Michael Hoffman

With a pair of Best Supporting Oscar noms in the bank, writer/director Michael Hoffman (Restoration) makes a smashing comeback with this breath of fresh air take on the last days of celebrated Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya. An examination of the complexities of love and marriage that excels -- Hoffman brings out the best in thesps Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy by allowing the foursome to delve into a full range of emotions that afflict the human condition. Simply put, The Last Station is an accurate portrait of one the greatest writers in literature as he deals with his legacy and what has come between him and the love of his life.

Yama Rahimi: This film marks sort of "comeback" for you, not that you were gone entirely.
Michael Hoffman: I was kind of gone. After the Emperor's Club, I got involved in a project that didn't came together and that's the risk you take when you get involved with independent films which was two and half years. I was passing on projects I shouldn't because I thought this movie was coming together and it didn't. Then I did a little movie with this company I formed called Serenade, where we made six movies with 500K a piece that got released but in a very tiny way. Then I started working on this, which took five years and in that time there were opportunities and studio movies that I could have done but I thought I should do it and stick with. If it hadn't worked, I mean that's a terrifying thought to me. Back in September we didn't have American distribution and we were nowhere and I was depressed. Then we went to the Telluride Festival and Toronto which was great but still very late in the game because the deal with Sony Picture Classics wasn't done till October.

YR: Well it was a scary year because a lot of the films at major festivals didn't get distribution right away or still don't have.
MH: It's a difficult market. In Toronto only eight films got sold, of course some had distribution from the beginning.

YR: So how did this project came to you?
MH: Well I read the novel in train when I was travelling from Siena to Paris and it was the only novel in English but didn't see a movie. Then I reread the novel in 2004 and saw immediately a film about marriage which I experienced since first reading the book. I never wanted to make a biopic about Tolstoy. The film I saw was about the tragic comedy about marriage, about the difficulty living with love and impossibility of living without love. Although I wrote a first draft of the screenplay and didn't like it, I went to read the four great plays of Checkov such as "The Seagull," "The Cherry Orchard," "Three Sisters" and "Uncle Vanya." where I saw how to make the tone work. How to incorporate something of the way the absurd and the sublime of Checkov with all that proximity of the tragedy and comedy. After I had the script, I went to find the cast which was extraordinary.

YR: Was it difficult to get the cast?
MH: No. I never had the problem where I sent the script and didn't get yes except for few exceptions but actors dropped in and out because of the finanacing. Then Helen came and with her Russian origins it was the perfect fit for her talent to move from drama to comedy. Unlike most romantic comedies where the chemistry is important between the actors such it was between George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer in "One Fine Day" where you have to arrange a meeting to see if they have chemistry, here it wasn't the case. In this film I didn't even think of that because the love has to be real. You have to believe that Leo and Sofia are married for 40 years when you first see them and that's something you can't direct.

YR: It was a great cast including Mirren and Christopher Plummer who has been consistently good.
MH: How come that this guy has never been nominated before after more than 40 years with 150 films that included "The Sound of Music" to "The Insider" and "Syrianna" amongst many others.

YR: I looked at your career and it seems you struggled between studio and independent system. Is that true?
MH: It's absolutely true but the problem with that is that I spent 10 years of my filmmaking life on two films, "Restoration" and "The Last Station," both each took five years to make. I can't afford to do that again. So after this project, it seems good to come back to the studio system and work on a project you like where you know that there's distribution at the end. It's really terrifying to do all this work all these years and not knowing whether it will see the light of the day or not.

YR: You mentioned both Restoration and The Last Station, those two films got you more attention than others. Is that correct?
MH: No, I would say "Soapdish" got me the most attention which has a long life and people still watch it. It was a movie I didn't want to do and took it initially just to develop it then it took a life of its own. So it's really hard to predict which project is good to get into.

