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Carla Lia Monti - Director's Notes
Whilst studying at the film school HGK in Zurich, I became increasingly interested in transforming and directing well-known stories, fables and myths: looking at them from a new perspective and rearranging them, so that the reference to the alleged "well-known" became purely allegorical. Most of these stories were written by men, such as the Grimm fabels and fairytales or the stage-play «Wilhelm Tell» by Friedrich Schiller.
While delving into Schiller’s work, I fell in love with his text «The Robbers», written during the Sturm & Drang time: a story about a father who has two sons. While the «good» son is well-integrated and a model worker, his «bad» brother becomes the chief of a group of robbers but nevertheless remains a man of honour and one day comes back to his family to unveil the intrigues of his «good» brother.
If I am not mistaken there is just one important female role in the entire piece. And this woman is a devoted and well-behaved and not in the slightest possesion of any intelligence.
For this reason I was extremely keen on transposing Schiller’s «male dominated» story into one of a world ruled by women. To tell the tale of women who take revenge on men that have mal-treated them. This was not an easy task: it goes without saying that women leaders can be brave and pace through the land in an exemplary way, but they are still dependant on a surrounding by and large dominated by men. That is why, in this film, similar to my short film «Mama hat dich lieb», it is the mother-figure who once again stands in the way of her daughter’s luck, for the simple reason that she has accepted and internalised the masculine rule.
I am also fascinated by the ambivalent interaction amongst women who take revenge on men, because although suppressed by this framework they do build a female community. Without claiming to be a correct feminist, I want to enlighten the female role as much as possible. Since I have no ambition of being correct in any other way at all, a tale of grotesque humour emerged. «Robber Girls» is about a strong woman who, during her development, makes acquaintance with different types of women, from the cold-blooded idiot to the sensible and self-confidant, and so the story is increasingly enstranged from Schiller’s piece.
On Directing
With «Robber Girls» I tried to further the aesthetics and colourfulness of my diploma film «Walter Tell» from the studio - into the outside world. To create an artificial look in the woods we used very precise lighting and props such as fake flowers which adorn the countryside. The story is set in a past, but nevertheless it is an imaginary time as we used modern elements mixed with medieval, (both with the costumes and art direction) in so doing creating a time that never was.
On Content
Through the brutality of the story and the grotesque, exaggerated directing I hope to create an allienation. This ensures a subconscious portrayal and reflection on every-day brutalities, such as longing for revenge, enviousness, hatred and thoughts of murder. Everyone if familiar with such thoughts but because we are «reasonable» people we push these thoughts to the back of our minds: knowing that revenge is not the solution for change. Revenge, carried out by humans just results in an alternating urge of vengeance amongst those involved.
Nevertheless under certain circumstances we are prepared to see revenge as a possibility: this is the situation I created with the main character Emily. Like every fairytale this story ends on a happy note: a wedding of a couple. Ostensibly it is a story about vengeance, but if one looks at «Robber Girls» in an enigmatic way it is a grotesque, exaggerated story about emancipation.
Emily, a young woman, wants to be her own master of destiny. Meaning she wants to decide for herself if and when and to whom she wants to get married. To carry out this basic right she has to liberate herself from her evil mother and the Sovereign. Emily’s path is accompanied by psychological, physical and sexual violence. Brutality is shown in an uncommon manner with a fairytale aesthetic. This fairytale aesthetic contrasts with the very evil story and creates a new world, where «beauty» is wonderful and «ugliness» is dreadful. The audience could gain an ironic and aloof view of an exaggerated situation, situations, which in my opinion, reflect every-day brutalities.
I am highly aware that I'm walking on a tightrope with this film, but it is in line with the audiovisual works I have created to date, and is part of a theme, (persuasion with the means of the grotesque and black humour), which I will further develop in my future films. |
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