00:00The way the film is shot reflects Linda's confused and emotional state.
00:04Yes.
00:05How did you approach this aesthetic choice and what were you interested in exploring?
00:11So, using close-ups was a tool that I always knew from the very first draft of the script
00:19that I wanted to use to achieve what I was trying to do,
00:22which was putting the viewer actually almost inside of this character's mind.
00:30So we're not watching her from the outside, we're not observing her,
00:34we are inside, almost inside of her body.
00:38I love the theatre, I love all kinds of performance,
00:41but close-ups are a cinematic language that we can only use in film.
00:46And what I wanted to do is even play with the idea of the close-up for this idea that I had.
00:55So, you know, the movie opens with what one thinks of as a standard close-up.
01:01It's close.
01:03And then I get closer and closer and closer until we're right up in her eye.
01:07And for me, that was me telling the viewer,
01:10this is the type of movie that you're about to watch.
01:13We are going to get to know every part of this woman's face,
01:18every pore on her skin.
01:20And I'm going to make you look at her pain, not just look at it,
01:27I'm going to make you get inside of it and experience it.
01:31There's a scene, a dialogue between Linda and the mother of our newborn Riley.
01:37In that scene, Linda gives her some advice but seems to be talking to herself
01:44and probably not only to herself.
01:46So I'd like to wonder, for you, what's at stake in that scene?
01:50I love that question.
01:52That speech was always something we had circled.
01:56Like, who is she talking to?
01:58And playing with those ideas a little bit.
02:00She sort of starts, I think, with an intention to, you know, help.
02:04And then it quickly dissolves into something else.
02:08And who is she talking?
02:09Is she talking to the patient?
02:10Is she talking about herself?
02:11Is she talking about something else entirely?
02:13Like, it becomes a little, very abstract.
02:16And I loved playing with those ideas.
02:19Like, we pushed it further, but we're pulling it back.
02:22Like, just figuring out the tone of it.
02:24And then, obviously, with the camera, does so much of the work, too,
02:27because the camera is, you know, coming in.
02:30And it was...
02:31That's sort of early in the film, too.
02:32It's a really early sort of establishing, seeing a little bit what is going on
02:36and what...
02:38It's also scary.
02:39There's something about that beat that's a little bit of a horror trope, too.
02:43And that is what I loved, as well, because it kind of went...
02:46There's something about that that was a little bit scary, too,
02:49because it's like she's not in control of herself
02:51and she's not in control of her reality at this point.
02:54And we're establishing that, I think, in that beat.
02:57Yeah.
02:58Caregiver burnout is rarely portrayed in a film,
03:02even though it's widespread and often inadequately addressed the issue today.
03:08So what do you think Linda's story should teach us about this topic?
03:13That's a great question.
03:15That, you know, there's a lot of type of caregivers in the film
03:19and a lot of things that we're talking about.
03:23So there's motherhood, there's doctors, there's therapists,
03:29there's even the child that sometimes seems to be taking care of her own mother,
03:35which should not be happening.
03:37and all of these people are burned out.
03:41And I think that something important to say about that topic is that people need help.
03:51Even if you're not in a extreme crisis like Linda is,
03:55people need to be able to ask for help without shame
03:59and receive help without being embarrassed about it.
04:05And I think that in the movie, what I tried to do was surround Linda with so many people,
04:11so many helpers, so many resources, but she's not in a place where she can receive any of them.
04:19Because what she actually wants is for somebody to validate her.
04:23And I think with burnout, that is very important to be able to say,
04:27you know what, this is really hard, what you're doing.
04:31And it's okay that you're angry.
04:33And it's okay that you're upset.
04:35That's normal in this situation.
04:37And I think often we don't do that.
04:40Yeah, I agree.
04:41It's a comment on a kind of pandemic of this situation of people who are burnt out and not getting help
04:50and not like, not the conversation, but there's no structure in governments to help this, particularly in America.
04:55You know, it's a terrible situation, those things.
04:57So this does, just puts a bit of a spotlight on that.
05:01Yeah.
05:02Thank you.