YR: Also you were at Sundance in its early years. How was that experience?
MH: I was in the second year. It was my film school. I never attended film school. I had this script called "Promised Land" which eventually got made that Robert Redford produced. In the script there was two stories, one in the town and other on the road. I gave the script to James Brooks and he said I love the story in town, get rid of the other. Then I gave the script to Bertrand Tavernier and he told me to keep the road story but get rid of the story in town. So what I learned was what's the story you want to tell. Obviously if you have a script and somebody tells you to pay attention to certain parts, that's valid. You have all these high profile talent give you their opinion but ultimately it's up to you what story you want to tell.

YR: Tell me about your strange debut "Priveleged" which was also the debut of Hugh Grant, James Wilby and composer Rachel Portman.
MH: Rachel Portman was my girlfriend at the time but everybody that worked on that project are still working in the industry. What happened was I had a scholarship at Oxford and Rick Stevenson who worked for a senator and made a film about the youth conversation corp. He came back and wanted to make a film. He said we should make a film because it was the best set in the world and we had it for free. I said I have no interest in making films and wanted to work in theatre. The reason he approached me was because I directed plays and worked with a lot of actors. Then through a professor, we met John Schlesinger for dinner and he asked how he could help. So by the time we left the dinner we everything set without having a decent script or idea of what we were going to do. Anyway we got to make it which so bad. Amazing is that everybody went to have great careers including Hugh, James, Rachel and Imogen Stubbs many others behind the cameras.

YR: Well it seems it was about being at the right time at the right place.
MH: Absolutely unreal but yes.

YR: What are some of the films or filmmakers that inspired you?
MH: Well it was "The Sound of Music," then "Romeo and Juliet." It was the "The Seventh Seal" that blow me away where I thought film can be art. Then of course all the great films of the 70's, "Five Easy Pieces", "The Godfather" and "The Conformist" to name few. Of course "Aguirre","Wings of Desire" and Tarkovsky. So there's a lot of films that I loved.

Fernando Eimbcke

Writer and director Fernando Eimbcke delivers a poignant and subtle coming of age story. The story set in a quiet coastal town tells the story of a teenage boy dealing with the grief of his father's death. Instead of getting explosion of emotions, we see the characters implode with loss of speech. Eimbcke innovates a language and landscape of his own by the telling this story that's loosely based on Vitterio de Sica's The Bicycle Thief. Eimbcke joins the lead of superb filmmakers from Mexico.

Yama Rahimi: Fernando, I heard part of the story was autobiographical. Tell me about how tell me how did you come to the story?
Fernando Eimbcke: This story is autobiographical in some way, but not in another way because the story is about me but also about Paula Markovitch who is the co-writer. Actually she proposed the theme of the film. I was obsessed making a film about a boy looking for something and escaping from something and I went to Paula and she proposed me about making a film about death and I was like no because it's not easy...but she insisted and insisted and we finished the script.

YR: How much of the film is based on the script and how much of it was improvised?
FE: I don't know. I haven't retuned back to the script. We improvised a lot. What I enjoy the most is to take out the dialogue. So we went and said is it possible to communicate without dialogue? If the answer was yes, I said goodbye dialogues. I enjoy that. I like to communicate without words which I think is the most cinematic action.

YR: I quite agree with you because the action off screen is as important as it on screen. I like how the characters implode instead exploding with emotion. How's your perspective on grief? How did you approach it?
FE: Something I learned from Paula is that if you are able to talk about something it's because you processed it. That's why people go to psycho analysis and therapy because they can express. That's why my characters haven't processed. I like that people sometimes can't express themselves.

YR: What was the biggest challenge on this film?
FE: It was myself because I was insecure of the pressure of doing a second film, but fortunately I found the right people and I had a supportive team that helped me.

YR: What's your perspective of teenagers in cinema?
FE: There's a lot of stories about teenagers but it's always the cool stuff which is ok but there's not enough about the other side, the serious stuff. I like teenager films. The old man Don Heber is a teenager in a way.

YR: How did you choose the exotic location?
FE: Actually I wanted an urban location in a big city but my cinematographer said this story has to be set in the tropics where life is everywhere. Even if the characters deal with death, life is going on every where around them. Then we looked at a lot of locations and found the location in Yucatán. We went in the off season which is almost like a ghost town and it was perfect.

