“Inspired by true events” reads a caption in Father [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Tereza Nvotová
fiche film], Slovak director Tereza Nvotová’s feature-length entry in the Orizzonti section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. Taking on the macabre subject of “Forgotten Baby Syndrome”, the film follows a decent, loving man and father into a spiral of horror, after a memory lapse changes his and others’ lives, instantly and forever.

Cineuropa: “Forgotten Baby Syndrome” is a macabre term, to put it mildly. It occurs in cars, when a baby is left, or indeed forgotten, and then suffers heatstroke, not uncommonly with a deadly outcome. What led you to this venture?
Tereza Nvotová: The origin was equally unfortunate, as something similar happened to a close friend of Dušan Budzak, my co-writer. At first, I was a bit reluctant, but Dušan not only talked me into it, but also ignited an inspiration in me, not least in terms of getting this very personal perspective on something I had hardly thought about before. Now and again, we may see some article, and we may think that this was a really terrible parent, but we don’t look at it in depth. Because if you do, you’ll realise that most of the time, no one did anything out of carelessness. They actually believe that their child is somewhere else, not in the car. Then, hours after the fact, the parent realises what’s going on. It’s quite crazy when you look into it, but this is how our brain works, not just for certain people, but for any one of us – old, young, men, women. All of us can experience Forgotten Baby Syndrome. This realisation was the main trigger that made me want to make this movie because it raised so many questions inside me, about who we really are and how much control over ourselves we really have.

How does one then go about turning this syndrome into a fiction film?
I went on instinct. I knew I didn’t want to make the audience just suffer, and little else, which could easily have been the case with a story like this, like a funeral photo album. Soon, I realised that I didn’t have to do it in a conventional way. And what got me more and more intrigued, even obsessed, was that moment, that second, when everything turns and you’re dropped into a parallel universe, one of your worst nightmares. And I remembered the Gus Van Sant film Elephant and how there’s so much of “nothing” happening, almost pure boredom, inside the school… And then, suddenly… It happens. I started to think that I could make this film from “inside” the father. I used long shots, where the audience would have no choice but to really connect with him, before this terrible thing happens. “Okay,” I thought, “there’s a movie here.” Not just about tragedy, but rather about who we are and showing the moments that we don’t see that much, in between the bigger moments of what happens that day. Those moments took some time to find, with the aim being to make this movie in the simplest possible way.

In a story like this, how does one go about addressing notions like “empathy”, “redemption” and “closure”? As a director, you have both the authority and the responsibility to tackle them.
To me, this entire film is about empathy and acceptance. It talks about a person who makes the biggest mistake we can make, but it also talks about us as human beings, and I think the experience the audience can have with this movie could be to take one step closer to who we really are. When you accept that you can fail at times and also be imperfect, then you can also accept and understand the other person. I feel this is badly needed right now, as our world is so polarised in black and/or white. I personally feel it both in Slovakia and in the USA, where I partially live. If we just see things as if we are the good guys and they are the bad guys, it feels like a return to dictatorship and autocracy. Without empathy, society is just ruthless.

On a lighter note, the Venice selection isn’t just showing Father this year, but also Mother [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Teona Strugar Mitevska
fiche film]…
… and even Father Mother Sister Brother! Yes, I saw that we are creating a whole little family together this year. I’m fairly certain that they are all very different films, but I do like the coincidence; it’s kind of beautiful. Just like it is to be selected at all. For me, that’s good enough. You never know how the movie is, at least from the outside, when you’re so deep into it.