Interview with Luciano Onetti, Argentine director who last year directed Deep sleep (here is our review), a film that pays homage not only to the Italian giallo but also to our country. This time the questions will focus on Francesca, the new film that Luciano Onetti co-wrote with his brother Nicolas that will have its world premiere at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival. Luciano Onetti defines Francesca as a "traditional" detective story, a film that harkens back to the genre by giving it life and vigor and creating a kind of continuity with it.
We leave the link to our first interview made to Luciano Onetti last November and in which you will find information about his previous film. Here instead you will find the official trailer of Francesca.
L: Hi Luciano, thank you for giving us some of your time! I interviewed you last year and in the interview we talked about "Deep Sleep," your first feature film. Today, on the other hand, I would like to know more about "Francesca," your new film, which, like the first one, belongs to the mystery genre.
L.O.: Hi Barbara, it is my pleasure to answer your questions.
Francesca is the new film I wrote together with my brother and, in our opinion, it is a murder mystery in its own right. It is difficult to talk about influences or homages, because those are very broad words for such a special genre. Undoubtedly, the giallo is a genre thanks to which it is easy for critics to think that whatever film is made in this period pays homage to the films of the 1970s. It is curious about this fact, because it does not happen with other genres, probably because the giallo is very original in form and also because this genre seems to have been locked with a thousand locks in the 1980s, so it was not possible to continue despite several attempts made recently. Our idea was not to revive the detective story but to follow up on that now paralyzed timeline.
In fact, we can say that Francesca is a giallo-influenced film, although I consider it a giallo film in every sense of the word. It is not experimental and does not belong to the new giallo because, everything that is called new nowadays is a trend that tries to revive something traditional, under the influence of different genres, resulting in a product that is apparently new but is the result of a mixture. Nowadays, thanks to all the innovations, some small details of the genre are added and thus the new wave called "new yellow" (neo yellow in English) is consolidated. This genre includes the film The Strange Color of your Body's Tears. Thanks to this premise, one can cultivate the ability to approach the (seemingly lost) genre by taking some elements of the traditional detective story, such as for example the use of zoom, large close-ups, colors, among others, to remember that they belong to what was at one time the detective story but the differences are palpable. It is clear that the new yellow will never have the importance that the traditional genre has. Francesca Is a traditional detective story.
L: Like "Deep Sleep," "Francesca" is another homage to Italy, isn't it? Why the title "Francesca"?
L.O.: As I mentioned before, I agree that it is a tribute to Italy. Not only because of the film itself but also because of the setting and also because the dialogue is in Italian. I think we respected the genre to the fullest and also the place where it was born.
At first we thought it would be better to have a long title, just like in the style of the films of the time. In fact, we thought of something like, "The Black Colored Veil of the Girl in Red" or "She Kills in a Red Dress."
Then we thought about the fact that Francesca is a strong name and one that would represent the story of the film from beginning to end. In addition, it is a film in which the Divine Comedy and Francesca is the name of one of its songs, and at one moment in the film, music by Tchaikovsky is heard: Francesca di Rimini.
L: Very interesting Luciano... Could you make a comparison between Deep Sleep and Francesca?
L.O.: Francesca is the opposite of Deep sleep. Deep sleep presents the detective story in a different way that, in my opinion, has never been done, that is, it tells a story from the killer's perspective while leaving out the detective side. Instead, Francesca is a combination of both but it leverages the detective aspect, so the subject matter is much more elaborate, there are suspenseful, disturbing scenes, more crime, and then there are hypnotic scenes that I couldn't resist. In my opinion, detective stories somehow show a trauma from the past-I like to show the psychedelic mental side, the side that might belong to a criminal. I hope not to mine... ahahahahahah... We believe there has been growth in many senses and we hope to continue to grow.
L: Tell us a little bit about the filming of "Francesca" -- from the trailer it looks like it was shot in Italy, just like Sonno Profondo.
L.O.: The filming of Francesca were all done in Argentina, in our city Azul. It is a small town that has a lot of art places. Many people who saw the trailer thought it was shot in Italy, and many people in Azul didn't realize it was made there. We're glad we did a good job since we were able to transform so many modern places and change the setting of a city into a 1970s paradigm.
We would have loved to shoot in Italy, it would have been much more real but right now we can't afford it. There are so many problems to deal with and we are aware that we still have to break down the walls that make you see how far your limits go as a director and as a producer. We experienced this as a test of our abilities.
L: What can you tell us about the cast and the music? The latter is reminiscent of Goblin music....
L.O.: Choosing the cast, the actors, was a very long process. We looked for people who had the physical appearance similar to the characters described in the story. We wanted to find faces that fit the 1970s. Just as they are seen in the film, so they are in real life, there was no makeup work during the filming to make them look like they were from that era. This was a very positive thing for our film because everything looked much more real. If we add to that the locations, we really felt like we were in the 1970s during the filming of the movie, and that is exactly what the viewer will feel when they see Francesca.
With reference to music, there are compositions that bring to mind Goblins. In Deep sleep, music played an important role, instead being Francesca a film with dialogue, the music takes a back seat. The music may recall Bruno Nicolai, Ennio Morricone, and at other moments precisely Goblin. In Francesca music is heard more at certain important and critical moments. We think the surprise effect in viewers will be aroused by the setting. The production work is impeccable.
L: What would you call Francesca?
L.O.: Francesca is a traditional detective story and will appeal to fans of this genre. We believe it will also delight those who are not familiar with the detective story, because it has a strong story and because it has so many aspects that will surely steal their attention. We hope that viewers will help us with this film to open those locks with which the detective story has been locked up all these years.
L: What are your future plans? Do you plan to make more films belonging to the mystery genre?
L.O.: The future can sometimes be uncertain. We have many other projects besides having a new detective story in mind. First we would like to improve our technical side so that we can offer something better, for example from a quality point of view, by changing the film format. We would love to shoot on 35 mm but we know that is very far from our realities. You have to know that we do not have any outside financial help and it becomes very difficult. I would love to have a nice camera and other things to be able to work better in staging. I would like to have nice equipment. If a mechanic does not have his iron box well equipped, he can never make a good repair
Fortunately, my brother and I have a good base, we see each other often, and new ideas are always coming out of our meetings, not only in the world of detective films. Gradually we are accumulating a lot of experience making films in this genre, and this is perhaps preparing us for the future to make films in other genres.
L: Thank you Luciano, as always you are very kind and your answers are very satisfying!
L.O.: Thank you Barbara for the interview. It was an immense pleasure for me.
I thank my friend Silvina Grippaldi for the translation.
