These days every film projects starts under the pressure of financing, and this often determines the subject matter, the technique, the location and the participants. As result, most films are made in co-production. How did this four-sided cooperation come about with Hungary, Holland, Ireland and Turkey?
It just happened that way. Turkey was a given, considering that the name of the film is Istanbul and that came about relatively quickly. Even though Turkey does not have a developed system of foundations, the ministry there gave support to the film under the arrangements of the 2010 European Capital of Culture scheme. We found a worldwide distributor in Fortissimo, which gave a strong push to getting European film funds to join the project. So the Dutch support came about and then the Irish. It sounds complicated but it all came together within a year.
That?s quite fast, also taking into consideration the six-month delay in the film?s premiere. It was originally planned to take place simultaneously in Budapest and Istanbul, but then we ended up waiting for six month after the Turkish premiere.
Yes, the problems only came later. The Hungarian Moving Pictures Public Foundation, which was our main sponsor, collapsed. The Film Fund promised to consolidate the production by September but this has unfortunately not happened yet.
Then how did the New Budapest Film Studio allow the film to be released, assuming they did not want to screen the film until the successor of the Moving Pictures Public Foundation settled the accounts, because that?s the precondition of paying the entire crew and the costs of post-production?
Because we simply got into a situation where the cinemas would have thrown us out had we kept holding the film back. They put out all the posters in October, then announced the film in February and included it in their programme which needs to be prepared a month in advance. They booked the screens, showed the trailers and invested money in it. So if we were to let them down once again, they would have said that it did not work anymore. We got into a forced situation and even though the legal matters surrounding the film are not settled, we went along with the premiere.
So these have been the precursors of the February 16 cinema premiere...
I am glad that we have finally gotten this far and the film has started its international path. It has been at an American film festival and several television channels have bought it. The Turkish cinema distribution is under way and it will soon screen in the Netherlands. It is showing at the European Film Market in Berlin. These are not completely lawful sales but we have accepted the risks rather than let the film disappear.
You have often worked with co-writers in the past but this time you wrote the script on your own, like in the case of Moszkva Square.
I felt I had the strength to write it on my own. I of course had some assistance from a German and a Hungarian dramaturge.
Your personal ties with this story are quite apparent.
Indeed there are some. It is a simple story, that?s perhaps what makes it powerful. It is an everyday occurrence. A divorce.
Having known the synopsis, I was curious to see how the female protagonist would be allowed the start a new life after being left alone, leaving behind on a positive note. But eventually you left it all open, and what?s more, the images suggest something different from the words.
I felt the ending was rather positive, but everyone should decide for themselves.
Katalin goes to Istanbul which offers the possibility for a new life. But then she returns and it somehow suggests that she left this opportunity behind. Her family will probably close in around her again.
I am not sure that her family will close in around her, rather she will get liberated.
The images show that the woman sets off in the distance in new company, but her son, who went to collect her, says she would surely come home within a week.
I leave that decision open but indeed suggest that she would return.
Will she be strong enough to live a new life at home?
She will. Her husband will fall in love with her again. He will perhaps be able to understand that the 35 years they spend with each other was valuable and important.
This is a classical case of only realising that something was important after it had been lost.
Yes, it?s a very simple idea.
Will her children also notice that her mother was a grown-up?
How do you mean?
At the beginning of the film, they treat her in a slightly offhandish way, like a child. Children tend to do that once they grow up. It is perhaps a surprising move for them when their mother quits the routine and makes them realise that she is someone else and not just their mother.
It is an unusual situation because the mother gets into an adolescent-like situation, in a new relationship. And the child must arrange bringing her home, so it is a complete role-swap. It makes her son and her pregnant daughter more serious even if she initially accuses her mother of leaving her alone in a most difficult moment. But after she, too, becomes a mother, she will perhaps understand what it would feel like if she were left by someone she loved.
You are a man in his forties and one would assume that you would identify with the husband or the son but one gets the impression that you are on the same wavelength with the 80-year-old woman.
As a storyteller I can indeed best identify with her but as a director my job is to identify with everyone. What?s more, I find it more difficult these days to identify with a 20-year-old son than with a 30-year-old father. I am midway between the two. I often feel that my parents? generation is closer to me than my children?s. None of the characters in this film are my age.
I wanted to express my appreciation because I felt that in this film -- which is not typical of you as it focuses on internal psychological processes instead of a story -- you managed to get very much in tune with the emotional state of a fifty-year-old woman.
Indeed but this was also much due to the actress. We had a lot of discussions with Johanna ter Steege and she asked very specific questions. She is very much an actress who delves into psychology. If something was not clear in the script, she would find a way to put it in the right direction.
You satisfied the requirements of a four-way co-production by getting your protagonists from four different countries. But how did you choose them?
I already knew some of Johanna?s work and I thought these films were very powerful. We had met before and I knew she was an exciting personality. She represents some kind of Scandinavian, Bergmanesque world.
She has a simple and concentrated acting style.
Exactly. It is stripped-down, wordless and precise. That?s very important. I saw Yavuz Bingöl in the film Three Monkeys and I knew he was a famous folk singer who is incredibly popular in his home country because of his music. The producer noted that he was a perfect choice. But to me, his popularity was not as important as his personality and the way he radiates.
You are a happy man who has made an emblematic film entitled Moszkva Square. At the same time, you must be fed up with always getting references to that film and the fact that you are not allowed to move on. Many people expect you to keep repeating that film but the way I see it, you are systematically moving along. Moszkva Square and Season were about young people, Overnight was about thirtysomethings and now you have reached characters in their fifties. As if you were progressing through the different stages from generation to generation. Are you going further this way?
It is possible. I do not know what the next story will be. Until I let go of this one, I cannot deal with other things. I have just become involved in other types of stories too. I have been invited to direct a musical in a theatre and I have not yet decided whether to say yes.
I think you should do it?
I did get a lot from theatre when I was working at the Radnóti. I learnt a completely new dimension of the profession. If this film works at the level of psychology, it comes from that period. At the moment, I cannot see a direction for film. There are some exciting stories but I am still very uncertain about which way to go further.
Let?s just say that you are still open.
OK, I?ll finish on a positive note, I am absolutely open but still very uncertain. This is the most exciting period when anything can still happen?
Interviewer: Éva Mikes / Photo: Bence Kovács
