Italian film director Luca Guadagnino, lauded for films such as ‘I Am Love’ and ‘A Bigger Splash’, talks about his style, his influences, and why he is keen to resist any firm conclusions that his audience might draw about his work.
INTERVIEW BY ZEYNEP EREKLİ
A phone call from Istanbul to Milan, on the other end of the line is Luca Guadagnino, one of the most productive and successful directors in contemporary world cinema. Only the week before we speak, Guadagnino’s latest movie Call Me By Your Name was screened at Sundance, to much acclaim. Since the autumn of 2016, he has been in Varese, Italy busy filming Suspiria, and it is there that we speak. In a couple of days’ time he will be on his way to the Berlinale for the European premiere of Call Me By Your Name. As becomes clear, Guadagnino is rather preoccupied dealing with two films simultaneously. In the short time he can spare us, he offers an insight into the poignant creative world that makes him one of the most important directors of our time.
“What interests me is analysing the dynamics that bring these people together and how eventually everything falls apart.”
Desire plays a very significant role in many of your films, and it’s a desire that breaks traditional divisions between old and young, poor and rich, and so. Why is it so important for you to speak about desire?
I think it’s more about an instinctual field of choice; it’s not something that happens to be thought about, in a cold and distinctive way. I end up doing what I really want to do as a filmmaker. My decisions are not based on calculations. Probably, my continuous interest into the dynamics of desire is coming from a Freudian idea that desire is a very strong force that drives in our lives. I feel it’s a space of interest that is related to human. And I like to think of my movies as an attempt to tell stories of human beings.
Most of your stories are set among the bourgeoisie and haute bourgeoisie settings.
Well, to be honest I wouldn’t agree with you. Many of my movies are about artist, about intellectuals or common people. It happened in a couple of films likeI Am Love and A Bigger Splash. Among their protagonist there are people of certain degree of elitism. But I wouldn’t look at the social background of these people. What interests me is analysing the dynamics that bring these people together and how eventually everything falls apart. Probably, this is a better way to see my work. The terrain upon which I decided to put some of the characters in some of my movies.
I Am Love is about an act of freedom against the constriction of a class. A Bigger Splash is about the end of the liberty of doing whatever you want when the others doesn’t want what you want. None of them was about bourgeoisie. People that are the most neglected are eventually the people with no means. Those that cannot speak their voices are those who don't have access to wealth. But this is reality, it's not a statement that comes from my movies.
Italian film director Luca Guadagnino, lauded for films such as ‘I Am Love’ and ‘A Bigger Splash’, talks about his style, his influences, and why he is keen to resist any firm conclusions that his audience might draw about his work.
INTERVIEW BY ZEYNEP EREKLİ
A phone call from Istanbul to Milan, on the other end of the line is Luca Guadagnino, one of the most productive and successful directors in contemporary world cinema. Only the week before we speak, Guadagnino’s latest movie Call Me By Your Name was screened at Sundance, to much acclaim. Since the autumn of 2016, he has been in Varese, Italy busy filming Suspiria, and it is there that we speak. In a couple of days’ time he will be on his way to the Berlinale for the European premiere of Call Me By Your Name. As becomes clear, Guadagnino is rather preoccupied dealing with two films simultaneously. In the short time he can spare us, he offers an insight into the poignant creative world that makes him one of the most important directors of our time.
“What interests me is analysing the dynamics that bring these people together and how eventually everything falls apart.”
Desire plays a very significant role in many of your films, and it’s a desire that breaks traditional divisions between old and young, poor and rich, and so. Why is it so important for you to speak about desire?
I think it’s more about an instinctual field of choice; it’s not something that happens to be thought about, in a cold and distinctive way. I end up doing what I really want to do as a filmmaker. My decisions are not based on calculations. Probably, my continuous interest into the dynamics of desire is coming from a Freudian idea that desire is a very strong force that drives in our lives. I feel it’s a space of interest that is related to human. And I like to think of my movies as an attempt to tell stories of human beings.
Most of your stories are set among the bourgeoisie and haute bourgeoisie settings.
Well, to be honest I wouldn’t agree with you. Many of my movies are about artist, about intellectuals or common people. It happened in a couple of films likeI Am Love and A Bigger Splash. Among their protagonist there are people of certain degree of elitism. But I wouldn’t look at the social background of these people. What interests me is analysing the dynamics that bring these people together and how eventually everything falls apart. Probably, this is a better way to see my work. The terrain upon which I decided to put some of the characters in some of my movies.
I Am Love is about an act of freedom against the constriction of a class. A Bigger Splash is about the end of the liberty of doing whatever you want when the others doesn’t want what you want. None of them was about bourgeoisie. People that are the most neglected are eventually the people with no means. Those that cannot speak their voices are those who don't have access to wealth. But this is reality, it's not a statement that comes from my movies.
Italian film director Luca Guadagnino, lauded for films such as ‘I Am Love’ and ‘A Bigger Splash’, talks about his style, his influences, and why he is keen to resist any firm conclusions that his audience might draw about his work.
INTERVIEW BY ZEYNEP EREKLİ
A phone call from Istanbul to Milan, on the other end of the line is Luca Guadagnino, one of the most productive and successful directors in contemporary world cinema. Only the week before we speak, Guadagnino’s latest movie Call Me By Your Name was screened at Sundance, to much acclaim. Since the autumn of 2016, he has been in Varese, Italy busy filming Suspiria, and it is there that we speak. In a couple of days’ time he will be on his way to the Berlinale for the European premiere of Call Me By Your Name. As becomes clear, Guadagnino is rather preoccupied dealing with two films simultaneously. In the short time he can spare us, he offers an insight into the poignant creative world that makes him one of the most important directors of our time.
“What interests me is analysing the dynamics that bring these people together and how eventually everything falls apart.”
Desire plays a very significant role in many of your films, and it’s a desire that breaks traditional divisions between old and young, poor and rich, and so. Why is it so important for you to speak about desire?
I think it’s more about an instinctual field of choice; it’s not something that happens to be thought about, in a cold and distinctive way. I end up doing what I really want to do as a filmmaker. My decisions are not based on calculations. Probably, my continuous interest into the dynamics of desire is coming from a Freudian idea that desire is a very strong force that drives in our lives. I feel it’s a space of interest that is related to human. And I like to think of my movies as an attempt to tell stories of human beings.
Most of your stories are set among the bourgeoisie and haute bourgeoisie settings.
Well, to be honest I wouldn’t agree with you. Many of my movies are about artist, about intellectuals or common people. It happened in a couple of films likeI Am Love and A Bigger Splash. Among their protagonist there are people of certain degree of elitism. But I wouldn’t look at the social background of these people. What interests me is analysing the dynamics that bring these people together and how eventually everything falls apart. Probably, this is a better way to see my work. The terrain upon which I decided to put some of the characters in some of my movies.
I Am Love is about an act of freedom against the constriction of a class. A Bigger Splash is about the end of the liberty of doing whatever you want when the others doesn’t want what you want. None of them was about bourgeoisie. People that are the most neglected are eventually the people with no means. Those that cannot speak their voices are those who don't have access to wealth. But this is reality, it's not a statement that comes from my movies.
POSITOPIA
17
OUT NOW
is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.
Address
Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 232 4288
contact@212magazine.com
POSITOPIA
17
OUT NOW
is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.
Address
Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 232 4288
contact@212magazine.com
POSITOPIA
17
OUT NOW
is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.
Address
Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 232 4288
contact@212magazine.com