PREVIEW
MARION BRIDGE
Starring Molly Parker, Rebecca Jenkins and Stacy Smith
Directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld
Written by Daniel MacIvor
Opens Friday, April 18
Uptown Screen
"I don't know why women's films, or chick flicks, are sort of equated with dull and lame and boring. I don't think it has to be that way at all," says director Wiebke von Carolsfeld, who is doing her best to redefine the genre with her first feature-length project, Marion Bridge.
"We don't have big explosions and stuff, but what we have is an intriguing story – a mystery, some intrigue – and that's what keeps you going. And we have three beautiful sisters, of course."
The sisters, Agnes (Molly Parker), Theresa (Rebecca Jenkins) and Louise (Stacy Smith), are all part of a damaged family that is trying to heal itself throughout the course of the film.
Marion Bridge – adapted for the screen by Daniel MacIvor from his stage play of the same name – eavesdrops on the lives of the three sisters, trying to elucidate the event that brought them all to where they are now.
"To me, Marion Bridge was always a mystery," says von Carolsfeld. "Why do we do things the way we do them? The film asks these questions and, slowly but surely, we discover what it is that has actually happened to the sisters. But it's not so much about what has happened to them – it's about how they're dealing with it now and how they find a way to live more positively in the future.
"These relationships – in one way, they're flawed, but they're very loving and understanding, and there's some humour in how they manage to deal with one another."
Barred from formal training by Ontario's school system, von Carolsfeld got her filmmaking experience in the trenches.
"I actually never went to film school," she says. "I kinda wanted to, but they wouldn't take me at Ryerson for not having Grade 13. And then I decided to just go into editing, so I worked as an assistant editor and then as an editor."
Von Carolsfeld edited Tim Southam's The Bay of Love and Sorrows and Renny Bartlett's Eisenstein, and was director-observer on Atom Egoyan's Ararat.
"I spent a lot of time watching (Egoyan) and I read a lot of books, and that was my film school."
Her editing experience gave her the gift of thrift, showing her how to make the best film with the fewest shots.
"Quite often, it was like, 'What can I get away with and still be able to construct a scene that will work in the cutting room?’ Film is a construct and everything about it is completely unreal, and yet, at the same time, you're trying as hard as possible to make it feel as real as possible."
Von Carolsfeld believes her film could only blossom in the fertile soil of the Canadian film industry.
"I would have never, ever made films had I not been here in Canada and not been part of this supportive community of people around me. It's small enough that it's very personal, but it's big enough to actually produce work.
"I found people incredibly helpful. I mean, you can just call people up and ask them for help or advice and they'll give it to you, and it's an encouragement."
She fights hard against the stigma that Canadian films are boring, or only of interest to people who live in Canada. She says the appeal of Marion Bridge is universal, although she does admit that Canadians might respond to it more strongly than others.
"Once the people are in the cinema, there is a connection," she says. "They say 'Oh, my God, I can relate to this, because it is a Canadian story. These are very Canadian people, and it's not boring! It's funny, it's fun, it's sad.’" |
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