PEDRO: The title came at the end. I told Anne-Bruce that I would like the title Danse Macabre for the film . Then I met Robert (Lepage) and he suggested the same title without knowing my intention.
HYE: I know, you’ll have to answer this again and again but I am curious as to how long it took for this project to come to fruition from the original idea to post-production. The fact that so much is accomplished in 8.5 min is a testament to some really great editing skills.
PEDRO: Or some real perseverance because it took two years to make that 8 minutes film. That was mainly because we had to wait for authorisation to film in those locations. We were working like documentarists. We were shooting in morgues, embalming labs, with real bodies, real blood. And that’s what is in the movie. One of my main goals was to be able to blend that reality perfectly with the dance performance. To make something unique.
PEDRO: Initially I thought it could be interesting to see the preparation of the washing in fast forward. Then I realized that the removing of her clothes could be seen as digging deeper in her past and I then insert 2 or 3 photos of her childhood to pop that idea. I then put a sharp “photo-shutter” sound to accentuate the work of the scissors that cut her clothes.
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| From L-R: Anne Bruce Falconer (Choreographer & Cast), Pedro Pires (Director), and Catherine Chagnon (Producer). Photo by HyeM. |
HYE: Can you share a bit about the cast and the choreography? Did you make any suggestions as director as to how you wanted things to flow or did you let Anne decide that? The movements are indeed a ballet piece set to opera.
PEDRO: I was very selective about what choreographic elements could be in the film and what couldn’t. Anne-Bruce came out with a lot of great ideas after working with Robert (Lepage) a year before I started on the project, but once I decided that I wanted some sort of realism, we had to cut a lot. And I was obsessed by the idea of a very slow, last movement or last breath of that cadaver and every movements that was too “danced” or intentional was removed. Anne-Bruce cast herself in that role, as she initiated the project, and I must say that I don’t think it could be a better cast. Even the funeral director André Fournier, whose work also includes embalming corpses on daily basis said he was amazed by the “dead” appearance of Anne-Bruce in the film.
PEDRO: That piece also came at the end. I first tried with some Gyorgy Ligeti atmospheric work and it turned instantly into a horror movie. It was your worse nightmare of being embalmed alive! Then everything more peaceful turned out to be too sentimental until I tried that piece of Callas. Suddenly, it seems probable that this piece could be heard by the radio in the lab first, then it gives an almost religious side without being too sentimental, I thought. I also liked the fact that it was a female voice. And what a voice!!
HYE: I just wanted to say that I have seen many films on death and yours, albeit short, really resonates. I like its commentary; its visuals; the whole composition… It’s life’s operatic ending, I think.
PEDRO: I’m really happy that you liked the film. Thank you.
