Jacques Girault discusses the visual challenges of Alice Douard’s film, "Des preuves d’amour"

This is the first time Alice and I have worked together as director and cinematographer. We’ve known each other since La Fémis, but more importantly, we worked on Samuel Theis’ film Petite nature, where Alice was script supervisor and I was cinematographer. It was a wonderful encounter, and we always said we’d like to work together again.
This film deals with a very personal subject, inspired by her own story, even if in the end a lot of things are fictionalized, inspired by her friends, her family, etc. The story takes place in Paris, but we had to shoot most of the scenes in Bordeaux. We only filmed the exteriors in Paris for one week to really anchor the film in that city, with the metro, the streets, etc. The story takes place over three months, so we needed a bit of spring and a bit of summer. We shot for a little over six weeks starting in mid-May, and the weather was terrible ! There wasn’t a single sunny day of outdoor shooting ; the weather was more like autumn. So we tried to bring the sun back when we were indoors.

What I find really beautiful about first films is the crazy desire that filmmakers have, that energy. We started preparing three months in advance. Alice is a hard worker, meticulous, a team leader who does everything she can to stimulate collective enthusiasm. We created a large document, which served as a guide during filming, listing reference images for each sequence, staging intentions, key issues in the form of keywords, a breakdown, image intentions, etc. It was very dense and rich prep, which allowed us to be confident and efficient during the shoot.

The film is set in 2014. Our challenge in terms of imagery was to tell this story, which is both intimate and public, even legal, while taking a little leap into the past, like a memory. The guiding principle became these photographs taken with a disposable camera, not so much those taken by artists but those we all took to keep track of moments in our lives, happy events, preserved moments. The ones you hang on your wall or on your fridge. And that became our reference image, this flash photograph, instinctive, surprising, taken with a disposable camera. At first, spontaneously, I told her about large-format cameras, to have a sensor the size of a 24x36 film photo. First, we went to Panavision to test cameras and lenses. I had found some interesting portrait lenses that worked with large format, the H series, the Sphero 65, which had a graceful, dated photographic look. But Alice couldn’t find the things she liked, the films she was referring to. She talked to me about short focal lengths, and we were losing their distorting effect with large format. She wanted depth in the image, and I think that, for her, what I was showing her with the large format flattened the image. Out of the five hours of testing, we only spent thirty minutes on the anamorphics. It wasn’t planned at all, but as soon as we put the anamorphic lens on, she fell in love with it. These lenses had something nostalgic and epic about them. Then I realized that it touched on a lot of references that she loved deep down, mainly films shot on film, especially from the 1990s. The film does indeed have two main references : Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters and Terminator 2 ! So let’s find the common ground ! I love it when you have references that are very different because you’re not copying, you’re drawing on things that nourish and inspire you, ultimately leading you to your own personal image. With Kore-eda, we were more interested in the brown tones, the materials in the set, the woodiness, the fabric, the depth of the image through the composition of the frames, and also the grace and elegance of the distance between the camera and the characters, shot on film with spherical lenses. But the choice of camera lenses was more Terminator and Thelma and Louise ! Faces popping out of the background in anamorphic, the dynamism of the rendering of space. We started with the Panavision G series, which is a very soft series, yet full of character, which brings out the faces, accompanied by a 75-210mm anamorphic zoom. And that’s where Marie, the production manager, was fantastic. She was sensitive to what Alice and I wanted, and there was a real discussion. They knew it was an important choice for the good of the film, and I’m grateful to Alexis Petkvosek at Panavision, because he went out of his way to allow us to shoot with these lenses. What’s interesting is that in the end we’re not in Scope format. We’re in 1.85, which means we’ve kept a slightly more European, slightly more intimate format, but on the other hand we have all the characteristics of anamorphic, the bokeh, the flares, that effect on the rendering of space and especially the faces, which are magnified. It’s this slight shift that adds something to the contours, a thickness to the lines that slightly erases any excess detail.

