ISABEL
     COIXET

Isabel Coixet took the challenge of adapting a literary work from one of our acclaimed authors which has resulted in one of the best films this year.

The Spanish born filmmaker has established a career of thought provoking, provocative dramas with MY LIFE WITHOUT ME, THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS, and COSAS QUE NUNCA TE DIJE. With ELEGY, she becomes the first female filmmaker to direct an adaptation from novelist Phillip Roth, whose novella THE DYING ANIMAL the film is based on. With a stellar cast and beautiful cinematography (conducted by Coixet herself), ELEGY is a beautifully moving film meant for the independent crowd.

To promote ELEGY, Coixet sat down with the Colonel to discuss making the film, its challenges, her favorite films growing up, and her thoughts on film in general in this Crypt exclusive.

COLONEL’S CRYPT: I have to admit that I would probably be the last type of person who would love this film because although I love film, I’m a little more drawn towards the male dominated action/horror films.

ISABEL COIXET: (Laughs) Thank you.

CC: What was it about ELEGY that attracted you?

IC: When I read the book I thought, “Well someone is going to do this.” I’m not a fan of literary adaptations. I think if a book is good, why do you have to have it? If it’s bad, what then, but I read the script and I thought it was a very smart adaptation. I knew who I was in relationship with these characters. I knew how to tell the story and I always wanted to work with Penelope since we met years ago so I said OK. I was scared. It was challenging. This was the first time I’m working with a script I didn’t write but I’m going to do it. I think I know how to do it.

CC: The film tackles a lot of relationships and for me as a man it made me understand women a little more just in the conversations between David and George. What would you say would be the defining theme of the film?

IC: Women and men, we’re different, and we have to deal with it. That’s how it is. Women learn how to cope with each other in the most peaceful terms or we’re screwed. It’s true. Women want one thing and men want another thing but I think there is some common ground. I think Consuela wants what she wants. The problem is she asks for very little. She’s not asking for a big wedding. She’s not dumb. She’s just asking this man, “From time to time just show up and meet my parents. That’s all,” and when this guy can’t even do that, that is when she says, “You know what? It’s over.” I think he fears things that are not there. This is not a woman who’s going to trap you. That’s in his mind. OK, his marriage was bad but so what. Maybe another kind of relationship can go better. I think the fears of David are in his mind. He thinks that people are going to make fun of him and he’s afraid that someone else is going to take her and it’s just silly. The guy is 60 and he’s acting 14. There are lots of guys like David Kepesh and there are men not like that but that’s what happened.

CC: It seemed like George’s character was doing the same thing while giving David a talk about relationships as well.

IC: George hates everything. He hates being a seducer and having a wife there but also the wife is coping with it. I always think women are our worst enemy. If we are accepting this behavior, maybe there is a reason. If we are accepting this behavior, then we have to accept the consequences. What makes Consuela strong is that she doesn’t accept the consequences. She goes, “This is how it’s going to be. I gave you a chance and you blew it, bye,” but I understand George too. I’m not judging David or George. Men are like that, you’re accepted or you’re not, but they are like that.

CC: How much shooting was in New York?

IC: Actually we did very little in New York. The film was mainly shot in Vancouver sadly because I love New York.

CC: What do you love about it?

IC: I lived in New York 20 years ago and it’s not like it is now where there’s these European tourists who are taking over the city and there’s a Gap on every corner. It’s not the New York I knew. Everything was much more alive than it is now. It’s a tame New York.

CC: Being that this is the first film you directed where you didn’t write it yourself, would you consider doing that more in the future?

IC: I have to say it’s easier for me being the writer and the director always because that’s what I did but there is a moment where you own this character and you own these words. There is the moment you really like what you are doing. I thought it was going to be very difficult for me but it turned out to be a very rewarding experience and all the changes I did were just to be more faithful to the story and the core of the story. At the same time, my next film is set in Tokyo and it’s a film that I wrote myself. I’m not saying that I’m not going to do someone else’s script anymore but we’ll see.

CC: What are the elements you look for in a good film?

