In his Un Certain Regard-winner inspired by Martha Batalha’s novel, Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz shows two sisters, Eurídice and Guida, separated by 1950s society in Rio de Janeiro. And yet refusing to give each other up, recounting in letters whatever life throws their way.
It feels almost shocking to listen to your female characters at times: it’s like watching a Douglas Sirk movie with women openly discussing their sexual frustration.
There was a moment when I started to question if I should be doing this at all – entering spaces I couldn’t enter as a man. A lot of these scenes, written and rewritten with the actresses, are constructed on the basis of this very question.
I am happy you pointed it out, because what is a period film? Can you have a sex scene in a period film? Of course you can, because there is nothing more reactionary than nostalgia. Sirk was working within the constraints of the McCarthy era, but we have more freedom. Also, to admit that the past was inhabited by human beings, not by costumes and furniture. There were real bodies in the past, you know? They had their desires, they suffered. Our costume designer said that no woman would be seen in her lingerie at that time, but what if she was at home? It was important for me to look for intimacy.
You can read the whole interview in today's Festival Daily.
