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Back in Tunisia for her uncle’s funeral, Lilia is determined to unravel the mystery surrounding his death, even if it means digging up long-buried family secrets.
Shot over 40 days (seven weeks) in the Sousse region, In a Whisper begins with Lilia (Eya Bouteraa) returning from Paris for her uncle Daly’s funeral. Welcomed by her mother (Hiam Abbas), grandmother (Salma Baccar) and aunt (Feriel Chamari), the young woman, now an engineer, quickly discovers that the circumstances surrounding Daly’s death hide an intimate secret that will affect her very personally...
Sébastien Goepfert, who has already filmed Leyla Bouzid’s two previous movies—and who also shares her life—explains the genesis of the project : “Leyla’s initial desire was to film her grandmother’s house. It’s a very special place, not least because of its architecture, which is in the colonial style of the 30s. This has become rare in the center of Sousse, where most of these old houses have been demolished and replaced by modern buildings that have now sprung up everywhere.
It is also a house backing onto a large garden, which has been left untended since the death of its owner... Vegetation is gradually encroaching on the walls and surrounding it. Leyla was keen to film this wild and lush garden in the middle of a very urban neighborhood.
During pre-production, we had access to the house but we didn’t have complete control over the situation on site... And, for example, a few months before filming, we learned that a gardener had come to ’clean up’ the little jungle we loved so much in order to ’clear the way’ for the film ! This forced us to postpone filming until the vegetation had grown back...!”
“So there was this desire to film this place somewhat urgently before it too disappeared, depending on the decision of the heirs. We were inspired by this house, still furnished but uninhabited for several years, trying to capture its spirit, its nature, and its very special atmosphere. It was very moving to bring it back to life by reinvesting in it. We paid particular attention to the choice of decorative elements : the drapes, the fabrics, the placement of the mirrors, but also the addition of small accent lights that allowed me to work at night and which the house lacked.
Leyla pays close attention to the composition of the different colors in the image (coordination between fabrics, objects, and the actresses’ costumes, for example). We therefore chose the color palette with great care. All of this creates a visual universe in which we have attempted to convey the timeless aspect of this house and its inhabitants.”
Taking advantage of several visits prior to filming, the director of photography brought back numerous photos taken on site at different times of the day, even filming a few shots to observe the light. “What was really special about this place was the sunlight filtering through the vegetation in the overgrown garden. There were shadow effects and constantly changing light, depending on the wind blowing through the leaves, the direction of the sun, the clouds...
Leyla and I really liked these shifting lights, which seemed to convey something ghostly that fit well with the film’s subject matter. In several sequences, I worked to integrate moving and changing lights into certain parts of the image.
For example, for the sequence where the main character, Lilia, enters the deceased’s bedroom, we wanted to make the light move through the curtains caught in the wind, giving the effect of faint breathing. I placed fans outside to make the white curtains billow and create moving shadows using a light source placed off-screen on the balcony. In the end, the wind from the fans wasn’t enough, so we had to make the curtains billow by pulling them with a string off-screen.
For other sequences, I sometimes added foliage in front of the light sources, which an electrician moved around to recreate these shifting lights.
Another distinctive feature of the house was that, even when the sun was very strong outside, the interior was never really bathed in dazzling light. There was a kind of chiaroscuro that created a unique atmosphere. We maintained this effect by often placing the actresses in front of windows, in strong backlighting that was characteristic of this house.
Leyla and I also agreed on a kind of progression towards light, with a very sunny ending to the film, as the main character progresses in her personal and family journey.”
Filmed between April and May 2025, In a Whisper offers an unusual view of Tunisia : the sky is often cloudy, more overcast than bright white, and the light is very soft, contrasting with the blazing sun often associated with North African cities. Sébastien Goepfert explains : “Of course, filming in the spring was a conscious choice. The natural light is much more interesting than in the middle of summer, when it’s so hot and the sun is beating down... On the other hand, we didn’t anticipate that there would be so many gray skies and frequent rain. For example, the sequence on the seafront, where Lilia meets her uncle’s ex-boyfriend, was shot on a very stormy day, with wind and occasional showers. But I must admit that the heavy sky really adds something to the scene... This setting on the corniche, just like the museum where Lilia and Alice spend some time, are places that tell the story of the city of Sousse. Leyla wrote for these places. They firmly anchor her story in the city. Perhaps as much as in this house that is dear to her. Sousse is a city that is at once very modern, young, and festive. And yet also very conservative, exactly like the story it tells...”.
Another narrative feature that we discover in the prologue is the desire to mix different time frames within the same shot, without any transition. “We wanted the past to blend into the present, without flashbacks or even cuts within the sequence. We wanted them to be mental images. To achieve this, we rewatched a few films in which the directors used this kind of effect to some extent. I think back to Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight and Theo Angelopoulos’s Eternity and a Day. We wanted certain characters to appear and disappear, which seems simple and obvious on screen. But putting it into practice was a little more complex. It required great precision in the staging, almost choreographic, between the camera movements and the positions of the actors who would vanish in a fleeting off-screen moment. It was also quite fun, as the actors had to hide in record time, without leaving the slightest trace behind”.
