- Title: Films belong to viewers, Dardenne brothers say at Cannes
- Date: 18th May 2016
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 18, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTRESS, ADELE HAENEL, SAYING: "We inhibit a part of our humanity, as we are forced to live in towns, confronted to humane misery and we can't take responsibility of everything right? Individual poverty. So we inhibit parts of our humanity but I really think it is in us, since we are born, and we can always wake up. This is how I feel, but I don't know if it answers your question."
- Embargoed: 2nd June 2016 16:26
- Keywords: Cannes Film Festival Dardenne brothers La Fille Inconnue Palme d'Or
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE AND UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: CANNES, FRANCE AND UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0054IC4YML
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Presenting their 10th feature film at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday (May 18), Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne said the film was all about Dr Jenny Davin, who tries to identify a teenage girl who was killed just outside her practice.
She starts out feeling driven by guilt, having ignored the doorbell that night because it rang an hour after she had closed the office. As she investigates the case, it becomes clear she is at first the only one interested in finding out the truth.
Asked if the film could be read as a commentary on the closed doors facing migrants risking death to reach Europe, the directors replied that once screened, their films did not belong to them anymore.
"When you make a movie it also belongs to the audience. And the minute it is seen, it almost only belongs to him, her, them, the viewers. So you can take the film like that indeed, as posing the question of responsibility, but we do not have a message, a thesis, to uphold in that film, we are telling the story of Doctor Jenny, she's the one we are focusing on. It's the story of someone who feels responsible," said Luc Dardenne.
This feeling of responsibility pushes her to find the truth, even when nobody else around her seems to care, he added.
Adele Haenel, who plays Jenny, said people were losing parts of their humanity, but could always wake up.
Luc Dardenne added that the aim of the film was to show life, not death or misery.
"Our film is a hymn for life, we try to film life, that's what we have always been trying to do, life, the flow of life. Not trying to capture it, embalm it, freeze it. That is what we are trying to put in our films. And of course faced with all the visions of death, the terrible, morbid images, we see nowadays, our images are standing up for life and trying to communicate that to the audience," he said.
The Dardenne brothers won the highest distinction in Cannes with "Rosetta" in 1999 and with "L'Enfant" (The Child) in 2005.
Jean-Pierre Dardenne said their secret to make films together was actually that they felt like being only one person.
"Oh my God! There is no secret, no secret. We are just one person. It's true. It doesn't seem like that because we have two separate bodies but we are only one person. I promise, otherwise, we could not work, it would be impossible," he said.
Only seven directors - or directing teams - have won the Palme d'Or twice and the Dardenne brothers are in the running for a third top award on the Croisette.
The winner will be announced on Sunday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None