When your debut feature, The Missing, came out, we all expected it to be a film close to Tsai Ming Liang’s style, whereas it wasn’t. Help me Eros, on the contrary, could be a Tsai Ming Liang film. What is your point of view?

I admit that I am still very much influenced by Tsai Ming Liang. However in this film there are many elements that only I could have included. For example the use computers, Internet, and mobile phones. I am younger so I tend to be more capable of showing these elements. The main difference is that Tsai Ming Liang is more interested in the internal life of the characters, whereas I focus more on the external and present it in a more visual way.

The film seems to focus on superficiality and surfaces. Could you tell us something about your choice to use these themes?

I think that my film is a reflection of the modern young people of today. We live in an age where everything has to be fast and instant (for example the noodles). We are attracted to things that are quick, for example the main character invests in the stock market because he wants to get rich quick. We tend to loose our possessions very quickly, which is the same with love: we want to get love very quickly but we’ll loose it as quickly as it came. Young people are therefore actually very empty on the inside, they depend on things like sex, marihuana, instant food and branded goods to feel that they are worthwhile. When these superficial things are gone they are left with a very fragile inside. At that time the only outlet that they have is death, and therefore the main character tries to commit suicide.

Where did you get the inspiration for the sexual scenes?

For the sexual scenes I had to look at some pornographical films to explore the possibilities. I also hired a choreographer to design the moves. I wanted the sexual scenes to be very deep, and I use sex and drugs to symbolize their escapes from reality.

I got the idea for the branded logo-scene when I was passing by a memorial building in Taiwan and I saw the Louis Vuitton logo projected on the walls. The scene explores my idea that young people are like human handbags, they have beautiful brands on the outside but emptiness on the inside. The beautiful brands might be even cheap and fake.

Which scene do you reckon to be the best love scene of all time?

The best love scene I have ever seen was in In the realm of the senses (Ai no corrida, by Japanese director Nagisa Oshimi). The film contains a famous castration scene, which has left a very deep impression on me.

You have had difficulties casting the actresses because of the nude scenes. Would you make another film with this amount of nudity in it?

I’m not sure at the moment, but I probably will not make another film that is this sexual in the near future, as I would like to focus more on the development of characters instead of external elements.

A living fish is being served on TV in the film. Is this as shocking in Taiwan as it is in Europe?

A living fish on a plate is still very shocking for Taiwanese people, it’s not a very common dish anymore. In these days, more and more people are becoming aware of the need to protect animals and not be cruel to animals. However, I know that in Japan there is a similar dish, so such dishes still exist in Asia but are becoming less popular.

Was there any room for improvisation during the shooting or was it strictly scripted?

The film has a very low budget so we had to be very detailed in pre-production. Tsai Ming Liang, the executive producer made me draft the script nine times before we went in production. Help Me Eros was therefore mostly filmed as scripted, but there was some improvisation during the outdoor scenes. We have had some unpredictable circumstances when we were shooting the outdoor scenes so we had to improvise a little bit.

What’s it like to direct yourself?

Acting is definitely easier. As a director there are many things that I have to look after, for example a small prop. Even though it is quite difficult, I do like the empowering effect of being both director and actor. The Missing and Help Me Eros are my films whereas I did not feel that way about the films I only acted in.

Are you thinking of moving to the USA, like Taiwanese director Ang Lee?

I think it is a little bit too early to think about Hollywood. Right now I am more interested in my own creations. In Hollywood a producer decides if a film will be cut or not, and I’m not ready to make a sacrifice like that.

Hotel Excelsior, Lido di Venezia, 04/09/2007