Patrice Toye © Kris Dewitte
Patrice Toye studied film at the St Lucas Institute in Brussels, from which she graduated in 1990. She proceeded to make several short films, documentaries and television programmes.
Her debut feature Rosie was released in 1998 and received great commercial and critical acclaim internationally. It was distributed in the USA, France and Japan amongst many other countries and was selected and awarded at prestigious festivals worldwide.
In 2005 she directed the television film Gezocht: man that was screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
She has just finished her second feature (N)iemand, which has already been awarded the Sundance / NHK International Filmmakers Prize and is personally supported by Wim Wenders.
FILMOGRAPHY AS A DIRECTOR
Feature Films
1998 ROSIE
Film sold to 12 countries: USA, Japan, Italy, Mexico, France, Germany, Netherlands and all Scandinavian countries
Selected at International Film Festivals including : Toronto, Berlin, Valladolid, Thessaloniki, Gent, Vancouver, New York, Angers, Mulhouse, Bergamo, Sochi, Helsinki, Edinburgh, Montreal
Awards :
- Best Director, Ghent – Flanders Film Festival, Belgium 1998
- André Cavens Critics Prize, Belgium 1998
- Best Actress, “Premiers Plans” Film Festival of Angers, France 1999
- Best Picture of the Year, Critic’s Award, Norway 1999
- Best Director of the Year, Critic’s Award, Norway 1999
- Best Picture of the Year, Mulhouse Film Festival, France 1999
- Audience Award, Bergamo Film Festival, Italy 1999
- New Director’s Award, Seattle Film Festival, USA 1999
- Award for Best Picture , European Film Festival of Ludwigsburg, Germany 1999
- Joseph Plateau Awards (National Belgian Film Awards) for Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture, 1999
Television Films
2005 GEZOCHT : MAN
Film for the TV channel, Teleac (The Netherlands)
Selected at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, The Netherlands 2005
1997 L’AMANT DE MAMAN
Film for the TV channel, Lolamoviola (Belgium / The Netherlands)
Short films
1992 VROUWEN WILLEN TROUWEN
Joseph Plateau Award (Belgian national film awards) for Best Belgian Short, Belgium 1993
1992 ALTIJD ANDER WATER
FILMOGRAPHY AS A SCRIPTWRITER
2006 THE SPRING RITUAL
Written in collaboration with Bjørn Olaf Johannessen
Sundance / NHK International Filmmakers Award
Currently known as ‘(N)iemand’
2005 TIN SOLDIER
Screenplay for a feature film, based on a book by Gustav Herling and supported by the Dardenne Brothers
There was a long interval between Rosie and (N)iemand. Was it due to production issues, or was it because you deliberately chose to take a rest, to let things ripen, so to speak?
I have been living, for one thing. I became the mother of some darling daughters with whom I wanted to spend a lot of time, I wanted to make choices, I learnt a lot and I grew wiser – at least I hope I did (laughs). But I did direct one or two smaller projects in the meantime.
But there is more, of course. Rosie was very well received when it came out and I was afraid of having to compete with my own film. I did not want to repeat myself, so I threw myself into various projects and ended up with two fully-fledged screenplays, which never got off the ground. And then, one day, I met Bjørn Olaf Johannessen at a scriptwriting workshop. His vision and ideas were challenging and so I decided to work together with him, and we wrote (N)iemand. On top of that, and completely unexpectedly, it won the Sundance / NHK Award for best European script. And then things moved rapidly. Suddenly, there were financers – the Flemish Audiovisual Fund, the French Community of Belgium, as well as the Dutch and Norwegian film funds – they were all interested. But now, (N)iemand is finished and is already behind me. I have so many new ideas to move on to. It will not take ten years for a new film again, rest assured – or should I say, be warned (laughs).