Lone Scherfig

Danish director Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners) delivers with this smashing coming of age film set in 1960's London about a beautiful and smart teenager who has to choose between an education at Oxford or from life with a charming man twice her age. The film seduces with a lot of charm and humor which is refreshing with a stellar cast that includes Carey Mulligan in a star making performance and the excellent Peter Sarsgaard who finally gets his due with a perfect role as the leading man. Beautifully written by novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy) and executed by Sherfig and her impeccable cast and crew.

Yama Rahimi: This film is a far cry from the Dogme days, isn't it?
Lone Scherfig: (Laughs) It really is. Well it does have moments of that feel but it's totally different job and approach. What they have in common is the authenticity of the characters.

YR: How did An Education come about? How did you get involved?
LS: Nick Hornby read this 10-page memoir by Lynn Barber about her youth in London. He told his wife who's a producer to option it which she did. Then they tried to look for writers to adapt it when she suggested that he should do it which he did. After a couple of drafts I got involved and we got the funding. Peter Sarsgaard was already attached when I started.

YR: Were you the first choice as the director?
LS: No I was not. There was another director who left the project because she had a film of her own that got financed which gave me the possibility.

YR: This is a film that could have easily misfired with the wrong acting elements. I liked the story, but its the cast that were pivotal in making this work...could you tell me about how they were assembled.
LS: Well as I mentioned Peter was already hired which wasn't my idea but he was one of the reasons I took on the project. He's brilliant and gave such a nuanced performance with a vulnerability that was beyond a used car salesman bragging. Also a borderline psychopath that you understand and like which is tremendous. Emma Thompson was already also very early on attached. Because of the heavyweights, we got an amazing cast which has been said to be the best cast since Gosford Park. For me it was fantastic to work with actor of that level because it made my work easier. Carey Mulligan was found by our casting director. We looked at a lot of girls but I had a good idea of who Jenny should be. Carey was the best from the beginning who went to a lot of meetings because everybody wanted to make sure we had the right person because as you said, the film is very dependent on the cast. Carey is a fantastic girl who deserves all the praise she gets.

YR: Absolutely. Even Peter Sarsgaard who's always consistently good finally found a perfect role that establishes him as a leading man. Nobody expected him to be in a British period film.
LS: That's right. His accent is really good and it chance for him to have a role where his complex nature and warmth shines through. If you look at his body of work which is so different from one to another. I admire him and he deserved a film that's his.

YR: Yes, I totally agree. It was a difficult role and pulls it off brilliantly. I really loved the casting. Even the Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike were perfect and delivered their best performances.
LS: I like to cast against type. Rosamund is usually perceived as an ice queen that you wouldn't associate with comedy. Dominic was known only for History Boys at the time of casting. What I enjoy is to have actors do something they haven't done before and there's some in this film.

YR: I also loved Alfred Molina. It's not that the actors are bad but sometimes it's hard to find the right parts for them. Everyone in this cast is talented so there's no doubt about it. But they all have done work that wasn't the right fit for them.
LS: Also to adjust the part for the actors so that nobody else could have played it but them. It's not forcing the actors to fit into your dreams but also approaching their talent to fit in them. In the case of Alfred, he knew that world well and knew a lot of characters like that from his childhood that were like that that he could tap into.

YR: Even Cara Seymour was great even though she hardly had any dialogue but she didn't get lost in the film. It's a great, almost silent performance.
LS: It was hard because she was in a lot of scenes without any lines. When you read the script, she's in the scenes but she's not doing anything she's just there. It's because the mother commits sins of omission and that you can't see isn't cinematic.

YR: Exactly. Were you or she concerned about not having enough lines of dialogue?
LS: Of course, but she was the only method actor in the film and they all came from different backgrounds. So she got into the character of that era and it was no problem for her. There was enough substance for an actor like Cara Seymour to create a character and she loved it.

