Interview with French-Canadian director Éric Falardeau, who will talk to us about Thanatomorphose, his debut film in which the decaying body is a reflection of a dead soul, as stated by the director himself, is a "metaphor for the human condition."
Between decay and states of decomposition, Thanatomorphose poses an intense reflection on death and the relationship with one's body. Focused questions and comprehensive answers help to slip inside this intense "existential body-horror" to get to know him thoroughly.
With this film work Éric Falardeau comes close to Jörg Buttgereit's masterpiece, Nekromantik.
We take this opportunity to report the availability of the DVD of Thanatomorphose on Amazon.
L: Hi Éric, tell us about yourself.
É: I am a filmmaker from Montréal. I have directed several short films and a feature film, Thanatomorphose. I also have an extensive resume: lectures, publications, books, even a special effects art exhibition! I am multitasking!
L: What is your source of inspiration in film? What attracts you to horror?
É: Books and music occupy a lot of space in my life. Literature and music are my main sources of inspiration, and mainly books when I am involved in a film script. Most of the time it is a single sentence read that manages to fuel my imagination.
Like others, I am also very attracted to horror. I was born in a small town in northern Quebec. There wasn't much to do there, but we had a very good public television channel and my father made me watch a lot of movies. I discovered a lot of American and European classics by watching cable TV. I clearly remember the first time I saw Parker's "Angel Heart" and De Palma's "Phantom of the Paradise." The video library was very well stocked and you could find everything there: mostly horror and action films. This is probably the reason why I have a great sensitivity combined with a strong love for genre cinema.
L: Thanatomorphose is your first feature film. Why did you choose a theme like decomposition? Where did the idea for this film come from? Why a "body horror"?
É: The idea came to me simply from the research I was doing for my dissertation, which was based on bodily fluids in gore and porn. Then there is also my love for a certain kind of cinema that some people label as "arthouse horror" like the films of Jörg Buttgereit. I was also inspired by what I was feeling at the time, my state of mind. Often the first film focuses on what you know, what you feel. There is a lot of me in that film and in the main character.
L: Why do you call it an "existential body-horror"?
É: Because it is a film that uses the body in a graphic way as a metaphor for our human condition. My main goal was not just to show the gory parts, but to show all that they entail in relation to ourselves. I am not interested in bringing strong or disturbing images to the screen as an end in themselves or just for the sake of it. That way it would be boring. In my opinion, great horror films always use the body as an excuse to talk about something else, such as our fears and our human condition.
Thanatomorphose focuses on how a girl reacts to a physical state, a physical state that has its own meaning. The main question of the film is not "why," but "how": how will she react to what is happening to her? It is a film about the body seen as an object, a commodity. It is a film that shows the way we treat our bodies, how we part with them and reconnect with ourselves always through them.
It is an existential body-horror and as such I directed it.
L: Why structure it into three acts ("Despair," "Another," and "Oneself")?
É: Søren Kierkergaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" has had a huge impact on my work. The three-act structure of the film is taken directly from his "despair theory." Another influence was the books of French sociologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and scholar Louis-Vincent Thomas, who was instrumental in the transformation of thanatology as a science and field of study. His books are outstanding because they focus not only on states of the decomposition process, but also on psychological and anthropological ones.
L: The term Thanatomorphose means the process of decomposition caused by death. In your film you bring to the scene precisely this process of putrefaction. What do you think about death? Have you studied the five stages of human decomposition?
É: In fact, I studied the decomposition process. But I wanted to go deeper. As I researched I found that there are different states of mind in the grieving process, either when you've lost someone or you know you're going to die. One of the typical reactions that a lot of people tend to have is an increased libido to counterbalance the impending death, which is very interesting when working in the horror genre. It's as if life is fighting death to the end.
L: The main character (Kayden Rose) accepts her bodily deterioration because she does not try to ask for help. She seems to love her dying body. Love for one's rotting body is similar to necrophilia. Is there some necrophilia in Thanatomorphose? What do you think about the sexual attraction to corpses?
