Cannes Conversations — Filipa Reis on privilege and empowerment

At Cannes, celebrated Portuguese directing duo Filipa Reis and Joao Miller Guerra debuted LEGUA — a movie about a housekeeper tending to an empty country estate… and the sacrifices she’s willing to make for work and friendship.

Reis tells host Rico Gagliano about turning the camera on her own privilege, the joys and challenges of tag-team directing, and an ’80s Portuguese pop track that’s one of the keys to her main character.

Every May, the population of sleepy Cannes, France triples — as film pros and cinephiles from around the globe convene for the two-week movie-thon called the Cannes Film Festival.  For the fourth season of the MUBI Podcast, we sent host Rico Gagliano into the eye of this celluloid storm, accompanied by an intrepid camera crew, to grab interviews with a cross-section of filmmakers who made Cannes 2023 one of the most celebrated in years. 

Guests include legendary director Wim Wenders, perennial Cannes favorites Kleber Mendonca Filho and Monia Chokri, and a slew of new filmmakers destined to be world cinema's next wave — from Belgian hip-hopper-turned-auteur Baloji to New York's wry boundary-smasher Joanna Arnow. 

Episodes air twice weekly.  Follow and watch on Spotify or Youtube... or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor dedicated to elevating great cinema. MUBI makes, acquires, curates, and champions extraordinary films, connecting them to audiences all over the world. A place to discover ambitious new films and singular voices, from iconic directors to emerging auteurs. Each carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.

