Interview : Ozana Oancea (First of all, Felicia)

They say you’re never to old to learn a new trick, as is the case for Ozana Oancea. A graduate from The National University of Theater and Cinematography I.L. Caragiale back in 1991, Oancea waited a long time before taking on her first on screen role. First of all, Felicia is the helming debut from co-directors Răzvan Rădulescu and Melissa de Raaf and judging from her response in this interview, I’d say she’s now got the “on screen” acting bug.

Oancea plays Felicia, a woman in her forties, who lives with her family in The Netherlands and still manages to pay a visit to her parents, in Romania. Tell flies by whenever she does visit them, and just about the time she is getting ready to take her return flight at the airport, her sister, Iulia, who promised she would drive her, could no longer deliver as promised. Ozana takes a taxi; reaches the airport, but a little late; and, while she tries to find another way to get to Amsterdam she tells her mother some of the things she should have mentioned a long time ago. Here’s my interview with the actress.

Marin Apostol: What does First of all, Felicia symbolize for you? It’s your first movie and you’ve received some pretty solid reviews.
Ozana Oancea: This word “debut” has started to seem a little odd during the past two weeks. I think this word is okay when you look back on somebody’s work and you want to refer to the first thing that person has done, or created. I’m in this odd situation to have been done a first movie long time after my teenage years. So now I’m looking back to my debut and I think that is very important this film to be followed by something else. Only then I could say this is the beginning of something. It’s very important to me that this film comes to represent the debut of a long cinematographic career. This is what First of all, Felicia for me: The promise of a continuation.

Apostol: What do you think about Felicia? Many people who have seen the movie admitted they have are able to identify with the character. Personally, I find Felicia slightly immature and, sometimes, a little too gentlemanlike. But all the time I could see that she has something in her mind. Something she needs to say it. And once said it she would be free. I can easily see a sequel to this film. Next year she would come again in Romania to spend a couple of weeks with her parents?
Oancea: Felicia is a weak, immature, and a gentle human being. She’s not an achiever type of woman. I also don’t think it would be a sequel. Because nothing would change. Felicia (I wouldn’t say Ozana) would come back to see her parents.

Apostol: Why you? How did you become Felicia?
Oancea: It was Ada Solomon’s idea, the producer, who has known me for a long time and she has watched me playing theatre – which is different… But because she’s an inspired producer and a very good match-maker she thought I could fit in and Răzvan agreed. Melissa said yes, that’s how I imagined Felicia – they showed her a picture (I got to find out which picture).

Apostol: Would Ozana have the courage to say the same things to her mother, the way Felicia did in a monologue that closes the film?
Oancea: Ozana tries from time to time to say something. There’s not quit the same things and her speeches are never this long. Ozana’s mother is a little more sensitive to harsh words so they have to be just a few.

Apostol: In what kind of movies would you like to play in the future? Would you like to continue with this minimalist-style films, more or less family dramas, or would you like to make a change?
Oancea: Răzvan is a bit angry with me because I once said I would like to play in slightly metaphysical comedies, so I have nothing to lose so I’ll say it again. I’d like to make a change. But I wouldn’t like to play in horror or Sci-Fi films nor stupid comedies or violent movies. I still have several other genres to choose from, don’t I?

Apostol: I heard many actors saying theatre is totally different from film and, in a way, would be superior to film. What do you think about that?
Oancea: No, no, I wouldn’t say that. I wouldn’t say it’s superior. But different, yes, sure!

Apostol: Choose between theatre and movie and what would motivate you to take that decision?
Oancea: At this point in my life, I would say: film. I’m far from a good theatre offer and I started to like these fter screening Q&As.

Apostol: What do you think would bring more Romanian patrons to the movie theaters? There are good results at the big festivals and great directors and actors, but something is missing.
Oancea: Romanian movies don’t lack anything if we take a look only at the good ones. People don’t have the habit, haven’t developed a need for it. They are satisfied by the TV productions. I’m amazed how many people watch them and feel satisfied by these.

Apostol: When I watch a movie I like to be moved somehow, the action on the screen should make me care about the characters. I see films as a relationship. If it can last much longer after the film has ended, it’s great. What’s very important for you, when you watch a movie?
Oancea: The story is very important and the links between the stories. My favorite movies are those in which there are multiple stories linked together, first – they are parallel, later – they intersect and come to an end. The emotion, the story, the way it’s said. And, of course, the way the actors play.

Apostol: What kind of movies do you watch?
Oancea: As I was saying, I never watch thrillers, horrors or science fiction. I also don’t watch action movies, with spies or gangsters. I rarely watch historic, Asian, East-European or South-American movies. I kind of watch short films and documentaries. I rarely go to the cinema and my favorite way to pick films (and the books I read) is to burrow them from my friends (I can’t help not to ask for a book or a DVD when I visit someone).

Apostol: What are your favorite films?
Oancea: Babel, for ingenious connections, as I was saying earlier… Chocolat, or any other movie with Juliette Binoche, for Juliette Binoche. Peter’s Friends, or almost any movie with Emma Thompson, for Emma Thompson. Intimacy, director Patrice Chereau, for its heaviness, I find it overwhelming. Gay Purr-ee, because it’s so pretty.