Four-year old Nana lives in a small house in the woods a stone’s throw from her grandfather’s pig farm. At first sight, an idyllic childhood. Then, one day, her mother disappears. The French photographer Valérie Massadian created this exquisite film, which won the prize for the best feature film debut in Locarno, from the headstrong toddler’s point of view.
Above all else, Nana’s secret lies in the casting of the toddler/lead. Valérie Massadian found her by accident. “I discovered Kelyna sitting in the street at the village market. She was almost three at the time and was shaking her baby sister around like a rag doll. ‘If you don’t stop now, no one will love you,’ she said, sternly. I immediately felt this great affinity with her. Strength and anger combined with this beautiful purity. I knew I’d found my Nana. Everything’s an adventure when you’re four . Life consists of challenges and victories. Understanding life is hard work for a child. I spent a lot of time with her and shot a total of 60 hours of material from which I could have easily distilled two more films. I still have unused takes of her talking to herself that last 20 – 40 minutes. Excerpts from a few of these ended up in Nana. For example, the scene with the dead rabbit. The footage of that scene lasts a really long time. Fascinating material that I may, one day, use for a video installation. We worked with a small crew. I only had the budget to engage five crew members for ten days. I shot the rest myself; sound and image at the same time. Everyone stayed at my house; my mum provided the catering. Only when Nana won in Locarno could I pay myself.”
Hypocritical
“I’d written a script beforehand, but that was only used to find financiers. We never opened it during shooting. It was only a vague guideline: a story about a girl, her mother and her grandfather. Initially, the grandfather was to be played by someone else
- by the man with the white hair who can now be seen helping out with the slaughter of a pig during the opening scene. The slaughterer Alain Sabras, who ultimately got the role is farmer we are friends with. Early on during shooting, I heard him chatting away to Kelyna on the communication system. He immediately had such a natural bond with her that I asked him to play the grandfather. I knew he was busy sowing, but I begged and promised him he wouldn’t have to learn any lines. I’m really pleased with that decision! At one point during shooting, Kelya was being a right pain and Alain softly pushed her aside, the same way a grandfather engaged in work would have done. A professional actor would have avoided doing something that’s not in the script. That scene made it into the film. I get a lot of comments about the opening scene. Many viewers consider filming a pig being slaughtered provocation. Unless you are a strict vegetarian, I think that’s too hypocritical a position to address. It’s not about animal abuse, the pig dies to feed three families for the winter.”
Expressive struggle
“At first, I wanted to play the mother because Kelyna and I had developed such an intimate bond. It’s weird really as I spent more time with her than with my own son. As a really young, single mother I work hard to make ends meet and so I never got the chance to talk to him in detail. No, he’s not jealous. He’s 20 and has left home. He did get to know Kelya pretty well and sort of views her as his kid sister. The mother in the film is played by Marie Delmas. I saw her in the street and asked her. Her body language is really expressive. I love how muscly she is and there is something hysterical about the way she moves which suits this role. Only later did I hear that she dances modern ballet and is a theatre actress. We argued a lot during shooting, but even that suited what I was looking for.”
Right timing
“Kelya is incredibly attentive. She sat in my lap when I first showed her the film. During the scene that she’s sat outside on a bench pretending to read and write, you can see her mother standing in the doorway in the background. I hadn’t noticed, but her mother’s hand makes an involuntary, subtle movement. ‘Look at her hand!’ Kelyna whispered triumphantly. ‘I think she’s a bit afraid of me.’ I managed to record her at the exactly right time in her life. She still has that animal thing about her, the earthy, positive thing really young children have. Quite soon after shooting she became self-conscious and changed from an instinctive animal into a little girl.”
Nana - Valérie Massadian
Tuesday 31 January 2012 16:45 Schouwburg Grote Zaal
Wednesday 1 February 2012 14:45 LantarenVenster 2
By: Elsbeth Jongsma