|
Natalia Holownia How was
working together going for all of you; I mean, how was working with Natalia
Oreiro, and for you working with your daughter, Milagros?
Natalia OREIRO Very good, we really wanted to work together, we were simply
waiting for a project to come up and we ended up with Francia. I was
delighted by the movie and I truly wanted to play my character, Cristina. It
was really nice, finally I met Mili (Milagros Caetano), Adrián’s daughter.
It was also hard for me to play a mother of a 12 years old girl, but, still,
it was very nice, like a group of friends who meet to work on something they
really like, and I think the motor of the movie was the will of everybody to
make this project work, as it was an independent project, and the result is
like a perfect gift and also so it is being here with the movie as it’s a
small movie and normally in such important festivals take part much bigger
productions, so we feel truly appreciated, Adrián and all of us who believed
in his screenplay and trusted him as a director.
N.H What do you personally think about your character, Cristina?
NO Well, as for me, Cristina is a woman from a lower-middle class and she’s
in a critical situation from the economical point of view, like most of the
citizens of Latin America. At the same time she is a well-mannered, decent
and modest woman, which is what Adrián had been pointing out during the
whole time of making the movie. So, education is very important to her and
she does whatever she can in order to afford to send her daughter, Mariana,
to a private school. Nevertheless, neither the school accept her daughter,
nor the girl wants to go there, so it’s a failure. Anyway, Cristina has a
job that she doesn’t like at all, where she’s not being treated properly and
every single day she counts money to be sure she’s able to provide her
daughter with a decent life. Then, for economical reasons only, she agrees
that her ex husband and Mariana’s father shares the apartment with them.
However, what for her, or for them both, is a pure necessity, turns out to
be the life dream of their daughter as she had never lived with both of her
parents before since they separated shortly after she was born. And of
course having both parents living together is what every child wants, but
while they all live together, she starts realizing why her parents split up:
that her mother got pregnant right after meeting her father, that after she
was born they tried to make their living together work but it was a disaster
as they would constantly fight, etc.
GABRIELE FRANCIONI A question to both of you: there is a great tension
related to the fact that we don’t actually know what has happened between
these two, don’t know the reason they decided to separate, since they could
really be a great, beautiful couple. So, how was it between them, why, in
fact, can’t they live together as it’s obvious they love each other?
Israel Adrián CAETANO Well, there are a lot of reasons that have supposedly
caused the separation. (…) As you could see there’s hardly any physical
contact between them, apart from the moment when she’s drunk and he’s taking
care of her. It’s also important that it was a while ago, you know, when
they broke up. The girl, their daughter, is actually a witness of this
answer that could never be given, the answer to why they split up. It’s that
they are just too similar to one another. They have the same temper so
that’s why they fight so often. But also they are both decent people, who
are concerned about the education of their daughter, who somehow can’t
succeed in their lives, they either lose or can’t get a job, so we can see
they are so alike that just can’t be a couple. Of course, we feel sorry for
them when we realize they can’t make it as a couple, but, on the other hand,
you understand that it’s really impossible for them to be together. This is
a bit paradoxical but, unfortunately, it’s also true. And I think this is
what the whole movie is about: how to struggle to live happily when life is
so terribly difficult.
GF But I just have to say that there are
simply no alternatives for either of them. They will continue being
completely lonely and a bit lost…
IAC Yes, indeed. As you remember the film ends with each of them starting a
new chapter of their lives and what we know is they won’t get back together.
NH But they’re crying, I mean she’s crying when they are separating
again!
IAC Yes, yes she’s crying and he’s even stopping and looking back but…
NO …I think It’s also frustration. It’s just this complete frustration that
provokes everything that happens to them. See, it’s like this: there’s no
job, no money, their daughter doesn’t do well at school, they are both
unhappy in their so-called relationships. Cristina has a lover, but it’s
obvious she’s not in love with him. Frankly speaking, I think she is with
him just so as not to be alone, since she doesn’t have time for even
considering a possibility of falling in love with somebody again, for
focusing on her own needs, for making up and dressing up and simply showing
her natural beauty. Because even though she’s a really pretty woman, she
does everything she can to hide this fact. She looks even asexual as she
always covers her body and does nothing to look prettier even though she
could since she is a young, beautiful woman. The only thing that matters to
her is making enough money for everyday needs and her daughter’s future.