YR: Even Olivia Williams was great who was also playing against type in a small but crucial role.
LS: She was made off and the only character not in the original piece. I think Nick Hornby has something personal for Miss Stubbs. He's a former school teacher and has helped some students. Sometimes a good school teacher can make a difference and that's what Nick wanted to say.

YR: What are the more obvious differences between working on this film and perhaps some of your work in Denmark?
LS: You have more artistic liberty in Denmark but also a smaller audience. It's more auteur oriented and the films I made in Denmark I have written or co-written them. In this case it was different because it's less personal and also I had language handicapped. On the other hand because they hired someone non-British, it gave it some edgier element. Even though it's the least edgy thing I have done but the subject matter, however, is controversial which is good.

YR: Was the film funded in Britain only or also Hollywood?
LS: A little bit of BBC money and the rest from Hollywood.

YR: Are you still in touch with your Dogme colleagues?
LS: Yes we are in touch but I travel a lot but if we are all there we are all in the same studio like journalist where we talk and discuss films. The deal in these interviews is that I talk but I rather listen.

YR: Would you do another one or do you think it was a nice experiment while it lasted. With over 200 plus Dogme projects, how do you see it now?
LS: Well I think it has values and some of the films are good films that are original and some directors developed their voices through that. If I had the right script, I definitely would do another film but it's not where I want to go next. I want to do something different and move into something not as sweet but more darker.

YR: What are you working on next?
LS: I worked on a project for another director which is convenient because I can travel and work. Then I have a projects of my own but not sure which one gets financed. I'm also reading tons of scripts here which allows me to get to know Americans and their worries and how they approach problems but so far nothing that makes want to spend two years of my life on.

YR: Well it's good to be cautious because very few European directors make a successful transition to Hollywood cause it's a system where if you don't know what to stand for, you could fall for anything.
LS: I don't know if I'm strong enough for that system. My advantages as a director is my sensitivity which might not work well in that system. I don't know. I think besides having the talent, you need to have the strategy. This film had Hollywood money and they were very protective and supportive.

YR: What's your favorite film or films?
LS: Right now it's The White Ribbon and I can't stop thinking about it. I loved it. I was in Paris when I was young so a saw a lot of the films that Jenny would watch in the film. Also a lot of Italian neo-realism films which inspired me to write "Italian for Beginners".

Philippe Claudel

Author-turned-director Philippe Claudel makes a calculated and self-assured debut in a tale about how guilt and the act of bonding occurs when a pair of sisters confront a fifteen year gap brought about by an unplanned prison sentence. Instead of opting for flashy visuals, Claudel avoids clichés and stays focused on the characters and peels away the layers from leads Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein's characterizations.

Both actresses deliver pitch-perfect perfs and as award season creeps in on both sides of the Atlantic, Scott Thomas can count on undoubtedly garnering further lead roles (in both her native tongue and adopted second language) that are given to those who experience a career revival of this magnitude. In the chaotic fall schedule, I've Loved You So Long is a film performance not to be missed.

Philippe Claudel

Claudel Interview I've Loved You So Long">

Yama Rahimi: Tell us about your inspiration for this story and why you wanted to tell this particular one?
Philippe Claudel: Well it was simple idea at first because I wanted to tell the story of a woman. As a novelist my stories are about the male universe, so I wanted to change. So I wanted to explore a woman's story and with that I thought the possibility of a movie and not of a novel. Maybe because I wanted to capture the soul of this woman with the camera. So I started exploring and from one woman it came to two. Then two sisters who haven't seen each other in a long time and exploring the bond between them.

YR: So it was purely fictional...?
PC: Yes but with many memories from personal experience because I was teaching at a prison for eleven years. I was constantly fascinated with the theme of secrets in life. The fact that we never know the other people.

YR: The story was so detailed that it seemed like an adaptation of somebody's life. It was finely tuned.
PC: Maybe because I wanted to work with sincerity. It was important to show the audience that this story was possible.

