Stefan Pape In what was a strong year for Italian cinema, one of the highlights came in the form of Laura Bispuri’s Daughter of Mine, starring Valeria Golino and Alba Rohrwacher. We had the pleasure of sitting down with the talented duo in London, as we discuss just how challenging a shoot this really was fo them both. They talk about waling, which they did a lot of, and on the role of women in Italian cinema, as Golina believes it’s time we stopped discussing gender politics in film.
What was it that initially attracted both of you to getting involved in Daughter of Mine?
Valeria Golino: For me there were many reasons. One was the characters, they scared me and made me uncomfortable, so I thought, hmmm, this is something I should look for because I am out of my comfort zone, this is not something I do usually. It was a strange feeling when I read it. I also wanted to work with Alba, we’ve known each other for a long time, and we’ve always wanted to work together, and this felt like the right time, it felt organic to me. Also Laura is a little force of nature. Not just because she is little, but she emanates a lot of energy and strength and it was in Sardinia, and I just thought, this could be one of those, you know? I thought it would be an experience, something interesting for me. So they are the reasons.
Of course you’ve with Laura before Alba, so it must’ve made this an easy decision?
Alba Rohrwacher: Yeah it was an immediate decision. She sent me the script, and I knew she had been writing something and that she was thinking of me. She proposed this script and this specific character, which is far away from the other ones. Working with her is like jumping into a kind of adventure, and I’m not sure where she will push me.
Even though you speak so highly of Laura, she gets you guys to do a lot of walking.
VG: You have no idea. More than you see in the movie.
Do you think that brings out a certain type of performance, because it must tap into a exhausted, raw and emotional side to you?
VG: She thinks so, at least. I understand why, sometimes it was exasperating. You walk in sandals on really, really hot sand of the deserted dunes, up and down, and you keep going on the sand that is burning your feet, and I thought okay, she’s going to say cut, she’s going to say cut, but we just keep walking, then we start again. There was a part of me that thought, what the fuck is going on here? [Laughs] But the more it goes the more you let go, you just let go, you’re tired and you become a part of the elements, of the place that you’re supposed to have been living in all your life. But if you’ve just arrived from Rome, as two actresses, which is how arrived.
AR: But I already knew how it would be, because I already did a movie in Albania, and it was extreme, So extreme! So for me I was prepared.
VG: Actors are also masochists, the more we suffer the more we think the movie is going to be good, which very often is true. The more difficult movies I’ve done, physically and psychologically, are usually the best movies I have done, and my performances are better. Maybe it’s Catholic to think that you have to suffer for it, but she knows that actors have to be like horses.
You’ve directed quite recently – is your approach quite different to that?
VG: It’s different to hers, but I like hers as an actress. I like her approach. My approach is the approach of an actress, working with actors. With each actor their approach is different, I don’t have a way to be with actors, it depends on who I have in front of me.
Have you considered working behind the lens Alba?
AR: My sister does that! If I’m not good, I’m not good. But if I’m very, very good it would be a problem! [Laughs]
There seems to be many Italian films of late playing at the festivals with a female director at the helm. Not just this, but Happy As Lazarro, Twin Flower too. Has there been a shift?
AR: Yeah, but there is still a long way to go. But we are on the way.
VG: It’s happening, it’s happening, it’s happening.
AR: Slowly, slowly.
VG: Well before it was slowly, slowly, not it’s quickly, quickly. Before it was too slow, now it’s too quick. But it will happen the way it should. Now it’s like ‘women women women’, okay. But it should be normal, just normal. We shouldn’t even be talking about it anymore. Women should be there, men should be there, without us talking about there being too few or too many. But it will happen, and we have to go through this.
But what is important is not just that there are female directors, but stories like Daughter of Mine is exploring maternal themes, and themes of identity. I guess it’s also important to have stories about women, not just stories by women?
VG: Of course. Recently we saw lots of stories about women, with great actresses, etc. But the thing I wanted to tell you that I find fantastic, that makes you understand how little we should be thinking about this, and how it should be out of our minds, is that for Alba’s character, and this is fantastic, she had two references of people that she could use, and they are both men. She plays a women and it’s all about women, and yet at the same time the two references she used were of two men. Isn’t that great?
The young Sara Casu is excellent in the movie. It must be so sad when you have to say goodbye at the end of a shoot when working with someone of that age? Because you must form such a close bond with them. Have you kept in touch?
AR: Yeah we have.
VG: I last saw her in Berlin.
AR: I saw her in Sardinia because I went there for the premiere.
VG: It’s lovely to see them grow. I’ve worked with little boys and girls and now they’re adults1 You see them after ten years and it’s like, what is going on? It’s very moving. When the children are good and intelligent especially, because sometimes you work with children they’re not interesting, they’re not good actors either, then sometimes you work with someone incredible, and Sara is a very curious creature. We had very different relationships because mine with her was a little bit more formal, whereas with Alba it was different.
Did you see shades of yourself in her from when you were that age?
VG: I was never that proper. She is so proper and so smart and so adult. She is like a little adult. At her age I was crazy! I was always trying to kill myself somewhere, it was like ‘grab the child!’
AR: She is responsible.
VG: Very responsible, and very smart. Silently…
AR: Present.
VG: Yeah, silently present.
The film has played on the festival circuit for some time – do you find it gets different reactions in different countries?
AR: Yeah! We were speaking today about how great American audiences are. They are always completely open. I’ve been to New York and it was the most beautiful screening because they react, they are open to the movie. Every little thing they love, but then they get sad in parts.
VG: It’s the way every country expresses their attention.
AR: It’s very interesting.
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