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A SELF INTERVIEW
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Q: From now on, we'll have to say that as well as being
a good director of actresses you're also a good director
of actors. The leading characters in Talk To Her are
two men and the actors who play them are splendid.
A: I'm delighted it's you who's said that. Yes, Javier
Cámara and Darío Grandinetti are superb
in very complicated roles. In any case, Talk To Her
isn't my first film with male leads. Carne Trémula
is a testicular story. Matador and La ley del deseo
were also stories in which men determined the action.
In La ley... even the girl (Carmen Maura) was a man.
Q: Which do you find more enjoyable?
A: What do you mean?
Q: When it comes to working, actors or actresses?
A: When they're wonderful and can make me forget that
I'm the director and the writer, I enjoy both equally
and very much. Over the course of fourteen feature films
I admit that I've found more good actresses than good
actors, but it's also true that I've written more female
roles than male or neuter roles.
Q: That's obvious...
A: In another field, that of writing, and as a general
rule, I believe that women inspire me to write comedies,
and men, tragedies.
Q: Why don't you do more comedies?
A: The scripts done come out easily. But I'm going to
force it.
Q: Can you force a script, the elements that make it
up, the tone?
A: No. Or you shouldn't, with the exception of documentaries
and biographic films.
Q: To what genre does Talk To Her belong?
A. I don't know. All I know is that it isn't a western,
or a film about CIA agents. Nor is it a James Bond film
or a period piece.
Q: It does have an element of that...
A. That's true, seven minutes to be precise, which take
place in 1924.
Q: Those seven minutes are giving rise to a lot of talk.
A: Even though they're silent... In the middle of the
film, the nurse Benigno (Javier Cámara) uses
one of his few free nights to go to the Cinematheque
to see a silent Spanish film: Amante Menguante (Shrinking
Lover). I show about seven minutes of that film.
Q: Isn't it a bit risky to interrupt the general narrative
with a very different piece, or is it a flashback involving
the same characters?
A: No, it isn't a flashback, it's a separate story...
and yes, it's risky, very risky...
P: Aren't you afraid the spectator will be confused,
or lose his concentration?
A: Now that I've finished it, no, but while I was filming
it I was terrified. I couldn't sleep until I had the
two stories edited together.
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