YR: At what point did you decide to make this story a film instead of a novel?
PC: Well when I write a novel, I use only one instrument which is the language which can be limiting. I wanted to try to use different tools like a conductor. When you imagine a work for a movie. You think about the light, architecture, sound and different tools. Film is the seventh art where all the arts converge so I wanted to work with the other tools.

YR: How long did it take you to decide to direct? Maybe your work with Yves Angelo?
PC: I started doing shorts in school but ten years ago I met my friend Yves Angelo who wanted me to write a script with him. Then I wrote other scripts for others, so it was a normal process from writing to directing because as with writing, you imagine the story visually for directing. So it was impossible for me to give this story to another director. I was ready to direct in my mind and with my experience.

Claudel Interview I've Loved You So Long">

YR: What was the biggest challenge during the process of making this film?
PC: To have the same energy everybody and keeping the focus of the film. I had a great team with me but at the same time you are the only one who knows what goes on. It was an amazing adventure.

YR: Tell us about the visual style of the film which is more subtle instead of flashy.
PC: I wanted a classic style of storytelling and wanted the filmmaking to disappear so the audience pays attention to every detail of the characters.

Claudel Interview I've Loved You So Long">

YR: Kristin Scott Thomas seems at first an odd choice in French speaking film. How did you choose her?
PC: Well I wrote the part of Lea for Elsa Zylberstein because I knew her and appreciate her as an actress. When the movie became a reality, I stopped at the face of Kristin Scott Thomas because she lived in France for 28 years and speaks perfectly French. At the same time she was underused in French cinema but paradoxically an international star. I wanted to destroy her beauty and show a new Kristin. She's an amazing talent and she understood what I wanted.

YR: Has cinema influenced your work as a novelist?
PC: Well maybe when I write a novel I'm like a director and when I direct a film, I'm like novelist. So I have two brains, one for each.

YR: Will you continue making films? How has it change your view on writing novels?
PC: Film takes a long time to get the funding. This film was a success in France and internationally. So if another film comes, I will do but also will preserve my writing. Writing is easy. I write all the time, even in the hotel.

Elsa Zylberstein

Unless you are a connoisseur of French cinema or very familiar with the filmography of Raoul Ruiz, for many of you there are good chances that the name and face of Elsa Zylberstein hardly rings a bell – but this may change this year if the buzz continues to build from art-house circuit success and critical approval into potential year-end kudos for film that won a pair of prizes at the Berlin film festival.

In author-turned-director Philippe Claudel’s "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime" a.k.a I've Loved You So Long, Zylberstein plays the younger sister role of Léa who is reunited with her older sis Juliette (Kristin Scott-Thomas), who after 15 years in prison returns to her hometown of Nancy.

A couple of weeks back I had the chance to interview the filmmaker and now I had a sit down with one of his two muses. Here is my interview with…

Elsa Zylberstein

Yama Rahimi: Philippe (Claudel) told me he wrote this part for you. Were you part of the process? How did you find out about this project? Was it a surprise?
Elsa Zylberstein: It wasn't a surprise because we had a coffee and I told him why don't you write a story about two women. He called five months later and said "Hey Elsa, I did it." Then I got the script and it was wonderful.

YR: Were you involved in the process?
EZ: No he did his thing and it was amazing for an actor that somebody would say I wouldn't do this without this actor.

YR: It's remarkable for a writer because I recently interviewed several writers and they all said they never write for any particular actors.
EZ: He's a great man, very clever and special human being.

YR: So you know him privately?
EZ: Yes we met three years ago and I just loved his writing after reading couple of his books. I was stunned by the depth and humanity. The layers and characters are lead by emotion and ambiguity between bad and evil. It's very interesting.

YR: What was the biggest challenge for this role since everything is underneath?
EZ: It was difficult to create this loss that I and Kristin had this loss and guilt after such a long time. We had to make the relationship real with the whole back story.

YR: Did you work with Kristin closely?
EZ: No. I worked with Philippe and she worked with him. I worked by myself and we saw each other once. Philippe didn't want us to meet. For me those two characters are in jail, one physically and the other psychologically. My character was very subtle because she pretends to be happy but is actually fragile like a little girl.