We shot on Sony Venice. I discovered it a year and a half ago on Pierre Schoeller’s series "Dans l’ombre". I really like its versatility and ergonomics. Its texture at 2,500 ISO, even in daylight, brought us a little closer to film. Also its skin tones. And I find that it has a natural look that lends itself to a precise, contrasted and metallic image. Because when you think of flash photography and Terminator, you think of metal.
So it was this search for a metallic flash image throughout the process. The only sequence we shot in spherical in this film is the YouTube archive sequence of Noémie Lvovsky, where we were looking for a reportage aesthetic from around thirty years before 2014.
I would have liked to shoot with magnetic tape, but it was very complicated to find the camera and process the rushes, so in the end we shot with the Venice and a spherical zoom, making a whole bunch of adjustments to achieve a magnetic video look. I used strong lighting, closed the diaphragm, changed the frame rate, and then we added color and texture processing in post-production.
On all my feature films, I always spend a whole day doing test shots, and it’s always proved beneficial because ultimately the feel of an image is quite subjective. It’s an opportunity to speak the same language with the director and between all the departments, and to agree on what the final image will be. It’s like a sketch in painting or artistic research, but without the pressure and performance requirements of shooting. This time, it was very well organized again. There was the production designer, Anne-Sophie, the costume designer, Pauline, the makeup artist, Natalie, and we had a program with reference images pinned to the wall that summarized our discussions with Alice and what we were looking for. The mornings were more technical, and the afternoons were more artistic with the actresses. We started by observing different densities, different colors of wallpaper, different materials, different fabrics, and costumes. We tested and explored with the camera and lighting.
During these tests, we tried out different ways of creating a flash effect, like our reference images taken with a disposable camera, but with the added challenge of movement in film ! The idea was that the light would create volume rather than coming from the front, leaving the background in shadow through this exposure effect, with the faces overexposed. The gaffer, Cyril, suggested a rather ingenious system, which was to bounce a fairly powerful DedoLED into a CLRS. The light source was attached to the bottom of the stand and the CLRS was tilted above it, so that the light would bounce off a metal surface (again, in search of a metallic image) and illuminate our characters. I also used the Ringlite on the lens to show Alice what the equivalent of a moving flash would look like, a light source in the axis of the shot that moves the shadows, even though it is static in the camera frame. She really liked it. It was only used in one scene, the nightclub scene, but the result is exactly what we were looking for. At the same time, we tried different wallpapers, because flash often alters colors, causing them to lose saturation, which is what gives them the metallic look we were going for. We finally decided to use monochromatic colors for the lighting and sets, and to create counterpoints with the costumes. In general, the set design team worked to darken the backgrounds to make the faces stand out from the shadows. It was the first time I had used such a high-contrast digital film LUT.

When the test shots were screened, the whole team was there, everyone involved in creating the image, which allowed us to bring everything together and for everyone to make any necessary adjustments for the rest of the preparation.

Faces were very important in this film, and what interested us sometimes was having frames like with a disposable camera, which encourage you to shoot from angles that are easily accessible, from above, from below, close to the subject. I think back to reference images from Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together. I wanted to use the Rialto mode on the Venice as a Super 8 camera setup, with just a handle, to recapture the feeling of filming things with your head, your eye, of being the gaze. It was still a bit heavy with the anamorphic lenses, but we shot one sequence that way anyway, the love scene, and I think you can feel its unique quality. It makes the film feel more intimate, dynamic, and fragile.

With these anamorphic lenses, especially the zoom, there was sometimes a slight distortion that made the faces a little more angular, which was impressive. It gave it a little Terminator feel that Alice really liked. She said, “We have to treat the main character as if he were John Connor !” So we really worked on Ella’s character to create a powerful movie character, an icon. Both in her look and in the way she was filmed.

For the scene in the concert hall, we had to work with the lighting in the hall, which was automatic, and we had to plan a lighting program in advance so that we had the same lighting for each take. Despite this preparation, it was sometimes a little complex during filming, because cinema is full of unexpected events, adjustments, and delays that make it less precise than running a computer program, but we lit it that way, there is no additional lighting on our part. It was a good moment to position the character in her pose and create flash effects, so that her face really stands out against the dark background. This sequence is a combination of fairly precise, static shots, either on a tripod or tracking, and more freehand shots from the shoulder. Thanks to Alice’s complicity, she allows me to go for unexpected shots, where I can run around to find angles, sit here on the floor for a few shots of Ella listening in the room.
With Alice, we thought about the link between music and image, we talked about rhythm, color, and contrast throughout the film that would echo the music, which for Ella is a fairly contemporary form of electronic music, in contrast to her mother, who is into classical music and recitals, so it’s two very different worlds, but within the same universe of music. The first time we see Marguerite, the mother, it’s a photo, an advertisement for her concert in the subway, and it’s a very beautiful idea that says a lot about their relationship. When we film the couple, we’re in a slightly dynamic relationship, sometimes with the camera on the shoulder, close to the actresses ; for the reunion between mother and daughter, we chose a floating, intangible camera, something that glides like her mother’s music, much more airy, so we used a Steadicam. What I found interesting about the Steadicam is that it’s very elegant, perfect, and at the same time it lacks the warmth of imperfection, of a trembling shoulder, of breathing. We worked a lot on the shot list of this shot-reverse shot of the reunion. The camera is caught up in the melody and passes Ella, then comes back in a reverse shot, then switches back again, we move forward, then backward, a bit like two animals getting to know each other, a kind of complicity-strangeness, and a clash between the values of the shot and the emptiness. With the lighting, we also sought a form of elegance, but a little more static, certainly less metallic than elsewhere. We worked on the light coming in through the windows, something more conventional, more orderly. For this sequence, I was inspired by the cool tones and monochromes of the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi, and Gustave Caillebotte’s Raboteurs, for the woodiness, the brown tones on the skin, this slightly icy and distant representation, all in a form of elegance. This is the only time we used a smoke machine, to discreetly achieve a slightly less contemporary look, a little more muted, softer, less metallic than the rest.