“As for the rest of the shot breakdown, we were fortunate enough to have the rare opportunity to spend a lot of time on the main set before filming, which allowed us to work on the shot breakdown on site, rehearse with the actresses, and try out some staging ideas in advance. We were able to find new directions thanks to the location, using the perspectives, depths, and mirrors that were abundant in the house.
We did a precise cut beforehand, but we also like to explore while filming, experiment with things, add movement, and link several shots that weren’t planned. Leyla particularly likes this idea of making the shots last as long as possible. It’s not a cult of the sequence shot, but simply the desire to push each take as far as we can, making the whole as organic as possible. To achieve this, we used the zoom much more here than in Leyla’s previous films. It naturally associated itself, for example, with Lilia’s mental images, feeding their unreal side.
Some shots were designed as sequence shots from the outset. Like the arrival at the house, which we filmed with a Steadicam. The idea was to discover this house in real time. And to explore the space, meeting the three women who live there.”
In terms of lighting, the director of photography first tried to take advantage of the natural lighting conditions. “As I mentioned, we wanted that chiaroscuro atmosphere and those shifting lights that defined this house for us. But capturing them was really difficult, especially since the sun was constantly playing hide-and-seek. So we had to block out the natural sunlight while relighting from outside the windows. I used 9kW Cinepar lights on a crane. And we had to counterbalance this inside, which was made easier by the high ceilings in the house. We installed a technical grid on which we could place LED sources diffused by large screens. This allowed us to create a soft atmosphere inside. To recreate the small patches of light or light accidents on the walls, we placed Light Bridge reflectors or mirrors from the outside, reflecting the sun, which was not always easy to do without losing continuity. There are real challenges to filming in a city where the sun is strong and the facades of the houses are very white. For example, initially, I wanted to shoot in rooms when the sun wasn’t shining in, to maintain control and continuity. But I had to change my approach because I discovered that the sun was then shining on the facades opposite, which acted as powerful reflectors, flooding the rooms with reflected light and overexposing the shots. In the end, it was easier to shoot with the sun shining directly in, even if it meant blocking it with caps over the windows”.
When asked about his choice of lenses and camera, Sébastien Goepfert explains : “Given the relatively small size of the rooms in the house and the large number of characters, I immediately thought that a full-frame sensor would be ideal for this film. It would allow me to use slightly longer focal lengths than with Super35, while still maintaining a sufficiently wide field of view. I chose to go with the Alexa Mini LF because it’s a camera I’m used to shooting with and it offers great dynamics, especially in high light. After a few tests at our rental company Panavision, filming the lead actress who kindly agreed to take part in the exercise, I settled on the Panaspeed series, which I found particularly advantageous for rendering skin tones and contrasts. I used an aperture of around 2 at night, while during the day I shot at between 4 and 5.6 to keep all the actors in the depth of field if possible and give the location more presence. In addition to the fixed series, we also used a Pana Series 70 FF 28-80mm zoom lens and a Primo S35 24-275mm zoom lens for its wide zoom range”.
Among the flashbacks to the past, one sequence stands out for its originality. It is the one featuring family photos taken during her uncle’s wedding, which Lilia discovers. “This sequence”, explains Sébastien Goepfert, “was present from the earliest versions of the script. It begins like a family photo album that suddenly appears, but what makes it special is that it transforms into a real scene that tells a little story. It’s a sequence somewhat inspired by Chris Marker’s La Jetée (1962).
Leyla and I felt that it was a fairly original idea, experimental certainly, but worth trying. And the producer agreed with us. To pull it off, we decided that we needed to use film to really capture the look of family photos from the 1980s. We opted for disposable cameras with built-in flash. But it was a bit risky, as we had no guarantee whatsoever about the results or even the framing. So we decided to bring along a Canon 5D digital camera with a flash, which we had also tested in preparation. It was very useful for the acting scenes, allowing us to better control the accuracy of the looks and ensure that the narrative parts of the scene worked well.
Shooting this scene was quite confusing at first. There were lots of extras dressed in 1980s wedding attire, decorations, a reconstruction... And none of it was going to be filmed, but photographed in burst mode in several locations ! Several technicians lost their bearings on set. Little by little, we found a new way of working, with the sound recording these scenes independently, for example. It was an exciting experience, and I think the result conveys a certain nostalgia. I believe the scene captures the viewer in a rather special way”.
(Interview and rewriting by François Reumont for the AFC)
In a Whisper (À voix basse)
Direction : Leyla Bouzid
Cinematography : Sébastien Goepfert
Set Design : Meriem Ben Romdhane
Costumes : Randa Khedher
Sound : Aymen Laabidi
Editing : Lilian Corbeille
Music : Yom