Transcript

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Heads up, audio listeners, you're about to hear a videotaped conversation. For the full experience you'll find a video version of this episode on Spotify or YouTube. The opening shot is of an owl. The initial thing, as soon as I saw it, was wisdom. You know, wise old owl. Is that what you're trying to impart? I guess the the difficulty of getting to wisdom?- No, but that's a good...- You'll take it. I've been spending a lot of time talking to filmmakers and going like,"Is this what your movie is about?" They're like, "You know what?"I'm not sure, but pretty good." It's good! That is Portuguese filmmaker Filipa Reis. And with her co-director, João Miller Guerra she makes movies that seem straightforward but are actually about an awful lot. At Cannes, they debut their film <i>Légua</i>. It's about two housekeepers, middle aged Ana and elderly Emília, whose job is to keep a huge country estate spic and span. But the owners are never around and is tending to an empty house. And when her husband gets a job in France and Emília's health starts to fade, she's got to figure out what she's willing to sacrifice for work and loyalty. I'm Rico Gagliano. This is the MUBI Podcast. Welcome to a special season of conversations from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. This is episode eight, Filipa Reis on <i>Légua</i>. A movie that was inspired by the house where they shot it. So that house belongs to the family of my co-director.- Not bad.- So we... were already very close to the house and to that place, to that village. The idea of writing a story there was already in our minds. So it was a way of spending more time there.- Really?- Yeah, really. It was just like, I enjoy this place, so I'm going to set a film here. Yes, I live in the city, so is also nice to spend more time here. I do often wonder this about filmmakers, especially when it's in an exotic place. This doesn't necessarily qualify, but like, did you really have to shoot it in Hawaii? Or...- You know.- We could find another house.- Of course.- No, that's true. But the idea of this empty house. So the house belongs to the family of my partner. We spend some time there. But it's true that the majority of the year the house is empty. So we, and there is a lot of houses in Portugal like that. Because things change. Families change. People move due to the city. So these kind of things happen. But there's a kind of critique going on here 'cause at one point the daughter is telling her friend that this house is laid empty and her mom works there, and then she says something like this is, like, the time of kings or something. And your main characters are very consciously working class. You know, it seems like there's a... economic critique going on here. It is. It's there. And it's to us. On this family that has this house that is the majority of the year empty, which is, yeah. Thinking on us, about us, you know, the reflection of us. Like issues of privilege and, etcetera?- Yeah.- Well, why do that? I mean like that's, it's, it's a vulnerable thing to do.- It's good to be vulnerable.- Not everybody does it, though. Not everyone would subject themselves to a self-critique. I think it's good, yeah. But the way, I will also say that the way that it's portrayed, there's like, there's also a moment where a character shows up at the house. You don't even see this person. They just show up at the house to drop off rent. And they say that it's like been a year or something since they've been able to pay rent. So you've got this idea of somebody who is outside of the... they probably rent someplace on this land. It's land. Yes. And that they, they're not obviously doing that well, but they're paying somebody who doesn't even live in this enormous house. You know. Why have that kind of social commentary? It's almost like on the sidelines. It's not like directly addressed. It's sort of on the sidelines. Why do it that way? Because it's what happens. People rent the land so that other people can explore and give part, or either in money or either in what they plant to the owners of the land. But the way that it's being shown is kind of offscreen. Like we don't even see that person. And it's, and I feel like that's emblematic of the way that social issues are dealt with in this movie. It's like in this very elegant way, but it's not like hit on the head. It's sort of like on the sidelines. You're telling the story about these women, but on the edges of it, there's this social critique going on. Because the story is about them, but they belong to this system. Let's talk about your main character, since it is about them. The introduction of Ana, I thought was so fascinating. It's two scenes. The first is her in a bathroom, sort of doing her toilette and singing a song. She's singing along with the song. It feels like that song was specifically chosen. I'm not Portuguese, but what is the significance of that particular song? It's a happy song from the eighties. Of a singer... It was one of the first singers that admitted to be a lesbian in Portugal.- Really?- So it's someone that we admire a lot. And the actress also. So she. Yeah, she's. Would it be too much to put on that? I'm thinking out loud now because I did not know. No, it's only for who knows. It's like a political thing, but it's not for, for everyone to... to understand. Because it's not there. It's not in the song. But now that I know it, it makes total sense. Because in a way, like it sounds like this might be a person that is appreciated because it's like they decided to live their life- the way that they wanted to live it.- Yeah. Which feels like it's maybe...- Which Ana...- Yeah. Decides to live her life. All the women in the film, I think they are very empowered because they are living the life that they choose to to live. That's true. And it is interesting to me that like the life that Ana chooses to leave is one, the word servitude is too much to use. But in service to her friend, she decides to stay in the house even though her husband has to leave for work. To help out her older friend. But I think that there would be some that would say that, like that's not the most empowering thing to do, to basically, you know, like attach yourself to somebody, that you're their caregiver rather than going and living your own life with your significant other. I think there is this gratitude that she feels for the friend, which is very strong. And she also said that she doesn't want that much to go to friends and clean other people house when she can be there. I think she really loves where she belongs. So she really loves that land. She really loves the life that she has. So she prefers to stay. So she's she's very empowered, I think. And that's why the first scenes are so important to, for us to stay with her and understand what she's really losing, for not going to friends. But she's not this... you know, woman that just is so pure and decides to stay, and decides to help. It's not that it's more complex than that. That's the right. Because the second scene that I'd mentioned earlier is and this is really surprising to me, is like a fairly sultry sex scene. Like very early on in the movie, and unless it's an erotic movie, I'm used to a sex scene coming as like a plot point at some point, you know, after meeting somebody or like a romantic moment or something. But it's like right off the bat, like you define the character through that.