Hailed by the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival with “A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence”, the Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson stood out for its originality. It deciphers for us his particular signs.
A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence Roy Andersson finished his trilogy of living in beauty, praised by the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival last. Too often considered a UFO, the Swedish filmmaker sees through this award recognized his uniqueness as an asset. At 72, he’s encouraged to cultivate his particular signs. We have chosen a few of them, among the most decisive, and we have offered to comment on them.
Trailer” A pigeon perched on a branch that philosophizing about the existence ”
Filmmaker but first artist
Faced with a film by Roy Andersson, was regularly seem to see the work of a designer, who would have crunched stylized characters with a great graphic talent or photographer, reportedly composed of carefully illuminated images and staged. The filmmaking is for him a way to make other simultaneously and to express an artistic temperament overflowing.
A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence , Roy Andersson.
© Neue Visionen Filmverleih
“Before making the film, I wanted to be a writer. I loved Camus, I could recite by heart the start The Stranger I wish I could write a book like this. But from the late 50s and throughout the 60s, cinema was crossed by a great wave of revival: it started with the Russians and the Poles, the Czechs and the French New Wave s’ are also set, of course! It was a very exciting time. So I’ve changed my mind, I decided to abandon my writing projects and make movies. But I have not forgotten Camus: a scene from my film just The Stranger . This is where we see a man at the window, smoking a cigarette. A woman joins him. In the novel, the woman left but the man feels his presence while he watches the city. This is a fantastic description. Having chosen to make films, I still had to find my way to do. It took me years. I think my style is very close to painting. The most important paintings in the history of painting are overviews. There are very few big shots among the chefs-d’Oé piece. Sometimes found a close-up, the most famous is of course Mona Lisa . But the wide shots are more interesting and that’s what I do at the movies. My director’s philosophy is that space where a character says more about the character than his face. The environment, an apartment furnishings are revealing. Bergman thought his face said everything about the human being. I prefer to look at his room. “
filmmaker and comedian
If the title A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence smile, the film often laugh frankly. But never as a comedy. More internalized, more thoughtful, this laugh-out is a little one that can cause a drawing Sempé. It does not arise from a gag, but a look at the world, about life.
A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence , Roy Andersson.
© Neue Visionen Filmverleih
“Humor helps us to survive” . But since it is not a process, it is not easy to describe for the filmmaker. Just accept it he said that in addition to a personal disposition that drives him to the humor, he retained, in this field, the lessons of the films of the Czech New Wave, including Milos Forman and particularly Loves of a Blonde (1965). It is also a great admirer of Tati, but not however cite spontaneously. Finally laughter is not the strongest of the three films he designates as his main source of inspiration: “ The Bicycle Thief (1948) by Vittorio De Sica: c ‘ is the most humanistic film in cinema history. Viridiana (1961), Buñuel: the smartest film of the history of cinema. Hiroshima my love (1959) by Alain Resnais: it is the most poetic film in cinema history. “
Filmmaker of the human condition
Born in a working environment, in Gothenburg in 1943, Andersson puts his camera in front of the characters that tell ordinary life, in buildings of the Swedish HLM genre, in offices or cafes. What interests him is what brings people together, the common lot: boredom, difficulty to live, to find work in his latest film, and also the joy of living in what she has simpler, the pleasure of singing, drinking, exchange. In the company and its landmarks, its organization, sometimes absurd rules, he seeks the human and worries about his fate. A broad topic that he knows identified through very eloquent scenes, often funny but sometimes very dark too.
A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence , Roy Andersson.
© Neue Visionen Filmverleih
“I was young when, in the wake of the revival cinema, the people have expressed their desire for change, as the French in May 68. I also wanted to be on the barricades and fight against injustice in society. I looked for a new way of being a committed filmmaker left. I try to show through the characters of my films how the human being is vulnerable. It is vulnerable when he suffers and also when it hurts. It is vulnerable because it is weak and vulnerable because it believes strong and can be cruel. This is something sad but hopefully I describe humans with warmth. I felt all my life feel guilty thinking about the past, World War II, the Holocaust. I have not experienced this war but I feel the need of forgiveness, of reconciliation of man with himself. This is what is most important to me and that’s one of the things that I express in my new film. I’ll shoot another very quickly. It will talk about the world today, the chaos in our heads! People are struggling, they are not happy, but they are moving, watch is tragic and funny. This film speaks of infinity: life is inexhaustible, it is made infinitely many things, and in this infinite, people have problems! “.
Filmmaker and advertising
Even before the end of his film studies at the Dramatiska Institutet in Stockholm, Andersson had turned a commercial for a deodorant: the beginning of a successful career in the creative world of advertising, where his eye, his graphic talent, very visual, made fly (for example to sell an insecticide, brilliantly!). Advertising, which seems another way of being close to people’s lives, has made him a very popular director in Sweden. Moreover, this aspect of his work is less known, although it has, on occasion, worked for French, such as Air France and Citroën.
“I do not make difference between my work in the field of advertising and cinema. If I had had at the outset the means to finance my films and ride my production company, I probably would not turn as many commercials, but I liked doing that anyway. This helped me develop my style. The ads are usually 30 seconds I realized it was not very interesting to make cuts in such a short time. That is how I have come to turn advertising into a single plan. And I used this idea to the movies. I turned roughly 300 commercials and I regret maybe 3. “
Filmmaker patience
It will took fifteen years to Roy Andersson to complete his trilogy of living, started with Songs from the second floor (2000) that followed We live (2007). Time does not seem to pass for him as for other filmmakers and viewers of his films can be experienced: his plans-tables require a completely contemplative slowness. The way the design plays an important role: each table is a complete creation. Streets, buildings and sky included: everything is made in studio. Filmmaker fixed level, the count, the Swede is also a man of great works, building sites that install in time.
A pigeon perched on a branch philosophized about the existence , Roy Andersson.
© Neue Visionen Filmverleih
“My new film is made of 39 sets and 39 planes . He averaged takes me a month to complete each level: we built everything, we repeat, turn and then rebuild all destroyed a new setting, another plane. Each time, the shooting time is short: it is often only one day. But everything else is long, rehearsals are essential and therefore arrive at this one-month period of work a plan. So it took me four years to make this film. It’s long! My duty is to have confidence in my project and realize my film as I imagined, not losing patience. This is what it takes when you make films, patience! The filmmakers say they are short of money, time, and it’s true. But with patience, you always get what you want! “
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