20/09/2024 - The French filmmaker reflects on the research and creative process behind her new film, inspired by Emmanuelle Arsan's novel of the same name

(© Jorge Fumebuena/SSIFF)

French filmmaker Audrey Diwan, winner of the Golden Lion in Venice with her previous film Happening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile], reflects on the research and the creative process behind her new film, Emmanuelle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Audrey Diwan
film profile], inspired by Emmanuelle Arsan's novel of the same name, and which opened the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival in competition.

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Cineuropa: The film is based on the novel of the same name by Emmanuelle Arsan. How did you come across it and why did you become interested in her story?
Audrey Diwan: I read the book out of curiosity, without thinking of making a film about it. It contains a long conversation between Emmanuelle and an old man about what eroticism is, the limit between what we show and what we hide. At the time of the first Emmanuelle movie, audiences wanted to open the frame to see more. I wondered if eroticism could still be a language of cinema nowadays, but by reversing this process – by closing the frame to invite the viewer to invest off-camera, to use their imagination. A form of collaborative storytelling. I was first aroused by this reflection on form.

Your Emmanuelle tells of a woman in search of a lost pleasure. For you, is it the chronicle of that quest or also that of a liberation through it?
For the desire to make a film to arise, the form is not enough. I knew that I would make Emmanuelle the day I began to imagine this woman without pleasure. I was driven by my character. As you rightly say, it is both question of a quest for sensation and for liberation. We live in a world where the notion of pleasure is often linked to that of performance. We must enjoy, we must get profit, we must constantly seek to achieve perfection, even physically and especially as women. I find that all these concepts exhaust desire and create loneliness. I wanted a story that slowly breaks the codes of this stifling world.

The film addresses the question of the struggle between instinct and reason. How do you understand this theme – which is very present in Sade's work – in the film?
We are talking here about a capitalist reason. Reason is not a form of moral limitation here, but an injunction to consume more, to seek the best experience, even if it is absolutely artificial. Conversely, instinct calls us back to the state of nature, to trust our sensations.

The character of Kei can be understood as a ghost of Emmanuelle's desire (which may or may not exist). How do you conceive of this character, or what does he represent for you?
In the film – it was my intention – there is no opponent to Emmanuelle's quest, but people who will reveal to her a part of her desire, or intimate obstacles she wants to overcome. For me, Kei is like a mirror for this woman, he invites her to put into words what she wants deep down. He brings her back to herself. It’s his purpose.

Why did you choose Noémie Merlant, what interested you or attracted you to her for this role?
She is a powerful actress and a powerful woman. From Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile] to Paris, 13th District [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], or the film she has just made as a filmmaker, The Balconettes [+see also:
film review
interview: Noémie Merlant
film profile], Noémie's entire filmography questions the woman’s body. She thought a lot about how we present the actress's body on screen. And as she has specific and strong ideas on the issue, she is very free when she plays. Giving power back to the actress means creating freedom on screen. We should keep that in mind.

I think the two places where the film takes place, the hotel and the city of Hong Kong, play an important role in the film. How did you work with these two opposing spaces?
I wanted to make a film that uses sensations. The hotel, by nature, is a setting. It is designed for the pleasure of its customers, but everything is fake. The sound is too muffled, the scent is always the same, the music too. I wanted to gradually create a feeling of claustrophobia. This is an artificial paradise slowly changing into a prison. I expect to give to Emmanuelle, like the audience, the desire to open wide the doors of this place and breathe the humid air of Hong Kong.

(Translated from Spanish)