Interview: Philippe Claudel (I’ve Loved You So Long)

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

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.

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.

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.

Sony Pictures Classics opens I’ve Loved You So Long in New York and L.A. theaters this Friday, October 24th.