cinéwomen/15
I actually had a version with music. Also the music was beautiful it did not suit the mood of the movie. I thought it was disruptive and forced the audience to feel a certain way. So instead I relied on sound design which in my opinion is more subtle and suits “Remains” better. I used it in a very creative way especially when it comes to the part where Eva discovers who her mum was by visiting her flat: wind, waves crashing, birds… Given the mother’s interests it made sense to me. At the end to accentuate this southing and freeing feeling you can hear birds, kids playing on the soundtrack. The sound design is not too obvious and I think it work on a more subliminal level. In the Director's Statement, you focus on the relationship between the characters and their spaces. Can you introduce our readers to this
fundamental idea behind Remains? It was really important to show the characters inhabiting their spaces. In “Remains” I saw the spaces as a representation of their emotional states. Especially for Mona that is so trapped in her past but also for the mother. Her flat was meant to say who she was. It was a representation of her. With Chris the Director of Photography, we decided to shoot 2:35 in terms of aspect ratio. It did require more attention to dress the set, but it was the solution to show the relation between characters and the spaces they were evolving in. This aspect ratio also helped us to accentuate the loneliness Mona and Eva felt as they were lost in a bigger frame. The whole film takes place in interiors which can give the claustrophobic feeling