Anthem Magazine

An adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed play, Denis Villneuve’s Incendies tells the story of twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin and Maxim Gaudette) who are stunned to receive a pair of mysterious envelopes by the executer of their mother’s will—one to be given to the father they thought was dead and the other to a brother they never knew existed. To fulfill this enigmatic request, Jeanne and Simon comb their ancestral homeland and retrace their mother’s mazy, war-ravaged past. It’s a stunning journey through incredulity and catharsis to a dramatically resolving final act that’s truly worthy of Greek tragedy.

Take our word for it: Villeneuve is the real deal. After patient years of quietly building a name for himself on the international festival circuit with Polytechnique, Maelstrom, and August 32nd on Earth, his formidable directing talent is becoming increasingly sought after, and for good reason.

Anthem spoke to the Canadian director at Sundance (where he’s currently competing in the World Cinema Narrative category) on the eve of the announcement of his inclusion in this year’s Oscar race for the Best Foreign Language Film.

Incendies opens in limited release on April 1.

How important are festivals such as Sundance to you as a filmmaker?

You end up competing with a lot of other movies that perhaps have more money for publicity, so I think festivals are immensely important for smaller films. It helps smaller films get more recognition, and hopefully, it will generate good buzz. Sundance is a great opportunity for Incendies to be seen by large audiences. One of the big goals for filmmakers at a festival is to find distribution in different countries.

I wasn’t familiar with your work prior to watching Incendies and it completely blind sighted me. It really made me want to track down your past films.

I should warn you that my previous films are completely different than this one. You make mistakes when you’re young, so just keep that in mind if you end up watching some of my older stuff. [Laughs] But you should check out Polytechnique, at least.

What’s your background in film? How did you get to where you are today?

That’s a difficult question to answer. I think I wanted to make films since I was 10 years old, but I don’t remember exactly what the reasoning was behind that. It’s hard to pinpoint one particular moment in time, but maybe it was when I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember seeing that film and realizing how powerful cinema can be. In any case, I was very young when I realized I wanted to make movies. I studied science in college before getting into film though. I spent a year at Radio-Canada shooting 25 short documentaries around the world; that was my film school. I traveled around the world, alone, with just my video camera for a year.

How did your journey begin with this film? When did you first encounter Wajdi Mouawad’s play?

I first saw the play in May 2004. I remember sitting in the second row for its final performance at Le Theatre des 4 Sous. I was astonished by the emotional power of the story. I immediately jumped on Wajdi to get the rights for it. It took me several months to write the adapted screenplay and it took that long because I was shooting two features back-to-back during that time as well.

It was surprising to learn that the source material was a play. My first guess would have been that it was adapted from a novel because the story is so dense and intricate. How close is the finished film to the play it’s based on?

The main characters, the plot, and the dramatic structure are the same, but there were things that I had to change in order to make it more cinematic, obviously. I couldn’t use Wajdi’s staging because they belonged to the theatrical alphabet. When Wajdi agreed to give me the rights to make this film, he had two conditions: firstly, he wanted me to have total freedom to do everything that I thought was appropriate, and secondly, I would be alone on this journey because he was very busy. [Laughs] He really set the perfect perimeters for me to work on this adaptation. I was sent on a journey and told to be free and alone.

That’s wonderful. He must have trusted you a great deal.

Wajdi is a very generous man. I felt right away that even if the film ends up being a total failure, at least I got to meet this lovely man. [Laughs] He was really touched that I wanted to turn his play into a movie.

And what did he make of the finished film?

We haven’t had a chance to sit down and properly talk about the film together over coffee or a bottle of champagne yet; we’ve only exchanged a couple phone calls and emails. He’s always traveling, so it’s difficult to lock down a place where we can meet. I can’t really speak for him, but I can tell you that he was very generous with me and he was totally behind the project from day one. I always feel shy about putting words in his mouth… I know he was very happy about the two main actresses in the film. He told me that he was happy in the theater and when he walked outside after watching the movie, he was 100,000 times happier. I’m really looking forward to having a lengthy conversation with him about the film and I’ll let you know how that goes.

There are so many enigmatic elements to Incendies; one being that the story takes place in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Why?

I wanted the film to be heavily embroiled in politics, but mainly have it be apolitical. Ultimately, I wanted the politics to be so complex and intertwined that the viewers come to understand that it’s impossible to boil it down to black and white. I didn’t want to take sides, basically. It’s not about judging, it’s about showing. Wajdi warned me that if you get too specific with politics, it’s impossible to remain neutral. At the core, the film isn’t interested in exploring politics; it’s more about looking at human beings from an intimate point of view. I know next to nothing about the Middle East and I know nothing about war—I’m not from there.

Where did you shoot the film?

We shot in Jordan and a small segment in Montreal. Most of it was in Jordan. It was very difficult to pull this off in 40 days because there’s so much production design and such a big cast. We were running around all the time and it was a very tough shoot. I rewrote the screenplay at one point to only include the things that I knew I could fit into those 40 days. That’s why I often found myself thinking, “If this shot doesn’t work, we don’t have a movie!” [Laughs] It was stressful, but rewarding.

I’d be interested to know what the atmosphere is like on set for a film as emotionally draining as Incendies. What kind of environment do you nurture in order to get the most out of your collaborators?

I think it’s important for directors to know exactly what they want, but I also love it when crewmembers feel so confident about their ideas that they want to share it with you. You really have to love and take care of your crew. I don’t necessarily think that always gets you a good movie, but it will certainly let you do your job better.

Where did you find all of these incredible actors?

It was a very long process; it took more than a year to complete the casting. I held casting sessions in Canada to find Lubna Azabal, but later found her in Paris, actually. It also took a very long time to find Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin. As for the rest of the cast, there were some from the Middle East, specifically from Jordan and Iraq. A lot of the actors were amateurs and it was very exciting because they brought so much authenticity to the film. Lara Attala [Villeneuve’s casting director] wanted to bring on Iraqi refugees and offer them work. They shared so much of themselves with us.

Before I forget, I want to bring up Radiohead’s “You and Whose Army,” which is featured in the film several times. I remember watching the opening scene with that song and thinking, “This is what music videos could be like if they aimed for emotional power.” I was so incredibly moved by it.

That first scene is actually the first thing I wrote in the screenplay. “You and Whose Army” has the kind of emotions, melancholy, and a kind of operatic feeling to it that I wanted to capture in that scene. That song was written in the screenplay since day one, and I was always worried that I would never get the rights to it. It’s such a dream to have this song in the movie.

How did you convince Radiohead to give you the rights?

Radiohead told me that it wasn’t about the money; they just had to be sure that it was an appropriate film for the song. I don’t know whom, exactly, but someone from the band saw a rough cut of the film, liked it, and agreed to let me use the song. I don’t know which member or members of the band saw it, but I do know that they said, “Yes.” It was a huge gift. I was waiting by the phone for two weeks waiting to get an answer back from them. It was a beautiful moment when they called.

I couldn’t have thought of a more suitable song for this movie.

I’m so happy that you think that because honestly, not everyone I meet thinks that. Some people don’t like this idea.