Rosie and (N)iemand are radically different in every possible respect – in tone, in plot and subject matter…
There’s two reasons for that. First, Rosie really was my own child; it came from deep within me. (N)iemand is a co-scripted project, so there is another view next to mine, and what is more, is that the other writer wrote the original story. Bjørn is Norwegian and I was fascinated by his bone-dry humour and by his conceptual method of thinking. He and I are totally different. I am rather impulsive, whereas he would sit back and think the story all over. My main focus was the characters, whereas his were the metaphorical and narrative structures. That caused an interesting creative tension between us and I felt compelled to look beyond the limits of what was familiar territory to me. Another thing that mattered was that I absolutely wanted to avoid making a Rosie - the sequel, neither in the narrative, nor in the form and structure. I recently read a statement by Picasso, saying that it is every artist’s duty to renew himself and push back frontiers on every new project. And that is exactly how I feel, even though I suppose that the artist’s personality should remain recognizable behind all that thematic and stylistic search and experiment. Something like an artistic DNA will always be identifiable. Still, repeating oneself is simply all too easy. Of course, I still back Rosie 100%, but I hope that this film stays with you even long after you have seen it. Exploring the limits of my film language and working together with different temperaments, such as Bjørn’s, has taught me a lot about myself, both as a human being and as a filmmaker.
The theme is existential and painfully recognizable.
It is confrontational, too. During the pre-production period, when people heard what the project was going to be about, everybody - that is, those over thirty (laughs)- reacted in much the same way: “Yes, I have thought and dreamt about that too - to begin a new life if that was possible…” Well, how do you deal with that? Some go through a midlife crisis, others learn how to handle it, and my main character simply steps out, he actually does it. You know, I don’t mind growing older, but what I do mind is that the options seem to fade away one by one. The path grows narrower. You become aware of your mortality and begin to ask yourself questions. Is this all there is? Why is everything so trivial and boring? What would it be like if...? You are sitting in your nice house, with your fantastic wife or perfect husband. And that’s it. Within the standards of society, our main character has been successful in life. But Tomas wants more, he wants to find some sort of harmony in his life. He wants to be revived. That is what appealed to me most in this story and that is also why I wanted to co-write it… probably to give it a try without having to turn my own life upside down (laughs). But I hope that it will also work the other way: Tomas gains his freedom but realizes that his personal ambition is at odds with the happiness of those who are dear to him. And what is worse, he does not find new happiness where he thought he would find it. I do not believe that you have to climb to the other side of the hill to find solutions to your problems or to break out of a rusty life, although this is certainly not a moral point that I want to explicitly make in this story. It may sound a bit old-fashioned, but I think that saying “Count your Blessings” every once in a while will do no harm. However, things have to keep itching nevertheless. The craving for the Other is an important motive to question oneself continuously and to reinvent oneself. It is this ambiguity that makes it all so complex and exciting at the same time, and that causes us, “midlife criminals”, to cut weird capers sometimes.
You have decided to work with Frank Vercruyssen and Sara De Roo once again. Is that because they are both excellent actors, perfectly cast, or has this something to do with confidence? Like the way Fassbinder relied on the same crew for all his projects?
I am sure confidence was one of the elements involved. I feel comfortable with Frank and Sara. We’ve come a very long way together. I know what they have gone through over the past ten years and they know just as much about me. And that creates a tight bond. We can be honest with each other without sounding aggressive or artificial. Half a word will do. I understand perfectly why Fassbinder worked with the same team every time. But Frank and Sara are, of course, excellent actors, too. I thought they were the ideal actors for the parts. I know I would not have asked them to do the film if they were not really fit for the characters.
Frank’s character demands some efforts from the viewer’s part. Not only does the entire story revolve around that one selfish decision that makes it difficult for the viewer to identify with him, but his temper itself, and his stubbornness do not really provoke empathy…
We have taken risks and made bold choices which are far from evident or goody-goody. We have consciously tried to find out how far an anti-hero could take us. That makes it, I think, exciting, but also necessary for the third chapter of the story, where he goes through a catharsis, that, I believe, does provoke sympathy or at least an understanding for the choice he had made. His acting style remains consistently austere, so that in the end, the character gradually becomes moving.
Exactly, dead pan, much in the way Buster Keaton depicted his characters. For Frank you deliberately choose to set a dry-comical tone in the opening scene. Operating instructions disguised as a sketch…
It is like putting on glasses, to prepare for what will happen next and to understand it. You do not have to agree, but you will sense his oppression. The scene is also excruciatingly long, intending to open the story slowly at first, like a diesel engine so to speak. Have it warm up quietly at first, and then full throttle ahead.
