 December in Germany) as well as the production conditions.

Cineuropa: What in particular did you like about the project?
Jan-Eric Mack: What interested me right from the start was the mentorship story between these two women in the foreground – the ambivalent relationship between the nurse, Johanna, and the countess. When you think about spy stories, you always have mentors, but you hardly ever see a woman mentoring another woman. The scripts had an enormous density and great complexity from the start, which I really liked. And of course, there was the historical context in which the story is told. The whole period from the beginning of the century, from 1900-1914, before the war even broke out, has great parallels with today, in many ways. It was a society that quickly went through major changes as a result of the Industrial Revolution, similar to how the Digital Revolution has led to major upheavals today. New ideas emerged; it was a time of belief in progress, but at the same time one of great fear and excessive demands. Old systems were also called into question at a political level and made room for new ideas until the war itself broke out. And in the middle of it all was neutral Switzerland, which became a hub for international espionage.

Three people shared the directorial duties. How did that work?
I was the first director coming onto the project and accompanied the series development, together with head writer Adrian Illien, at an early stage. Anca Miruna Lăzărescu and I later made the core decisions in pre-production, including the choice of the main cast and locations as well as the casting of the heads of departments. As a quartet with the DoPs, Tobias Dengler and Timon Schäppi, we created the visual language of the series in close consultation with the costume, make-up and set designers, and considered how we wanted to portray this period. As we were not shooting the series episode by episode, but rather by motifs, a precise vision was extremely important. Christian Theede came on board as the third director for the shoot. As I took over the majority of the shooting days, I was also creatively responsible for the post-production.

What were the most important elements for your vision?
A historical film is always an interpretation of the time it describes. I also think that the cinematic representation will also become part of the collective memory at some point. And films then become an image of an image. In a way, it was therefore an advantage that there are so few films set during World War I. This made descriptions, historical photos and paintings all the more important for our research. Basically, we wanted to create a world that felt real in order to be close to our characters. Visually, we therefore opted for naturalistic lighting. Electric light was not yet a matter of course at that time. There was a lot of light in the ballrooms, while it was quite dark in the cellar where the injured soldiers were housed.

How did you approach the motif of the mountains?
The wintry mountain world is a central motif and, alongside the sanatorium, serves as the arena for our story. However, we were not interested in the postcard idyll that Switzerland is known for. Instead, we wanted to show the ambivalence of the mountain world – majestic from the safe perspective of the sanatorium, but an existentially dangerous, frightening and inhospitable habitat for people when they move around in it. That's why we created a kind of western in the Alps.

How did you communicate on set?
Mainly in German, sometimes in English, with some of the international cast. Language also plays a central role in the story. As a climatic health resort, Davos was already a meeting place for an international elite at the beginning of the last century. A Babylonian confusion of languages was what characterised society in the sanatoriums. Especially in the espionage genre, the dramaturgical possibilities of language are extremely interesting. It gives an advantage to those who master it and excludes others. Back then, more than today, it made social status audible, and separated rich and poor.

The series is a major international co-production. Was it the biggest production you've worked on?
Yes, it was by far the biggest production I’ve worked on. It’s also Switzerland’s biggest series production to date. The collaboration with Germany and with the mixed teams, with very experienced people, was fantastic and very instructive.