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“I wanted to take a picture of this place before it disappears.”
Manon Cubia
I watched Manon Cubia’s first feature, forest highIn the Perspectives section of this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Afterwards, we talked about the movie with the director.
You grew up in: drunken forest It is set. Could you tell us about your background and your connection to the region?
I grew up there until I was 12, then I moved to a large suburb of Lyon, which was very different. I kept this place in my mind as a kind of sanctuary. I then moved to Brussels and now live in Belgium. In all my films I return to my first sense of this area. I grew up in a place with mountains around me, and the seasons were very distinct. In the winter, there were times when it would snow and I couldn’t even go to school. In the summer I could go swimming. Of course, things are different now.
Climate change has dramatically transformed the region.
Yes, and that’s what I want to approach in every film. A lot has changed, and maybe I want to preserve some of that through my work.
Previous short story, huge profits (fullness of time)has also been set up in this area. What happened? drunken forest start? Where did the idea for this film come from?
I live in Brussels and make films there, but for the past ten years I’ve been its guardian for a week every summer. During that time, I met many people. I’ve written several stories because I’ve met many hikers there over the years. I also became very close to the people who live there. One day I thought, ‘Okay, I want to take a picture of it before it disappears.’ I also wanted to photograph this place, which became very important to me because it may be the last place where there are no commercial relationships between people.
Why can a place remain free from such commercial relationships?
There are no relationships based on money between people. It is a free space. You only have to pay 10 euros to sleep there. People from different social classes are sharing dormitories with people they have never met before.
Manon Cubia on space and structure
You mentioned the word ‘space’, and I think that’s very important in the film. We utilize space in a variety of ways. It’s very open, but in other ways almost house close. Can you talk about that paradox?
This also applies to seasons. We start with the opening of the site when the first hikers arrive and finish during the winter when there are no hikers or visitors except for one person. In Parts 1 and 2, it was clear that I wanted to tell a story that falls somewhere between documentary and fiction. Because we knew there would be visitors during filming. So we kept fiction and documentary together.
Amateurs and actors also mix.
Yes, especially the first and second parts. I knew I wanted to end this house close. It is another kind of cinematic structure.
Are you talking about the last story?
yes. But I think the documentary part of the first and second sections makes the last part stronger. Because I have memories of other stories. The last part is truly fictional, but it is enriched by the documentary part before it.
The formal structure is unusual. When I watched the movie, I was expecting four parts corresponding to four seasons, not three. On the other hand, there is a young girl who appears in all three parts. How did you get to that structure?
At first, I wanted to have a fourth woman, but ultimately decided against it. Because it felt complete to have this crush with that little girl.
She almost acts as punctuation between sections.
you’re right. The bird does something similar in the last part.
I’m also thinking of the man she calls “Bird.” Anne was listening as he told his story, and next to her was another man with glasses. At one point he looks straight at the camera. Was this intentional or did it happen during filming?
It just happened. I asked them, “Do you want to come here and hear the story?” They said yes. So we started by listening to our visitors. We then repeated some of the stories with the actors.
So did that person accidentally look at the camera at that moment?
yes.
What’s interesting is that the structure is very unique. The film feels open-ended in a sense; You mainly use natural light. oThe framing, on the other hand, is very precise. How did you approach the frame?
I decided with the DOP that the camera should always be on a tripod. We set out a kind of proposal. Refuge is right here, and life goes on around it. In some cases, visitors enter the frame during filming. Defining this was clear. That’s why shots are often modified. For me, in the documentary part, more can happen if you separate the moments and let them flow.
The same grammar exists in novels. For example, at the end it was also very important to distinguish when to start using shots/countershots. In the first and second parts, I was very careful. And then at the end you realize, “Okay, now it’s fiction between two actors and now we can continue.”
Was everything pre-written, or was it improvised in the first two parts as well?
There was no script for this movie.
Isn’t it in the third part too?
no. There were four pages of text. It’s more of a synopsis. I would give the material to the actors at the last minute. I could see who the visitors were registered to arrive that day, and I could say, “Okay, family is arriving today. Maybe this is the moment to explore this part of your personality.” We defined the characters and then faced the real moments. For the last part, I really wanted every word to be very precise.
All right. It’s really different from the first two parts.
Yes, it’s really different. But the actors didn’t want to know everything in advance, so they got the text at the last minute. I started editing the first and second parts, and then imagined what words would resonate with the previous parts.
The movie gets more serious towards the end. There is a bit of heaviness in the third part, almost a feeling of mourning.
yes. The end is close to the memorial.
Would you say the last part is the centerpiece of the film, or are the three parts really tied together?
I think you need the first part to get to the moment where the bird is at the end. Because this is very important to me. And the bird is actually disappearing.
Are you talking about Grand Tétras, the western capercaglians?
yes. At least in that area it is disappearing.
There is also archival footage in that section.
yes. But for example, for each segment, we knew before filming which moment would be a kind of revelation for each character. The first ends with the child saying, “You will never leave this place.” And the second is the moment of reading poetry.
accurately.
And finally, she starts talking about herself. I identified these moments in advance. I would tell them, “Okay, keep in mind that this is a moment where you can be more open and transparent.” However, we decided not to reveal everything about each of them and to hide part of their story.
Is the person playing the soldier an actor?
Yes, he is an actor. I’ve worked with him twice before. In my first film with him, he was also a soldier.
So there is a connection between the two movies.
yes. It starts with the military and 10 years later, it’s the same character, but he’s 10 years older than me, so I think there’s definitely a connection between the two movies.