Looking At Ourselves With Love And Concern: Tadeusz Lysiak On His Short "The Dress"
Tadeusz Łysiak is the director of the award-winning short film, Techno. His latest film, The Dress, shares a story of a disabled woman who longs for companionship. This topical film which addresses the crucial topics of disability and intimacy has screened at over 25 film festivals including the Oscar qualifying Odense International Film Festival and Krakow Film Festival.
Lust, sexuality and physicality. These are the deepest desires virgin Julie suppresses while working at a wayside motel. That is until she crosses paths with a handsome truck driver, who soon becomes the objective of her fantasies.
The Dress has won multiple Awards including the Oscar qualifying Award at the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival. We had the pleasure of chatting with Tadeusz about the film, its origins, finding the right look and cast, and much much more!
How did the concept for The Dress originate?
I asked myself what I would like to change in the world as a young person and what I cannot stand in society. I immediately thought about how easily it is possible for people to reject someone because of their "otherness." I wanted to make a story about it and perhaps arouse emotions in viewers, ask them a question about the condition of our collective morality. Then I read an article on the internet about people of short stature and immediately realized that this was what my video would be about. Such a heroine would bring together everything I wanted to tell.
What interested you most about exploring the topics of intimacy and disability?
Intimacy or love are desires that concern the vast majority of us, they are universal and crucial to our existence, regardless of our sexual preferences, nationality, height, weight, skin color or religion. I live in Poland, where currently one can observe a very dangerous drive to impose on people what they should be like, who they have the right to love or what to do with their bodies. The story of a woman of short stature, who has the same desire for intimacy and love as all of us, and for some reason is rejected and condemned to loneliness, seemed to me a very powerful and important story.
Do you have a favorite scene or moment from the film?
There are several such scenes, but the one I like the most is the one in which Julia confides to her friend Renata about her hidden desires, sorrows and pain — it is a very intimate, sad moment in which we begin to understand how much Julia has been stifled by a ruthless society, how much she wants be loved and no one wants to pay attention to her just because she is short. The shooting of this scene was a very emotional experience for the entire crew.
How did you find your cast?
While writing the script, I knew that finding the right person to play the lead role would be the biggest challenge. However, I already had Anna Dzieduszycka in my head, because I had met her a few years earlier during one of the exercises I had done while studying at the Warsaw Film School. The only thing I was afraid of was whether she would want to play in this film, whether she would have time and whether she would cope with this difficult task. All these doubts were dispelled during our first meeting: Anna turned out to be an amazing person who immediately liked the script and agreed to play in it. I knew I had hit the jackpot. As for the other roles: I really wanted to recruit experienced, professional Polish actors. I contacted Dorota Pomykała and Szymon Warszawski — who agreed to star in the film and put an incredible effort into creating these important, key characters in the story.
How did you and your cinematographer Konrad Bloch arrive on the film’s aesthetics? What was the process of discovering the films final look?
I am very happy to have the pleasure of working with Konrad Bloch, who is one of the best cinematographers I know and whom I am privileged to be a friend of. Konrad is an incredibly sensitive, talented person who contributed a lot to this film. We thought for a long time how to approach the aesthetics of this film. Like a mantra, we kept repeating the phrase that we are not making a movie about a short woman, but simply about a woman per se. We decided that the camera would be the instance that does not judge a person due to their physical appearance, we wanted it to be a fair observer who would look into the protagonist's eyes and look for her beauty there. That is why we decided to avoid wide frames, we tried to be as close to the protagonist as possible, accompany her and make the film never go overboard and instead be a sensitive emotional portrait.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
I think of myself primarily as a storyteller. I used to think that I would do this by writing books — following in the footsteps of my father and grandfather — but I fell in love with cinema very quickly. Sometimes it is possible to convey more with the help of pictures than with words, in addition, the film combines literature, painting, photography, music and theater: it is the perfect tool for someone who likes to use art to talk to people and raise important topics. The Warsaw Film School helped me a lot in my studies — a brilliant place that teaches practice and theory of directing, cinematography, acting, sound design, editing and even creating video games. I believe that this is an amazing school, created with great passion and experience — for both Polish and foreign students. There are highly developed international studies at WFS, where young people from all over the world learn the filmmaking profession.
What films or filmmakers have inspired you, your style, or your approach to telling a story?
There are plenty of such films and directors, but if I had to choose only one, it would definitely be Stanley Kubrick, an absolute cinema genius and the best director ever born. Kubrick was able to see into people's minds, hidden desires and fears in an amazing way. I also love the films of Fincher, Haneke, Kieślowski, Scorsese, Tarantino ... It's very hard for me to say which of them influenced me the most. I try to look for inspiration in everything I watch, not just film: literature, painting ... Together with Konrad Bloch, when we prepare for the next project, we always open dozens of painting albums first and discuss what we associate with history. We are looking for cultural connections everywhere. That's why I love working with him.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
I would like us to start discussing what is bad in the world harder and more often. That we would stop looking at ourselves for the sake of our physicality, and finally demolish the strongholds of racism, sexism, homophobia and other prejudices and start looking at ourselves with love and concern. If my film contributes even in the slightest way to this, I will be the happiest man on Earth.
Do you have any future projects in the works that you can share with us?
I'm currently working on my feature-length debut, but so far I can't reveal too much. I only know that I will continue to try to delve into people's minds and raise questions about the condition of our world. If you ever watch my next film, remember that it's always a dialogue on my part, never a monologue.
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!