Two, strong, passionate women at the Festival do Rio 2015

Published in 10/10/2015

The creators of this film about strong, passionate women, could only be themselves strong, passionate women. La Belle Saison (Summertime), directed by Catherine Corsini and produced by Elizabeth Perez, tells the turbulent and moving story of two young women, activists and revolutionaries in France, cerca 1975, at the peak of the second wave of the feminist movement.

Carole and Delphine discover their mutual interests extend past their political cause. Soon embroiled in a deeply fervent romance, the couple set out to destroy political, social and sexual taboos. Things become more complicated, however, when Delphine returns home to work on her family’s farm in the beautiful but traditionalist French countryside. Soon the presence of Carole, who follows her loved-one to her childhood home, forces a violent confrontation between a conservative past and the promise of a radically different present.

This is not the first film by Catherine Corsini to deal with double polemics feminism and lesbianism. Female bonds are the subject of many of her previous works including, La répétition (2001), Mariés mais pas trop (2003) and Trois mondes (2012).

The director and producer checked in with us at the festival’s headquarters to discuss La Belle Saison, the difficulties of filming in the French countryside and their hopes and fears for the future of auteur cinema and cinema that deals with gender politics.

What inspired you to make this film?

Catherine: We had wanted to make a film together for a long time, but everything I suggested to Elizabeth, she rejected! In the end we decided to produce something that really mattered to us both, and what matters to us both is continuing the lively discussion that exists today about sexuality and diversity.

La Belle Saison is a film made up of contrasts: the 70s period styling vs. the modern soundtrack; the use of light and picturesque images vs. the weighty subject matter. Is this intentional?

Catherine:Yes, it’s intentional. I chose to break with the period soundtrack – that uses classic French music from the period, as well as iconic voices such as Janice Joplin – at the precise moment that Delphine and Carole have sex for the first time in the middle of that wild, French countryside. Carole has arrived and with her brought modernity to that traditional, conservative, stifling atmosphere, so I used a contemporary song by The Rapture to really emphasise this. The beauty of the landscape and the luminosity of the cinematography are also extremely important. For me, these are what bring the problematic of feminism and sexuality to light, that’s what illuminates these issues. It’s a composition that’s weighty but not dark, but highly and strikingly visible.

The film takes place in the idyllic French countryside. Why did you choose this location and what were the main technical difficulties you faced?

Catherine: Filming in the countryside was a logistical nightmare. When you start filming there’s always some unexpected hassle. This time, it was cows!

Cows?

Elizabeth: Yes, there were some rules about where we were able to source our cows from and where we were able to take them for filming. In the end, we had to use cows that were on their way to the slaughterhouse, because these were less problematic.

Catherine: I’ve always wanted to film in Le Limousin, near the centre of the country, where the narrative takes place. I’m from nearby and every time I go back home I’m struck by the beauty of the area: its majestic, with these rich hidden depths. It was important to choose a location like this, isolated, extremely far from Paris, so that Delphine’s desire to leave the countryside and go to the big city is more credible.

Elizabeth: And of course, on a practical level, making rural France look like the 1970s was a lot easier than going back in time in modern-day Paris.

The film deals with political and social themes that are contentious today. Do you see progress being made with relation to gender diversity in cinema and in general?

Elizabeth: In France many people were shocked recently by the violent homophobic protests against gay marriage that occurred in Paris and other big cities. Most people thought that homophobia was a thing of the past. But we were proved wrong. Against that backdrop, this discussion is becoming more and more important.

Catherine: I also see a disparity between the treatment of male and female homosexuality. Male sexuality has had more and more on-screen presence of late. There’s even a fairly large budget now to finance cultural and artistic productions that deal with relationships between men. But women going through the same thing, experiencing the same stigma, are being completely left out of this debate. There’s hardly any talk about female sexuality, and when there is, (like with La Vie d’Adèle, the French filmthat caused a great stir) it’s one, narrow-minded, rigid and inflexible story that gets repeated and repeated. There appears to be no room for manoeuvre.

The past two years at the festival have celebrated unprecedented levels of gender diversity with the inauguration of the Felix Award. Similarly, we have seen more and more women come to the festival this year to present their artistic and creative projects. Do you feel positively about where we are headed with regards to diversifying cinema?

Catherine: Unfortunately I’m not feeling hugely positive: if we look across the festivals like Cannes, the Oscars and all the large cinema events, there is still a huge lack of women in the industry. There are many female film students, but not so many female directors, producers, directors of photography etc.

Elizabeth: For producers it’s the same problem. I don’t know why, but it seems that women are less drawn to the big block-busters, the big money-making projects. Which means their work is less well-known.

Catherine: And with regard to the Felix Award, I think it’s great that we have broadened the discussion and can now see that we can’t condense the multiplicity of these projects into just one category. We have learned to recognise that these debates are becoming part of everyday cinematic production. But I’m still waiting for a day when these categories don’t need to exist at all; when this is not a conversation we are forcing ourselves to have, but one that just happens of its own accord.

What do you think about the future of auteur cinema, in France and globally?

Elizabeth: Again, it’s not looking good. In France there’s hardly any money being invested in this area, and even less public going to see it. In fact, with the rise of Netflix and online streaming, every time I go to a film festival and actually see an audience I heave a sigh of relief! And that’s considering France is the birthplace of auteur cinema. It doesn’t bode well for other countries whose budgets have been even more catastrophically eaten-away, like, for example the Portuguese market.

By Fernando Flack and Gill Harris