Breaking The Cycle: Berangere McNeese On Her Short "Matriochkas"
Director Berangere McNeese is a Belgian/American director who wrote, directed, and produced her first short, The Sleep Of The Amazons, in 2015 which received Awards at national and international film festivals. Her latest film, Matriochkas, is her third short film, and it focuses on a young teenage girl who discovers she is pregnant.
Anna, sixteen, lives with Rebecca, her mother. Anna started to discover her own sensuality. When Anna learns that she is pregnant, her mother sees herself in her, at the same age.
This topical film has received numerous accolades including the CVB Best of the Festival Award at the 2020 Palm Springs International ShortFest, the 2020 Magritte for Best Short Film, the 2020 Best Foreign Film Award at LA ShortFest and the 2020 Grand Prize for Best Director at the Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival. We had the pleasure of chatting with Berangere about her film, its origins, finding the right cast, and much much more!
How did the concept for Matriochkas originate?
I mainly wanted to talk about a mother/daughter relationship, and how it can take many forms. I think it’s Simone de Beauvoir who said: “There is no such thing as maternal "instinct"; the word does not in any case apply to the human species. The mother's attitude is defined by her total situation and by the way she accepts it.”
As I see my friends become mothers, I realize that there are as many different mothers as there are women. And that’s not necessarily the way it’s portrayed in films. But I didn’t want the character of the mother to be guilty of anything; she’s very loving and tries her best as she is a very young mother and still behaves like a teenager now and then. That’s where I wanted to film to start. The fact that her daughter becomes pregnant herself was a way to close that cycle, that circle, unless the daughter decides to refuse to take the same path her mother took.
I really like the cleverness of the title, which refers to Russian nesting dolls. Was the title in the initial seeds of the project, or was it an a-ha moment you had later?
I can’t remember exactly where the idea came from, but I remember at one point changing the title on the script thinking that Matriochkas meant all I wanted it to mean. Because it really is the subject of the film. I thought the symbol was perfect to show the determinism that takes place. A mother who births a mother who births a mother… and how a young girl may want to break that cycle. It’s quite funny though, because the title often make the audience think the film is going to have some kind of Russian background — it really doesn’t !
What excited you most about telling this particular story?
I really wanted to bring nuanced, multi-layered characters to life, because that’s what I want to see when I watch a film. As individuals we can be so many different things. We’re capable of the best for the worst reasons but also the opposite; we can do so much harm out of love and wanting the best for someone, by projecting our needs and fears onto them, by not listening. So the challenge was to bring these characters to life in a way that wouldn’t let the audience define them as ‘good' or ‘bad,’ but rather as people who are clumsy, who try. That’s what makes me really passionate about film in general, I really believe it’s a beautiful medium for compassion.
How did you find your film’s cast?
I knew I wanted to work with Guillaume Duhesme — whom I had already worked with previously — and Victoire du Bois, as I had seen her work and found her perfect for the part — although it was very different from the part I was offering her.
As for the main part of Anna, I auditioned a number of teenagers across France and Belgium, and when I met Heloise, although it was her first audition, it was obvious I wanted to work with her. Everything about her was just sincere, and she was very mature at just 14 years old. I feel so lucky to have met her, as we learned so much on set together.
Let’s get nerdy and technical! Can you talk a bit about how you and cinematographer Olivier Boonjing achieved the film’s glossy look?
The most important thing we always keep in mind with Olivier — who has done the cinematography on most of my films — is to keep everything very light, to really keep the focus on the acting and what’s happening rather than the machinery. The film was shot on a Sony FS5 with Canon FD optics. I really wanted to bring an ambiance of the end of Summer, the end of childhood. I love his work and think he’s captured that perfectly.
Do you have a favorite scene or moment from the film?
I really love the scene where Nelson simply asks Anna if she’s OK, and that’s when she finally breaks down from all the pressure on her young shoulders. It was also a beautiful moment to shoot, because Heloise had never cried on camera before and we searched together, with Guillaume Duhesme who plays Nelson, and with the whole crew really invested in the scene. It was like trying to make her feel no pressure other than following her own emotions, and yet have everybody ready to catch whatever she was going to offer. I live for those little moments of magic.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
I started acting when I was a kid, and was lucky enough to never doubt about what it was I wanted to do. I still studied journalism on the side, because I found it interesting and a college education is really affordable in Europe, so I thought it was also a way to keep an eye on the rest of the world as the acting industry can be very self-focused. I started writing after my Masters degree, as a way to write parts that interested me and that I rarely saw onscreen; although, I only acted in one of my films. I directed my first short five years ago; Matriochkas is my third short-film.
What films or filmmakers have inspired you, your style, or your approach to telling a story?
I love filmmakers who love actors. The films I take the most away from are those who tell someone’s story and has the audience really believe in the character and what happens to them. That’s why I love films by [John] Cassavetes, but also the work of Shane Meadows (This is England) , Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, American Honey), and Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine).
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
That no matter which path you take in life, it’s yours and solely yours. That we all try our best, and that decisions are yours to make. And therefore, as a friend, as an ally, the first thing you can do is listen.
Do you have any future projects in the works that you can share with us?
I’m developing my first feature in France and have been working a lot as an actor these past months. 2020 has actually been weirdly busy, and I’m really grateful for that.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!