For Helen Walsh, the place comes first.
“The place is always my starting point. It is an active force that shapes and informs our identities throughout our lives,” said the novelist who has become director, whose second article “On the Sea” is presented in competition in the International Film Festival in Edinburgh.
After his beginnings in 2015, “The Violors” – which also lost in Edinburgh and earned him a recognition of Bafta Brit Brit – Walsh award -winning writer and novelist returns to the Festival with another intimate and Roté drama.
Produced by David A. Hughes and David Moores from Red Union Films by Merseyside, “On the Sea” was finally produced for less than 1 million pounds Sterling (1.36 million dollars).
Walsh admits that back reduction came with compromises, but its producers have taken up the challenge. “We had a very strong script and Helen had found perfect chemistry at Barry Ward and Lorne Macfadyen,” said producer David Moores. “We had a tight window for the availability of actors as a duo plus the seasonal calendar of mussel beds. We have planned the filming delays in order to remove additional funding, but we finally decided to opt for the shooting with our favorite casting with a smaller budget.
Helen promotes work with a small intimate team and likes to turn within a radius of 5 to 10 miles, which suited our model on a scale. There were inevitably compromises, but very few of them were creative. It was a huge challenge, but our team all joined the “Guerrilla +” aspect of filming and went beyond to help Helen realize his vision. »»
Barry Ward (“Bad sisters”), Lorne Macfadyen (“Vigil”) and Liz White (“Life on Mars”) lead the cast. Ward plays Jack, a work worker who has been married to Maggie (white) for more than half of his life. Jack supposes that his teenage son will join the family business, working alongside his brother Dyfan and the three sons of Dyfan, until the arrival of Daniel (Macfadyen) when the Escallèle (Macfadyen) arrives to face long truths.
“I wanted to make a film on a good man in a small fishing village, which experienced the principles of the family, the community and the church,” said Walsh. “He makes the capital decision to go out in the middle of life – an era when he risks losing everything he is expensive.”
The road to “On the Sea” began with the location rather than in history. Walsh has spent years looking for Oban on the island of Man, before meeting the Menai Strait mussels. “From the moment I saw the beds, I knew I had to write about them. It is a missing tradition. These huge stoic men come out every day, even if it no longer has a financial meaning. ” She described.
The director has integrated into the community, supplies locally and spending weeks on beds. “When you have found yourself for the first time, you impose your own mythologies. Spend the time there,” she said.
In collaboration with the director of photography Sam Goldie, Walsh built a visual language of months before filming. “Most of the first half is close-up, to create Jack’s claustrophobia in this enclosed oppressive landscape that he loves and feels at the same time,” she said. “It is only when Daniel arrives that we rely on large large – he literally crushes Jack’s limits.”
The edition was just as transformative. “At the start, there were three stories – the marriage, the attraction and the family of men linked by tradition. But Jack’s journey has become the centrifugal force,” said Walsh. One of the most touching moments in the film – a quiet empathy between Jack by Barry Ward and the newcomer Leisa Gwenllian who plays her son’s girlfriend – was born from the edition. Looking at the first cups, Walsh realized that Jack’s story felt “incessant” in his snot. “My stomach has flowed. It was hopeless for Jack, too desperate, ”she recalls. She returned to shoot the discreet but key scene, which she describes as “a simple act of human kindness” at the lowest point of Jack. “This suggests the optimism that the young generation could bring. There was no drought in the room when we filmed it. ”
Ward’s performance has proven to be crucial. “Barry says so much with it so little, and our goal never gets tired,” said Walsh. To help transmit the inner world of Jack, she gave him the remarkable and calm novel of Robert Seethaler “A whole life”. For Macfadyen, whose disruptive presence is fundamental for the play, she suggested that “who killed my father” by Edouard Louis to explore the complex background of Daniel.
While “on the Sea” represents prejudices, it resists caricature thanks to its specificity of this community, in this place of sea and land, at that time. “It is about respecting the community you represent, involving them from the start and allowing you to be challenged,” said Walsh. “I think the directors can open spaces for more nuanced representations of masculinity. The tide turns. “
For Walsh, the story finally comes down to resilience. “I wanted to make a film on courage and hope,” she concludes. “I grew up in a small town like that of Jack, and I understand why he made the choices he made, why he married a woman when his heart was with men.”
With the sales managed by the Yellow Affair, “On the Sea” will be presented in the first competition for the Sean Connery Prize in Edinburgh.