Unfortunately, in this particular society an attractive woman has much more
opportunities, including finding a better job, even though she’s not at all
better prepared or qualified for it. But Cristina totally rejects this way.
She makes no use of her body, of her beauty and let’s don’t forget that she
really could fall in love, could be happy again, but it doesn’t even occur
to her than by putting on a shorter skirt she might get a better job, such
as, for example, of a receptionist or something.
IAC We don’t really know all the answers, we simply know that they can’t be
a couple as, above all, they are too alike, the things that happen to them
are too alike. I think that maybe their daughter is who saves them from this
grey, pathetic reality they live in since it only changes its colors and
even its sense when Mariana puts her headphones on. This is what happens at
the end of the movie when we see the whole family together: they all look
perfect, Cristina’s wearing a beautiful dress, her ex husband’s wearing a
suit and they all get off a beautiful car. It’s like the movie ends when
each of them is about to start a new period of their life. And this time we
know they have separated for good.
NO And I believe after the movie people will be making their own stories
about why they decided to live apart and what’s going to happen with each of
them. And that’s really great, the fact that the movie affects the
imagination and makes you wonder.
(...)
NH The character of Mariana manages to introduce some humoristic elements
to the movie. However, in fact, Francia is a rather sad movie, the things
that it talks about are not funny at all. In fact, they are rather tragic…
NO It’s all irony. As for me the title itself is ironic as we know perfectly
well they will never be able to travel abroad and visit France.
IAC Yes, also the word “Francia” isn’t even used in the movie, they never
mention it.
NH There’s just this poem, the one that says something like “and you know
that you’ll never go to France”
GF It’s also a bit the same case as of Wim Wenders’
Paris, Texas, isn’t it?
IAC Yes, indeed, it’s the same play on words as in
Paris, Texas. So, as we see,
it’s a bit like this and also it has to do with the fact that this is what
happens to half of the world population: not everybody has a chance to
travel and get to know different countries and cultures. The poem doesn’t
only talk about visiting countries, though. It also brings up another
issues, like how many opportunities or chances we have in live, how many
hopes and loves we can get, is it possible to fall in love again and all
these things. And there’s one sentence that I like a lot that says: fine, so
all of us have to carry their own case full of all the stories that have
never been told /bueno, nada, que cada uno tiene la obligacion de cargar con
la mochilla de las historias que nunca sean contadas/. And this, in fact, is
what happens to the my characters.
NO It’s again frustration, isn’t it? When you want something so much and you
just can’t have it, can’t achieve it.
IAC But, in fact, they don’t let themselves doubt, doubt in what they do,
they’re not kings of sorrow. When they decide to separate again, Cristina
cries, but it lasts only few seconds, as if she was thinking: ok, life is
like this, I just have to carry on, as I always do.
NH And what about the doctor’s figure? What’s his part in this family’s
life? Is he just one of the humoristic elements of the movie?
IAC Well, he’s the only friend they have, he’s a type of salvation,
especially for Lautaro (Lautaro Delgado), he’s somebody from the outside.
Actually, it reminds me of a movie called Accidental Tourist with William
Hurt and Gena Davis. It’s, generally speaking, a story of an intellectual
who’s lost and who meets this woman who’s really silly and careless and,
somehow, for mismatched as they are, she somehow manages to save him and
bring him back to life. So it seems to me that there have to be somebody
from the outside who has to come and save us. Of course he’s not of much
help, but the problem itself has no solution either. Still, he’s the one
with a different point of view, with a distant perspective. And speaking
about their problem, I believe it’s not only the lack of money that makes
their life so difficult. I guess even if they had a lot of money they would
still have same problems, or maybe even more. What I particularly like about
this couple is they are educated: they speak well, behave properly, are
concerned about their daughter’s education. They may live a rather simple
life, but this is what it takes when you have a child, isn’t it? You stop
living for yourself and sacrifice everything for the sake of your child.