- And this is this is why.- This is why. Yes. Tell me about how you directed these characters, because it feels like we're coming in on them and they're just living their lives. And your camera happened to be there. How do you get to that level of just kind of casual realism? Is it scripted, entirely? It's all scripted. Yes, it's so scripted. Carla is a professional Portuguese actress, and Fatima... who plays the old, older character, she's not, so we casted a lot, in senior universities around the village where we shot. So in other cities, and we met Fatima. We had also this person with us to rehearse, especially Fatima. So we have rehearsed a lot with her seeing, because there was two things that were really important that we couldn't fail. We couldn't fail casting, and we couldn't fail believing that Fatima decays during the film. So we really needed her to understand physically how to decay. We had a lot of exercises for her, to walk with weight, so that she, you know, so that the position of the body was more tired, because she's, she breathes health. She's super healthy! She's an amazing, healthy woman. So we needed her to... like to understand physically how to how to do it. But I'm curious, though, that means, so you're saying that she's the picture of health, but you wanted to find somebody that knew how to decay, and she's not a professional actor. How could you tell that she would be able to pull it off? So when we start casting, we understood that it would be very difficult to find someone because people have their own land which they care, and grandchildren and a lot of things to attend to. So they wouldn't care about us. Really? They woudn't want to star in a cool movie? Yeah it was like, okay, maybe we I don't know, it's, you feel that. No? When... I think there is this also something that you exchange with the person when you're casting. And with Fatima, there was this exchange of... interest. So she lives alone. She lived in the UK for many years. So she's very open minded, very curious, very... So it was, I understood that it was someone to whom this challenge would be a happiness in her life. And I think that was very important, because she was super generous. And it's really a hard thing to ask, you know, someone that is not a professional actress. So it's, it was very demanding what we were asking her to do. As you mentioned before, you work in a team with your partner, João Miller, is that right? And how do you, I'm always curious about directing teams because directing is so much exalted as literally an auteur. It's one vision. And directing teams clearly, that's a split vision that somehow you have to share. How do you divide the duties on the set? So this time we tried not to divide duties. That was the agreement. In the past you did? Yeah, in the past I was more with the characters. He was more close to the DOP and to the shot, and... And this time we said, "Let's not do it. Let's, let's really share everything."- So, I don't want to be...- Why? Because it was a interest that we both had. So it's nice to to do everything. It's not, it's not good when you just do that. And then and then you see"How is it? Okay." And... So. We tried to really do everything together. I think it was sometimes harder for the actresses because we asked, you know, "Can you also do it like this and can you also do it?"- So we tried different things.- Really?- So it's like you both have...- Rhythms and little things, but, you know, we... And we did DOP also, sometimes we did Okay, let's do what Filipa is asking. And then what João's asking asking, and then we'll see, and... So everything took twice as long, potentially. Not twice as long, but was negotiated. Which I think, it's for me it was more pleasurable to to be a part of. What do you think it...- Was it equally so for João?- I think so, yes. No, no, I think so. You discuss more so it's a bit like more, okay, now he wants, now she doesn't. But I think, I think it's more fun and you're really doing the whole thing, you know, not just... But am I getting this right also, that you're like going to the actors and it's kind of like, "Could you do it? Could you give one for João and one for me?" Not exactly like that, but can you do one like slowly or can we, you know, change something or can you not? You know, like these kind of adjustments.- So...- We have to ask them if they understood that it was one for João and for Filipa. But we didn't shot like twice everything. No, no, no. So, you've mentioned this already. It's one of the things is that you're exploring here is aging. And the issues of aging. You were looking for this character who could decay throughout the film. And I'm noticing at this Cannes that there's a lot of this. And it's not just from older directors. There seems to be a focus on aging, sort of re... looking at your life and seeing whether you made the right choices or deciding all of a sudden, as in the case of some of the characters in this movie, that they're going to do something different with their lives. What do you think is going on? Is there something in the air where we're just kind of like, you know, let's screw the past, let's figure out how we make what remains of our lives worth it? I don't know about the others, but on our case there was... So João's father passed away and this had a big impact in both our lives. It was very sudden. So it's something that we were digesting when we started thinking on the film. So I... It's, it was pretty much with us. And I think that also... Regarding to the character of Ana and this is decision and you know to... stay in a certain age and rethink your life. So yes, I think it's, we are in an age that you think, you think about it. You think, okay, what am I going to do now? Filipa Reis, her new film with João Miller Guerra is called <i>Légua</i>, look for it this coming year. Meanwhile, this episode of the MUBI Podcast was written and hosted by me, Rico Gagliano. Kira McEniff produced along with Elodie Fagan and Josefina Perez-Portillo. Sean Holdsworth edited the show and Michelle Cho is our supervising editor. Yuri Suzuki composed our theme music. Our camera crew in Cannes included Cedric Cédric Hazard, Alice Desplats, Rob Godfrey, Solal Coulon and Mathis Toti. Special thanks to MUBI's additional team in Cannes, Eric Issenberg, Sam Leter and Ilyass Malki. This series is executive produced by me, along with Jon Barrenechea, Efe Çakarel, Daniel Kasman and Michael Tacca. If you're a Spanish speaker, our sister show MUBI Podcast Encuentros is also posting interviews taped at Cannes with Latin American filmmakers. Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, to stream the best in cinema, head over to MUBI.com to start watching. Next episode, I talk to Hungary's legendary Oscar nominated filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, about the giant challenges of making short films. Until then, go watch some movies.