The film’s cinematography is quite different from what we are used to seeing in cinemas nowadays – and from what we saw in Rosie too: the camera is held very close to the characters.
Definitely. The camera work was deliberately kept austere, to be in tone with the dry-comical and somewhat absurd story. We talked about that constantly: “It has to be in one piece”. Not only in the script, but also in the visualisation and the elaboration. During the preparation, I watched a number of classics – especially Antonioni, whom, I admire very much – and whom, by the way, I do not presume to compare myself to!
In this film, you chose to work with tableaux: wide landscapes or palm trees that look far from paradisiacal…
That is correct. The idea was to have the landscapes tell something, too. To create the drama not only by means of close up shots, but literally to take a distance. In that sense, Richard (van Oosterhout / cinematographer) and I wanted the spaces and landscapes to play a dramatic role. The suburbs had to evoke different associations than those they usually do, and a palm tree was to look like anything but exotic. We turned all that is usual inside out.
Is that the reason why at certain points you insert dream sequences? Was it your intention to suggest parallel worlds?
Yes, but in a subtle way, I hope. During the time of shooting, I was reading a lot of Murakami, who also discusses questions of life and death… A man who goes in search of his wife and does not only get into all kinds of strange situations, but even ends up in a world of metaphors. As a reader, you are constantly wondering what is real, and what is a symbol for something else. And I find that very appealing. In the film, I also wanted those scenes to melt into one another so as to prevent the viewer from being aware whether this is a dream, or whether I merely took a surrealistic side-road. This is one story, but there is more than one layer. That is also the way I look at the world. Images and situations in my mind are to me as real as reality. But in the film, they are also existential excursions.
At last someone who calls the protagonist “a special man” and notices that something has just happened to him… That is what we all want, isn’t it, a soul mate who can instantly read your mind?
Interview by Jos Vandenbergh
2008 Linkeroever (Pieter Van Hees)
2008 De smaak van de Keyser (Jan Matthys & Frank Van Passel)
2006 Koning van de Wereld (Guido Henderickx) (TV series)
2004 Guernsey (Nanouk Leopold)
2003 Matroesjkas (Marc Punt) (TV series)
2002 Any way The Wind Blows (Tom Barman)
2000 Penalty (Pieter van Hees), Villa des roses (Frank Van Passel)
1998 Rosie (Patrice Toye)
1996 Alles moet weg (Jan Verheyen)
1994 Le Songe (Ursula Meier), Manneken Pis (Frank Van Passel)
1992 Just Friends (Marc-Henri Wajnberg), Vrouwen willen trouwen (Patrice Toye)(short film)
1991 Daens (Stijn Coninx)
Frank Vercruyssen was one of the four actors who founded the theatre company TG STAN after graduating from the Antwerp Conservatory in 1989. Co-founders were Jolente De Keersmaeker, Damiaan De Schrijver and Waas Gramser.
2006 De Parelvissers (An Beyers)(TV series)
2004 Cologne (Kaat Beels) (short film)
2003 Jozefien (Joël Vanhoebrouck)(short film)
2000 Bruxelles Mon Amour (Kaat Beels)
1998 Rosie (Patrice Toye)
1994 Het Verdriet van België (Claude Goretta)(TV film)
1993 Bekentenissen (Dorothée Van den Berghe)(short film)
Sara De Roo is one of the key members of the theatre company TG STAN.
Norwegian scriptwriter Bjørn Olaf Johannessen’s work includes stage plays, short films and feature films. His first film Kjøter (2006) directed by Marius Holst won several awards including the prize for best script at the Norwegian Short Film Festival. The script for (N)iemand (then entitled The Spring Ritual) received the Sundance NHK International Filmmakers Award in 2006. He was one of the co-writers of Marius Holst’s film Mirush (2007) and is presently adapting the internationally acclaimed novel Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson to film, for the same director. Johannessen is a Marine Engineer by education and has worked as a research scientist and developer of environmental technology for many years.
Presently, he works full time as a writer for film and theatre.