This is a depressing movie, though it has some funny moments, some changes
of moods and sceneries that may influence its tone: a visit to the roller
coster, the song Gloria that manages to change everything and so on. Still,
it’s a sad tragedy.
GF I have a feeling that the main characters are always one step before a
tragedy- does it reflects somehow the actual situation of Latin America?
IAC I believe it does, especially the reality of the middle class. But I
think that the main characters are already aware of it. That’s why I’d say
they are one step ahead. That’s also why they accept the reality they live
in, that’s why they don’t complain.
NO They don’t complain but also they don’t have will or energy to change the
reality. Somehow, they can’t find a solution, a form of escaping from this
reality. Also, you know, when you are worried, stressed or frustrated about
something and you can’t think about nothing but this very thing, then you
just can’t find any more space in your mind to, let’s say, enjoy life or to
relax. I can’t really remember if they have any pleasant moment during the
movie... Do they?
IAC They simply don’t have such moments, they…
NO Maybe Lautaro, during the visit to the roller-coaster, maybe this one…
IAC But this is Marianna who enjoys it, Lautaro is quite frightened…
NO Yes, but also even though Cristina’s home is neat and so is her daughter
and herself, we don’t really notice any signs of a positive, cheerful
attitude in their home. There are no flowers, no colors, the furniture seems
old, they don’t waste money on making their space brighter, lively, to make
it warmer and more pleasant. It doesn’t even occur to any of them to cut
some flowers and put them on a table in a vase to make the room more
pleasant.
IAC And, like you said, it may somehow reflect our situation as a society.
It’s that there are things in life that you have to leave behind in order to
be able to carry on- this is what the characters stand for, I believe. Of
course it doesn’t mean you should ignore or forget these issues, but you
should try to go on despite them. You see, they don’t ignore the problems
their daughter has in school, they defend her from the head teacher. Well, I
guess this is it, I think Argentinian medium class is still waiting for
somebody. Cause, see, we are like this, we always wait for the government to
come and save us. And them, well, they don’t watch television, don’t read
newspaper, don’t talk about politics and don’t complain, in other words,
it’s their private world they live in and that they are concerned about.
NH But, still, are they waiting for being saved by somebody or something?
IAC No, no, they just live saving themselves every single day. Every day is
for them a day of fighting. For me this movie doesn’t treat the characters
as a way to talk about the social situation. I wanted to focus on them, on
their affects, defects, problems, their world. They might, of course, have
concentrated on other things, complained about the government, the social
policy etc., but they don’t do it since they do have their own problems.
NH A question related to what you’ve just said, that with Francia you
didn’t mean to talk about the problems of Latin American society. In your
movie from ‘02, Bolivia, you seemed, on the contrary, concentrated only on
the social situation, on the position of the Bolivian immigrants in
Argentina, to be more specific. It was a tough, tragic movie, with not even
a shade of hope.
IAC Well, Francia is still a very sad movie, it’s a tragedy. Actually, all
my movies are kind of rather sad stories, but I believe that Francia is
maybe brighter, more luminous one. But so are the characters- Natalia and
Milagros, they are such a lovely couple.
NH Yes, we both felt the same way while watching them together on the
screen.
(…)
IAC For me, the characters are heroes. Really, they are heroes, the heroes
of everyday. They don’t intent to save the whole world but, day by day, they
try hard to save their small, private one, to save their daughter and her
future. Their small triumphs are like…Well, there is such a song of a punk
group with these words: “Secrets of the poor are as small as their triumphs”
/los secretos de los pobres son tan pequenos como sus triumfos/, and I
believe this sentence refers somehow to the movie.
|
a cura di FRANCIONI/HOLOWNIA