É: For me it's not about necrophilia, it's about how we accept the things that happen to us without doing anything, how we don't respect ourselves and wonder without a purpose in life. She was already dead inside. Her body is just reacting to this, and as she is no longer able to control her body, feeling it go away slowly makes her self-aware once again, regaining contact with life. But it is already too late. And for me it was important that the main character in my film, who died inside (in a similar way as in the L'Etranger by Albert Camus), slowly coming back to life as his body decomposes. His very materiality makes one aware of his existence, and this was one of the many aspects I wanted to explore in the film.
L: Were there any problems for Kayden Rose in playing this part? She was always naked and covered with fluids (and also worms)....
É: It was difficult for her, but she is a true professional. Sometimes, toward the end of the shoot, she had to be covered in make-up and liquids for 15, 16 hours and much longer! But we decided to use this to our advantage. Her body looks tired and it shows on the screen. That's the effect you can't get any other way. He did an incredible job.
L: Can you tell us about the perfect and disturbing special effects?
É: We had 2 special effects artists. David Scherer (Theatre Bizarre, Chimères) was our practical effects artist. He is French so he came to Montréal for the shoot. He did an incredible job on a shoestring budget. He is very creative and knows how important editing and photography are for good special effects. As the film is divided into 3 acts, we designed three styles of make-up ranging from simple makeup to body prosthetics. David Scherer is the new big name in this field. He is the future Savini and De Rossi. He has energy and talent.
We also worked with Rémy Couture (Inner Depravity, Art/Crime) who took care of the fluids (blood, pus, etc.) and some prosthetics while David took care of all the decomposition effects and set work.
L: What about the mournful music of the funereal composer Rohan Kriwaczek?
É: Music and sound are very important tools. They can be a character, enhance or give the film its own mood, appeal to the viewer's imagination and surround the viewer, unlike the image on a screen in front of him. Music and sound influence the body.
I was already looking for sad and highly evocative music before I found Rohan's recordings. I came across "Guild of Funerary Violins" a couple of weeks before we started filming. Funerary violin music is hauntingly evocative, powerful, melancholy and solemn. It is strongly connected to romantic music, offering fantastic delicate and mournful chords. It fits perfectly with the rhythm, aesthetic and subject of the film. "Guild of Funerary Violins" is simply charming, rich in sound and fury. It also perfectly complements the themes of the film: death, sadness, mourning.
L: While watching Thanatomorphose, I thought of Nekromantik because of the dark and funereal atmosphere, the powerful and disturbing vision of death. Did this German film influence your film? What did you think of Nekromantik?
É: Buttgereit is one of my favorite directors. I don't compromise on that, for me his films are a true example of what independent horror cinema should be: intriguing, thought-provoking, uncompromising. He is one of those rare artists who has really elevated a film genre. I really admire his films, and my favorite is definitely Nekromantik II. It is a very mature film, full of depth and meaning. A masterpiece.
L: What are your film influences?
É: Many. Of course, there is Cronenberg and Buttgereit. I also love the films of Ozu Yasujiro, Joseph Losey and Dario Argento. Among contemporary directors I am a fan of Kim Ki-Duk, Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, Nicolas Winding Refn and Wes Anderson. There are also films that I watch over and over again such as Phantom of the Paradis, Angel Heart, Hellraiser, The Servant...
L: What are your future plans? Is there a possibility of another body horror of yours?
É: I am working on a couple of projects at the moment. Basically I'm co-writing a book on erotic cinema, raising funds to shoot an experimental short film, and writing two feature films. I'm very busy! I would also like to be hired to direct a screenplay that is not mine. I'm looking forward to it. So if you are a producer looking for a director, I am available!
L: Leave a message for the DarkVeins community!
É: Thank you for reading this interview! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed doing it. Keep supporting independent cinema! Greetings!
L: Thank you for your time Éric!
