Interview by Eric Hillis
Writer/director Christian Petzold teams up with actress Paula Beer once again for Miroirs No. 3. The film sees Beer play Laura, a depressed young woman who survives a car crash that claims the life of her boyfriend. Laura is taken in by a local woman who treats her like a daughter, creating tension with her estranged husband and son.
We spoke with Petzold about his new film and his collaborative relationship with Beer.
Like 2014's Phoenix, Miroirs No. 3 is another film that features a dual identity theme. The protagonist, Paula Beer's Laura, seems content to leave her life behind and play the role of surrogate daughter to Barbara Aueur's Betty. There are shades of Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo in how Laura allows herself to be refashioned in the image of a dead woman. Why do you think this idea continues to inspire so many filmmakers? Is it perhaps because it mirrors the working relationship between a filmmaker and their actors, whom they essentially transform into an idealised image in their head?
With my friend and collaborator Harun Farocki we had the idea to change the points of view in stories and movies we love. That means, for example: to tell the story of Vertigo from the position of Kim Novak. Or we tell the story of Undine not from the position of male subjectivity and desire. We tell it from the point of view of Undine. We wanted to tell the story of a woman who is not the object of male fantasies. Undine is a woman who wants to be the subject. Who wants to love by herself. Self will.
The central idea of Laura stumbling across a surrogate mother reminded me of Georges Lautner's 1970 film Road to Salina, in which Robert Walker's young drifter plays along when Rita Hayworth believes him to be her missing son. Both movies also use their rural setting in a similar way, creating the sense that despite being a short drive from a major city, the location exists much further away from society. Both films are also centred around a garage, much like Visconti's Ossessione. Your movie is very different from Lautner's in both its tender tone and how you tease out the details, but was Road to Salina an influence?
I don't know Launtner's movie. Sounds interesting. The idea of using a garage has something to do with Ossessione. People who work at petrol stations and garages, the world passes them by but they have to stay, they can't leave. They are dreaming, but never realise their dreams…
Laura embraces being able to essentially disappear, and it seems key that her cellphone doesn't appear to survive the accident. In their garage, Richard and Max make a sideline removing GPS trackers from cars, allowing their drivers similar freedom and anonymity. Are you concerned that the modern world is increasingly making it difficult for us to get lost?
She had lost her cellphone in the opening scene in the moment in front of the water, where the ferryman of death is passing her. In that moment she wants to leave the world…
Miroirs No. 3 is your fourth collaboration in a row with the great Paula Beer. Do you feel this sort of working relationship makes things easier, as actor and director fall in sync, or does it present a challenge when it comes to ensuring each new performance from the returning actor feels fresh?
The funny thing is, or, it is not so funny, that both actors (Beer and Phoenix star Nina Hoss) are getting more and more independent from me. They are not "my creatures". No Pygmalion any more. At the end I was released too.
When we first see Laura she is gazing into a river as though she's contemplating submerging herself in its waters. Was this a self-referential nod to Beer's role in Undine?
Paula asked me, why she is in every movie of our collaboration near the sea, or water, and I had to think. I remember a lecture of Agnes Varda where she talked about the beach, the borderline between land and sea, and that there is the origin of human history and evolution.
Did you name the doomed boyfriend Jakob as a reference to Jurek Becker's novel 'Jakob der Lügner', which was adapted for the screen by Frank Beyer in 1974? Like Becker's tale, your film explores the idea of whether a lie can be justified if it appears to have a positive impact.
Jakob, the name, means shelter. In our story he is the opposite of this. In Beyer's movie the people believe him, desperately. Here Laura had lost this belief.
Music plays a key role in Miroirs No. 3, which takes its title from a piece played by Laura at one point. Back in my DJing days I always got a great reaction when I played Frankie Valli's 'The Night', so I was delighted to hear you use it twice here. But the musical moment I found most intriguing was Chopin's Prelude No. 4 in E Minor, which Laura plays for her surrogate family. Chopin's piece formed the backbone of Jane Birkin's song 'Jane B', which is about a young woman who disappears and is later found dead by the side of a road. Was this curious connection conscious or merely coincidental?
Coincidental, but I know 'Jane B' very well. Therefore, perhaps there is no coincidence.
Can you tell us anything about your next film? Am I correct in believing it will see you reunite with both Paula Beer and Nina Hoss?
It is not the next movie. I am working on a movie with both of them but they don't know anything about this project, and because I babbled it out during an interview in New York I am afraid to meet them in Berlin. I am sure they don't like to hear about that from the press. As I mentioned, they are really independent. And really proud.
Miroirs No. 3 is in UK/ROI cinemas from April 17th.