Éric Dumont, AFC, discusses the artistic and technical choices in Rudi Rosenberg’s film, "Quelques mots d’amour"

For 14 years, Erika has been the anchor of a household that rarely stands still, doing her best to raise teenage Abigail, her whirlwind little brother, Yoni, and a dog with an extreme devotion to cheese. When Abi’s desire to meet her absent father grows into a full-blown obsession and word spreads he’s been seen nearby, Erika fears the fragile balance will collapse for good. Instead, the unpredictable journey that follows brings mother and daughter to see each other anew, steering their lively, lovable family toward a happy new chapter.
With Hafsia Herzi, Nour Salam, Ella Bedoucha, Paulette Chetrit, Jacques Sebban, Stéphane Chargeboeuf.

The film has a very natural feel to it. What were the artistic choices made ?

Éric Dumont : Rudi wanted the look of 1990s films, not to create a dated image, but so that the art direction would evoke the atmosphere of films from that era. For my part, I suggested a rather sunny look, since the film is set in Sarcelles and I wanted to avoid the gray, sometimes gloomy imagery often found in films set in the suburbs. And then Rudi was very particular about the accuracy of the lighting—he didn’t want it to feel.

What steps are you taking to achieve this goal of very subtle lighting ?

ÉD : The director would have liked to shoot on 35mm film, but it was impossible to stay within the film’s budget with the production setup he chose. We were shooting very long takes, sometimes lasting up to 30 minutes, so using film was out of the question !
We created a "35mm look" by shooting a few seconds of footage on 35mm film for almost every shot in the movie. It served as a sort of reference to help us grade the image for 35mm. We then shot the scenes digitally.
I really wanted to make a film based on a 35mm look by exposing for the highlights. Because, unlike digital, film handles them much better. I could then have a wide range in the mid-tones and shadows.

Please explain the process you’ve implemented to bridge the gap between 35mm and digital.

ÉD : We color-graded the 35mm footage to capture the film’s overall look, then performed a "frame-by-frame match" to apply that grading as closely as possible to the digital footage. This step was completed before editing, which allowed us to create LUTs so the director could work with the final image during the editing process.

In practical terms, on set, you were lighting for film, which has a much lower sensitivity than digital cameras.

ÉD : Yes, it’s true that you needed at least twice as much light to properly expose 200 or 500-ISO film. I set the camera to 1.600 ISO and added ND 6 or 9 filters to avoid a look that was too digital.

The apartment’s set is a recurring theme—is it a natural setting ?

ÉD : No, we shot everything in a studio. Actually, Rudi had found an apartment in a building in Sarcelles that he really liked. But shooting there would have been very complicated because there were quite a few scenes with children, and the shots took a long time to film. That "model” apartment was recreated exactly as it was in the studio, with modifications that worked for us in terms of lighting.

How did you go about creating the exterior scenes as seen from the discoveries ?

ÉD : We decided to shoot the exterior scenes in this model apartment at different times of day—at dusk, in the early morning… A large installation consisting of a multitude of LED screens was set up by the windows in the studio, where the footage was projected.
This system allowed us to shoot the long takes that Rudi liked to do without worrying about the light fading. We were able to shoot during twilight for an hour without any problems ! Another advantage, especially when working with children, is being able to shoot night scenes during the day. We had a technician (Jérémie Tondowski, from NeoSet) who handled the footage, and I could color-grade it live to match the lighting mood of the scene.

There are still a few limitations with this new process, namely the moiré pattern that can appear in wide shots. We should have positioned the camera further back, but we were a bit cramped given the size of the studio. I would have preferred to move the screens further away from the windows so the image wouldn’t be too sharp. NeoSet has truly been a great partner for these LED screens.

You mentioned a solar-powered film—what kind of lighting setup did you use ?

ÉD : We installed large light sources positioned above the screen walls to create a single, unified source of incoming light : the low late-afternoon sun with 9-lamp Maxibrutes, the afternoon sun with a 12kW Mole-Richardson MoleBeam tungsten lamp, a zenithal sun with a 9kW Alpha, and the morning sun on the north side of the apartment with a 4kW MoleBeam HMI.

I had also installed fabric ceilings. During the day, the fabric served as the ceiling. When we switched to night mode, we needed proper lighting since we were shooting on film.
The 45 Vortex lights above the fabric casino ceilings allowed us to shoot at ISO 250.

And what about your choice of camera and lenses ?

ÉD : I chose an Alexa and Tamashi lenses, which are only available from RVZ. These are Japanese spherical lenses that are very gentle on skin tones. During our tests with Rudi, we really liked how they rendered the 35mm focal length.

The camera is rarely positioned head-on, which creates a sense of detachment in our relationship with the characters. Why was this choice made ?

ÉD : Rudi didn’t want to be too direct, so as not to create a narrative that felt too fictional, like when you shoot in shot-reverse-shot. Instead, we took a more documentary-style approach, positioning ourselves at a three-quarter angle or even in profile, with the edges of the frame almost spilling over into the shot.
I was always hand-helded camera, holding a small tripod with a pulley to lighten the load on the camera a bit during long takes and to maintain that slight sway of the camera.

Did you create a short list before filming ?

ÉD : Yes, but we didn’t follow it at all. We figured out the camera angles and shots as we started filming.
I talked at length with Rudi to try to film it as if the shot were being captured on the spot, so that it would feel even more authentic. Generally, we didn’t do any rehearsals for the camera. The director would run through the scene with his actors, and then we’d shoot it right away.

Did you use the same setup for the scenes with the children ?

ÉD : Not really—we were rehearsing with stand-ins because the kids’ shooting time is limited to one day. Plus, we had two cameras to capture their spontaneity.

Is the process you’ve developed to achieve a film-like look effective ?

ÉD : Yes, I was able to confirm that you can get as close as possible to the 35mm look when shooting digitally. To do this, you have to set everything up on set as if you were shooting on film. The few rolls of film I was able to shoot for each shot served as a springboard to fully explore this method and fulfill an artistic desire to best bring this script to life. In the end, I feel like I made a 35mm film !

(Interview conducted by Brigitte Barbier for the AFC)

Quelques mots d’amour
Producer : Hugo Sélignac (Chi-Fou-Mi Productions)
Director : Rudi Rosenberg
Director of photography : Éric Dumont, AFC
Set designer : Pascaline Feutry
Costume designer : Muriel Dantard
Editor : Delphine Genest
Editor : Bruno Tracq
Sound recordist : Guilhem Domercq
Original music : Yom and Chapelier Fou