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Germany

Saralisa Volm • Director of The Silent Forest

“As an art historian, I have a large iconographic pool into which I dip for each project”

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- We met up with the German director to talk about her approach to adapting Wolfram Fleischhauer's historical-thriller novel for the big screen

Saralisa Volm • Director of The Silent Forest
(© Jana Rodenbusch)

Saralisa Volm's feature The Silent Forest [+see also:
interview: Saralisa Volm
film profile
]
premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale and is now on release in German cinemas, courtesy of Alpenrepublik. It talks about a painful period in German history using the elements of a thriller. We talked to the director about the difference between the novel and the film, about the message of the story and about her approach to the formal aspects of the movie.

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Cineuropa: Your protagonist is called Grimm. A fairy tale-themed park is to be created in the forest, and towards the end the film, it presents its own interpretation of Hansel and Gretel. Many fairy tales convey a very conservative, if not discriminatory, image of society. Did this influence you?
Saralisa Volm:
From the moment we started working on the development of the script, we knew we wanted to consciously create a contrast with the cultural asset that fairy tales represent. Fairy tales are a relevant part of the basic idea of German Romanticism. They contain motifs that run deep. We know them, and we grew up with them. And many of them actually no longer correspond to our understanding of a modern society.

How did you come across Wolfram Fleischhauer's novel? Which aspects were particularly important for the film, and how does the movie perhaps differ from the book?
I got to know Wolfram Fleischhauer through a previous collaboration, which is how I came across his novel. What makes the book extraordinary is the element of searching for clues through the earth, through vegetation. Nature can tell us a lot; it has many stories. And I liked the fact that the main character is the sign reader. Wolfram wrote the screenplay, and we developed it in close collaboration with one another. Compared to the screenplay, there is more room in the novel for an almost didactic treatment of the region's history. We had to shorten explanations and characters. Of course, it was important for us to preserve the basic feeling.

Did you also think about the possibility of telling the story in the present?
We would have liked to tell the story in the present, but it was more impressive to leave it in the past, so that the contemporary witnesses of that time, who have almost all died by now, would still be able to speak. It was important to us that the young main character would have a real, strong antagonist. That is very important for the confrontation with the subject.

The film takes a stance against so-called “hillbillies” and against the patriarchal system that oppresses and stifles the weak. However, the end of the movie is open. Why did you make this decision? Are you not sure whether we will really overcome all of this?
In my opinion, it would not have been entirely realistic at the end of the film to resolve the story in a clean, constitutional way. For example, if the police came or if all of the bad guys were caught. That would not have reflected the world in which we actually live. Moreover, we wanted the audience to be able to relate to the subject. If we had resolved everything, it would have been more difficult for the audience to establish its own position.

Can you say something about the musical concept of the film? How did you develop it, and what inspired it?
It was important for the film not to be completely enveloped in music. That's why there are many parts without music, where you can hear the sounds of the forest, the cracking of branches, for example. Malakoff Kowalski, who was responsible for the score, is a close friend of mine, and we have a common language. We approached the sound design through feelings. Through listening, you should be able to feel what the protagonist feels.

In parallel with that, what inspired you for the development of the visual concept?
As an art historian, I have a large iconographic pool into which I dip for each project. That's where I get my inspiration for mood, lighting or colourfulness. It's a mixture of different sources. This includes Caravaggio, for example, of whom I am a big fan. I really like how he creates a dramatic atmosphere. The concept for the film ultimately came about in collaboration with cinematographer Roland Stuprich.

Could you say something about the collaboration with Henriette Confurius, who took on the lead role?
We held casting sessions and invited many actresses along. It was a gift to be able to work with Henriette. She is a very physical performer, and she has a physical approach to the role. I often looked at her with admiration. She has great empathy. She needed to give a very subtle performance because the character has no interlocutor in whom she could confide. Everything we learn about her has to come from within her.

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