YR: I think your role was very hard to research because it's all internal.
EZ: It was a very hard character to create. Before her sister returns, she trusts and believes in books and they help her by giving strength and support because she a professor of literature. You see that books surround her in her house but when Kristin's character comes she loses her faith in them as she tells one of her students, "What do you know about life? Life is stronger. Fuck books. Go and live." She suddenly feels alive. She says "What do you know about murder? What did Dostoevsky know about murderers?"

YR: You are a veteran actress in French Cinema. How was your experience with Philippe as a first time director?
EZ: I trusted him. When you accept a film, you have to trust the director. I knew it would be clever that's all I knew.

YR: He's very assured as a director and knows what he wants without any insecurity.
EZ: Oh yes. He wrote a book about making the film and you see everything is on purpose.

YR: How was working with Kristin Scott Thomas who's not French but a Hollywood star.
EZ: She speaks French perfectly and very committed, so it was like two actors working normally. No difference beyond that.

YR: Are you surprised by the success of the film?
EZ: I'm so thrilled. You can't imagine. It sold 1 million tickets in France. It's continuing now beyond France because it's a universal story. It could be two brothers instead of sisters.

Mike Leigh

At the Mill Valley Film Festival this year, Brit filmmaker Mike Leigh’s latest film became the centerpiece as part of a tribute to thesp Sally Hawkins whose life won't be the same after the year-end award ceremonies have come and gone. As Leigh did previously with David Thewlis, Brenda Blethyn and Imelda Staunton, Happy-Go-Lucky is a great example of how an overlooked actor can take hold of a particular role and with the proper guidance, can make great strides, collect accolades and appreciation, and parlay this into further gut-wrenching, illuminating, heart-warming perfs.

Hawkins’s contagious character of Poppy will most likely connect with audiences and leave an impression much in the same way that archetypes like career launch pad roles such as Audrey Tautou in Amelie, Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures and Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding.

Leigh's idiosyncratic and much talked about filmmaking process has more often than not, been stunning in design and consistent in quality. One can always expect a heartfelt and genuine slice of life portrait from a Mike Leigh stamped picture and HGL is no different, except that it has a lighter spirit that is more optimistic in the light of a harsh realties that are best displayed in the emotionally distraught character portrayed by an equally brilliant perf from actor Eddie Marsan.

As with all of Leigh's films, the sheer pleasure is the journey of discovering the unique characters in unique settings. In this film the standout scene is when the teacher Poppy decides to spice up her life by enrolling in a weekly flamenco class. Without giving too much in detail away, it's a magical scene that will tickle your fancy.

Mike Leigh

Yama Rahimi: When you commence working on a film like Happy-Go-Lucky, or for that matter any of your previous work, you’ve mentioned that you start without a screenplay but rather, a ‘feeling’, can you elaborate on this?
Mike Leigh: No I can't elaborate on it. I have elaborated on it and the elaboration is called the film. The important thing is the film itself and you are asking about the earliest beginning of the film which you don't ask normally filmmakers and you are asking me because the way I work. The truth to matter is that I can't talk about it because I discover the film by making it.

YR: In your process of filmmaking, what's the biggest challenge for you?
ML: Well obviously you can sit in your room by yourself and write a novel and all you got to do is to interact with your pen and paper or word processor and your imagination. Film involves a whole lot of practicalities and is collaboration with other people and therefore, is more sophisticated in some ways and more complex. Things have to be done on budget and on time. You have deal with the weather and so on.

YR: Would it be accurate to describe this film as a comedy?
ML: To describe it as comedy as opposed to a drama would be inaccurate. It's a drama and all my films have been comic as well as dramatic. There's a dark underside but a comic dimension as well. I mean the spirit of the film is uplifting. Having made the film I realized instinctively and intuitively what I have done is to make a film what I call anti-miserablist. It doesn't mean harm to celebrate the possibilities of life even though we are in bad times and there's much to lament. People like Poppy are positive. She's a positive person. She's a teacher and nurturing the kids and cherishing the future. She's not an escapist or airhead. She's focused, grounded and looks things in the eye.