What interested us was that their relationship evolved, that they reconnected, and that this broke down the system, allowing warmth, something a little more organic, to return. When she returns home the second time, we replaced the Steadicam with a tracking shot to film her arrival. We find the same soft, more classic aesthetic, but a small step has been taken. We change the setting, the small bedroom and the surprising little bathroom, and we use increasingly shorter focal lengths. We first shoot with long focal lengths to maintain a sense of elegance and distance, then we move closer to the short focal lengths we already used with the couple, which have a slightly distorting anamorphic effect that brings dynamism to the image. When we arrive in the kitchen after the earplug adventure, they have moved closer together and we switch to shoulder shots. It was a very small set, so I sometimes had to contort myself and get very close to the actresses, using short focal lengths, which bring intimacy, emotion, and fragility. As we were indoors, we were able to play with a summery sun effect through the windows. Ella is lit full-face, always in search of an aesthetic quality in her face as it emerges into the light, while her mother is slightly in shadow, retaining an air of mystery.
Then, in their last scene together in the dressing room, we’re entirely over the shoulder, except for one static shot of Ella. It’s Noémie’s energy that carries us away. What interested Alice in this film was filming behind the scenes, the events leading up to the birth... and there’s this shot from Terminator, looking up from below in concrete corridors, which is emblematic of what we were looking for. Then there’s the reading of the letter, with the imaginary glance between them during the recital, where her mother comes into the shadows to watch her, then returns to the light. I think this interplay between light and shadow really captures the character of the mother who, despite her love for her daughter, has not devoted her life to her and has chosen her career over her family.

The storm scene is one of those little miracles that you have to seize. We were shooting this scene where the couple drifts apart a little, where their bonds are shaken by this adventure of motherhood. I was on the shoulder, I had seen this huge storm going on outside, but we weren’t supposed to go out on the balcony for that sequence. And suddenly Ella actually went out, opened the door and went to smoke a cigarette, so I didn’t think twice, I immediately followed her. It was a moment suspended in time, so powerful. Alice was still inside and was captivated by what she was seeing on the combo, other people didn’t understand why we weren’t cutting because the sequence was supposed to end earlier. It’s a moment of grace that can only be built on a relationship of trust between the director of photography and the director, and also between the director of photography and the actress, because it was the second feature film I was shooting with Ella and we had a really great rapport between the three of us. It lasted ten minutes, we couldn’t get it a second time. Alice joined me with the script supervisor, Marion, and we shot the shots we needed to build a sequence, a reverse shot, a subjective shot, a few shots of the city. The fact that we had prepared a lot beforehand and thought the film through a lot allowed us, I think, to take this kind of initiative and have the flexibility to follow this little gift from fate. I know what Alice is looking for and what she wants. I’m an extension of her in a way, and she gives me the chance and the confidence to take that liberty sometimes. It created this very atmospheric sequence, which was extremely right for that moment in the story, with a slightly Asian, Kore-eda feel to it, because the film really draws on these two very distinct inspirations.

This may be the first time there’s been a film about motherhood between two women, yet Alice was really keen for the film to be universal, and I think any parent can relate to it. She wanted to make this story as positive as possible, which is why we worked so hard to create beautiful, charismatic film characters that we want to follow and love, who make us dream, with “lash” lighting that magnifies their faces and highlights their eyes. She could have chosen to surround herself with an entirely female or LGBT team... But for her, it wasn’t so much a question of gender or orientation, what really interested her was to surround herself with kind, gentle, and open-minded collaborators. That’s what reassured her in filming this very intimate story, and I was careful to surround myself with a team that respects that. And it was a wonderful team, whom I thank !

(Interview conducted and written by Margot Cavret for the AFC)