10/07/2023 - We talked to the Belgian director about her first feature and merciless trip into the subconscious

Michèle Jacob's Lost Children [+see also:
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interview: Michèle Jacob
film profile] had its premiere in the international competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. We spoke to the director about the wounds we experience as children and carry along as adults, the monster inside each one of us, and the special relationship between her and her child protagonists. 

Cineuropa: Where did the inspiration for the story come from?
Michèle Jacob: I like working with children. In my last short film, the premise was fear and the second theme was what place children have in the adult world. For my feature film, I wanted to deepen that theme. One of my inspirations was a book I read about the strongest wounds children can experience and how they can deal with them in adult life. That made a big impression on me. As an adult, you wear a mask to hide those wounds. Every adult has to deal with the wounds he or she suffered as a child, I guess that's why most adults are so sad. But I did not want to talk directly about adults. I am more interested in their inner child. And as far as the plot of the film is concerned, I chose one of the biggest wounds a child has to suffer from, which is being abandoned.

Is there any literature or film that influenced you in the conception of the film?
I was greatly inspired by the story of Peter Pan. I remember reading it when I was nine years old, and it broke my heart. I had a lot of sympathy for him. The original novel is really cruel and harsh, yet at the same time there is a lot of action and poetry. I like that mixture. In terms of films, my biggest influences include Michel Gondry and Terrence Malick, also Jonathan Glazer with Under the Skin [+see also:
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interview: Jonathan Glazer
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What kind of monsters do you believe in?
In men and women. Everyone has a monster inside them. I know about mine and have found a way to deal with it. I believe we have to cuddle it. We need to face our monsters and stop denying them.

Have you experienced a similar dynamic between siblings as your protagonists?
There are four of us, three girls and one brother. I am the youngest, so we did not have a very close relationship from a young age. Now that we are adults, it's different. For me, family relationships are the most important thing in life. As for the film, I had to find a powerful topic to add, which is violence against women. I think the biggest trauma you can have is when you have to open your eyes on your parents.

The film is a trip into the subconscious, where trauma lies. Did you conduct any specific research about this and how did you find the right images to express it?
I had myself a psychoanalyst for years, who went into my brain. This gives you a whole repertory of images and metaphors. There came all the ideas for the windows, the stairs, doors and the wall paper, for example. There are a lot of rooms in the brain. 

How did you find the children cast? What were you searching for specifically in them?
The girls are my daughters. The eldest already played in my short film. As for the role of the younger girl Audrey, I wrote it first as a boy. But then changed it and I knew that my other daughter would be perfect for the role. I know her by heart, I knew that her uncommon beauty would be very cinematic. It was easy for me to work with her, we have a very close bond.

Wasn't it difficult to be both mother and director for them?
At first, I tried to separate the roles. But it wasn't possible, and not necessary. The film didn't alter our relationship. We talk a lot about school and life in general, and the film felt like a sequel to that. As for the other two kids, we organised sleep overs, went to the cinema and built up very natural relationships. The kids became nearly like real brothers and sisters, they grew very fond of each other.