YR: Do you think it's possible to share your process of filmmaking with young filmmakers?
ML: I'm very involved with young filmmakers; a portion of my life is devoted to it. Apart from everything else I'm a chairman on the board of governors at the London Film School which is one of the oldest film schools in the world and it has an international body of students. I do share everything I can with young filmmakers. If you are actually specifically asking me whether my idiosyncratic and eccentric way of making films is something that's young or other filmmaker should adopt, well that's an open question because what I do is very personal but certainly anyone can draw inspiration from my work if they want or can.

YR: As far as your relationship goes with your actors as you have worked with some of them previously, do you have a group of actors that usually work with?
ML: No, no we have got great actors in the UK and actually we have sixteen actors in this film and I worked with five of them before. If you work with someone that's good and it works well, of course you come back to them obviously. I work with character actors who are versatile and people who can all sort of characters. It's good to come back to people and branch out with other people and I'm very pragmatic about that.

YR: What other filmmakers do you admire?
ML: Of course I do. I love watching movies and I'm an avid movie-goer. I'm very disadvantaged frankly doing this press tour in the United States because I'm missing half of the London Film Festival which has great feast of films from around the world. I have been watching movies all of my life. I grew up on an exclusive diet of American and British movies till I was seventeen when I went to London and World Cinema exploded on my ears. My particular passion in my formative years were people like Renoir, the Nouvelle Vague guys, Ozu, Fellini and Satyajit Ray. I'm also very fond of Capra which this film has the spirit of.

Götz Spielmann

Revanche, Austria's entry in this year’s race for the Best Foreign film at the Academy Awards. A superb existential thriller that haunts you long after you’ve left the theater, writer/director Götz Spielmann cleverly uses the thriller genre to dig deep into the psyche of his characters. Petty criminal Alex works in a brothel where he falls in love with the Ukrainian prostitute Tamara. In order to escape this life, Alex plans to rob the bank in his estranged father's village. However the robbery doesn’t go as planned and those remaining are left to pick up the pieces. Avoiding cheap sentimentality and one of those scores that pushes buttons, Spielmann’s set piece will draw you in.

I interviewed the writer and director Spielmann at the Rosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

Götz Spielmann

Yama Rahimi: What was your inspiration for this film?
Götz Spielmann: You know by being attentive and watchful in life material is collected to an idea. In this case I remember two important things. I made several hikes in the locations of the film where I walked through the magic landscape two years before the screenplay. Another source of inspiration was the ancient tragedy that my movie has something to do with.

YR: The character of Tamara is a tragic figure and she haunts the main characters and the audience throughout the film. Tell us about her.
GS: Well some years before the film I made some researches on prostitutes. In Austria a lot of the prostitutes come from the Ukraine and I learned a lot about the sad scene and needs that are part of that milieu. It was important for me not to tell the story from the outside or a moral position that judges the character.

YR: Would you agree to call this film an existential thriller?
GS: Yeah. Why not? It's not my task to make any interpretations. Any good film has several interpretations. I like your interpretation but I don't work with interpretations. I just try to make personal movies that are as personal and good as possible. I'm more interested in the audience perception than mine.

YR: What filmmakers inspired you?
GS: Well of course I was inspired by a lot of movies but the one that inspired are Cassavetes, Ozu, Tarkovsky, Fellini and Antonioni.

YR: Can you tell us backstory to how Janus picked up your film for theatrical distribution?
GS: They loved the film and want to get back to distribution again. All I can say is that I'm really happy and little proud because Janus and Criterion are for me a kind of hall of fame for the art of cinema and they are not such a bad company to be with.

YR: Are you excited about your film being considered for the Academy Awards?
GS: I'm honored but not excited. I'm rather relaxed. I will get excited if we actually get the nomination.

YR: Well Austria won the Oscar last year for the Counterfeiters, so it's great follow up. I prefer your film to that one.