14/08/2024 - The Hungarian director, who grew up in the USA but moved back to Hungary at the age of nine, can relate to the feeling of being an outsider

(© Mattia Martegani/Locarno Film Festival/Ti-Press)

Lesson Learned [+see also:
film review
interview: Bálint Szimler
film profile] is the first feature by Hungarian director Bálint Szimler. It celebrated its premiere at this year's Locarno Film Festival, in the Cineasti del Presente section. We met up with the director to talk about his motivation to tell this story, his approach to acting and the movie’s look.

Cineuropa: Did you have any specific cinematic inspirations?
Bálint Szimler: We didn't really have any references for this film. The topic somehow led the way by itself. But we were nevertheless influenced by Béla Tarr and his Family Nest, where he opts for an improvisational acting style. So, I tried to create a similar method. I didn't give the script to the actors, and they didn't read the script at all. They didn't have any lines to learn. I created a situation, and I gave them motivations. I told them what the idea for the scene was, and they went freestyle from there.

What were the most important things to bear in mind when conceiving the visual concept?
Actually, we didn't have much time to prepare, because Marcell Rév, who did the cinematography, works in Hollywood, and he could only come home to Hungary for three weeks before the shoot. What we talked about most was capturing the essence of being a child, and this feeling. That's also why we shot on 16 mm. It was interesting for us to experiment with it, and to choose between close and long shots.

One of the main protagonists among the children is Palko. He doesn't say much. Was that the plan from the beginning?
We based a lot on the people who were playing the characters. A lot of them were non-professional actors, especially the children. They don't have any experience like that. Palko being silent came from his personality a little bit. Still, we had some scenes in the beginning in which he talked a lot more. But I cut them out because they weren’t good. The film felt more structured without them. Palko is an outsider, literally coming from the outside. I felt like this kind of silence said a lot more about the character than if he were to talk about himself so much.

Were there any cases of mobbing that you followed up on? How did you relate to the story?
I grew up in the USA. When I was nine, we moved back home. For me, it was a culture shock to move back. It was 1996, which means there was an even bigger difference between the two countries back then. This whole topic stuck with me. I always thought about what would have happened if we had stayed in the USA. What would have happened if we had never left? I always felt like an outsider and reflected on this feeling. As for the educational aspect, there's this saying that if you want to know a society, you have to see how they behave with their children. This was my idea, and I took it from my own experiences as well. I always wanted to shoot a film with children and go back to the sensation of being a child – how free, intense and playful, but also sometimes horrifying, it was.

One of the most impressive scenes is the parents' meeting, where things escalate. Was this dialogue also improvised?
I laid out the rules and the guidelines for it to happen, and I wanted the character to tell her own story. It was a tough thing to do the casting for. I knew I wanted someone special for this scene. We worked with a person who is involved with NGOs and all kinds of places involving people who suffer from this kind of situation that the character speaks about. So, we found her, and she was bright and amazing. It was a different approach with her, since she was basically telling her own story. Her children are grown up now, and she is doing better. She gives speeches about her experiences now, motivating others.

Besides the dramatic tone of the film, you have many moments of humour.
Being a child, it's not only darkness. In my work, I like to strike a balance between dark and brighter moments. I want to represent how life is, showing both sides. The same is true for the characters as well. If somebody does something bad, I want to see them doing something good in the next scene because that's how humans are. I wanted the film to be easy-going in the beginning, for us to be able to laugh more at the start, and then to laugh much less towards the end.