Born in 1977, J茅r么me Bonnell studied film at the University of Saint-Denis in Paris. After completing a trio of shorts, he makes his full-length feature debut with the ensemble drama "Le Chignon D'Olga" - having shot the film at the tender age of 23.
What was the inspiration for "Le Chignon D'Olga"?
It's mysterious. At the beginning I wasn't certain what story I was going to tell. The first idea that came to mind was the link between the characters of Alice and Julien, who are childhood friends who grow up together, and who have stayed very close. I also wanted to pay a homage to one of my favourite films, Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus". A long time after this I realised that I was dealing with the subject of a family which was grieving.
And why the title "Le Chignon D'Olga"?
I liked the title because I think it's a good illustration of how Julien is feeling at this time of his life. He's lost his mother, he's at the end of his teenage years, and he doesn't want to play the piano anymore. He falls in love with Olga, a girl behind a shop window. He doesn't know her. She's an image, a fantasy. As for the chignon, I personally find the neck of a woman very erotic.
You assembled a very talented cast, but apparently you didn't use a casting agent...
I didn't. Instead I spent a lot of time meeting actors. Rather than see 20 or 30 people in a day for ten minutes each, I'd meet actors individually in a cafe and spend an hour with them. I'd tell them about the film, and I'd get to know a bit about them before I auditioned them. I'd already worked with Nathalie Boutefeu, who plays Alice, on one of my short films.
The film evokes a strong sense of summer in a sleepy small town. Where did you actually set it?
I wanted to show a place in France, where people don't go on holiday. It's a small town near Chartres, about 60 miles south of Paris. To me the empty streets and atmosphere of nonchalance goes with the feelings of the character at this moment in his life, because Julien is aimless. It's as though time has stopped.
How did you want the film to look?
I wanted to keep a certain distance from the actors. That's why there are very few close-ups in the film, which worried my producer when he watched the rushes. It's not that I don't love close-ups - they can be so beautiful - but you should use them sparingly. In John Ford's "The Searchers", I think there are just three close-ups in two hours. They're great, because there are so few of them.
Although the subject-matter of "Le Chignon D'Olga" is quite dark, there's a real lightness of tone to the film...
People who are grieving don't necessarily feel bad all the time. Their suffering goes along with their everyday life, where funny things can still happen. Some of my favourite directors, like Fran莽ois Truffaut and Jean Renoir, made films that were simultaneously light and tragic.