IC: I’m easy. If I care, whether it be animation, horror, it doesn’t matter to me, I have to care for the character. Whatever they are, be it WALL-E or a documentary or a Russian film with no subtitles, there is something there where if it’s true, if it’s raw, I don’t care about perfect films, I care about emotions, a glimpse of truth, and that’s all.

CC: Were you behind the camera on some of the scenes?

IC: I have a lighting director but I am the camera operator of all my films.

CC: How much preparation do you go before shooting?

IC: We had about ten days of rehearsals and maybe two months of pre-production but no more than that.

CC: Being the film was shot on film, what’s your opinion of the digital boom of the next five years?

IC: I’m going to shoot my next film with the Sony Red, which is the camera everybody’s using now. What matters to me is what’s in front of the camera. The camera is a tool. I always say when I go to a film school that the camera is your friend. It’s a tool. The important thing is what’s in front of the camera. I’m not for perfection. If I had the opportunity I’d shoot it in 70mm but it’s not going to happen. Are you a filmmaker?

CC: I am and I have a DVX 100. I’ve seen films shot on that camera where you can’t even tell it was shot digitally.

IC: I saw films where it was very difficult to tell but when you see an old camera and you remember David Lynch or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA with that camera, you feel nostalgic but the most important thing is the story and being a storyteller no matter with what.

CC: As a writer, what brings you more satisfaction; completing a script or hearing a script being read out loud for the first time?

IC: Nothing compares to the emotion to listen to the dialogue. If you have written them or not, the first time you hear the dialogue for the actors is magical. I love it.

CC: How did you get Sir Ben involved?

IC: He loved the script. We had a conversation in Italy and we talked about relationships, men, women, love, death, fear of aging, fear of dying, and we had a long conversation and he said yes.

CC: How was it filming in particular the scenes between David and Carolyn, Patricia Clarkson’s character, because it felt to me that they had an honest relationship that at the surface would appear to be the most fractured?

IC: Yeah but at the same time after twenty years they have their own rules, they have their own intimacy, and they have a way to be very comfortable with each other and for me that was very beautiful to show. There’s a line at the beginning of Roth’s novel that says, “The body has a memory as much as the mind,” and it’s true. That was also one of the things Phillip Roth told me I have to remember that. Every time I had doubt on how to approach a scene, I thought of that line and it helped me.

CC: Was there a lot of preparation to do in the more intimate and sensual scenes?

IC: They were simple to do. We talked from the beginning that those scenes were key. Those scenes were very important to the film. We have to have those scenes to show what kind of passion these people share. The actors were nervous. I was not nervous but I knew how important it was. It’s always embarrassing to direct like, “OK, drop your clothes and now you’re having sex and after eight minutes of kissing, you have to thrust,” and it was very precise because I was alone with them in the room and I have to be very sure about what I was filming and what I was going to see. For me it would be more difficult to film bodies exploding and guts spilling because I never saw that in real life, but sex, I know sex, and I felt more comfortable shooting that.

CC: If you’re a professor like David, and you’re teaching a film history class, you have five films to show your class, which films would they be?

IC: SUNRISE by Murneau. LA DOLCE VITA by Fellini. THE 400 BLOWS by Trauffaut. BREATHLESS by Godard. And THE APARTMENT by Wilder. Maybe if I were to add one IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE.

CC: Funny you mention Murneau because he’s been a big influence for me as well.

IC: Wow, he’s great.

CC: Reason I ask about the history of film is because I feel that with a lot of people, they tend to forget that films existed before 1970 and there’s a lack of education there. Do you think there’s a lack of education and do you see it improving?

IC: There’s a definite lack and I agree with you completely. It’s amazing how people are not curious about what’s before the 1970s. I really don’t know, it’s shocking to me because you can learn a lot from silent movies. You can learn a lot with silent movies. You can learn a lot from movies in the 1930s. There’s a lot of great dialogue and great camera work in films from the 1940s. You can learn a lot.

CC: I agree and one of the best films from that era I would show is LA GRANDE ILLUSION by Renoir.

IC: Wonderful film.

CC: Isabel, that’s all the time we have. Thank you so much and I wish you all the best with ELEGY.

IC: Thank you.

(Special thanks to Falco Ink)