Three years after her Oscar nomination for her short film daisythe filmmaker and actress Marianne Farley proposes a first feature film, North of Albanyin which she was inspired by an agonizing mishap in the Adirondacks park a few years ago to explore the themes of flight, parenthood and non-communicativeness. The newspaper met her.
With kind approval
Marianne Farley
North of Albany tells the story of a single mother who flees Montreal with her teenager and daughter. Where did the idea for the film come from?
“About eight years ago my car broke down in the Adirondacks on my way home from my brother who lived in New Jersey. I felt trapped in a place I didn’t want to stay. It was super stressful. But at the same time I found the experience thematically and dramaturgically rich. The director Claude Brie, my boys’ father, picked me up in the US and when I came back I said to him: We’re going to make a film about it.
In the film, the mother decides to flee to protect her daughter who was caught up in an altercation gone awry. But maybe it’s not the best decision?
“I hadn’t done a film that talked about parenting and motherhood and I felt like exploring that because it’s something I experience as a mother. It’s complex being a parent. Sometimes you think you’re making the best decision for your child and two years later you realize that wasn’t the case. You have your own prejudices, your own contradictions, your own mistakes that stand in the way of making the right decision. In the film, the mother is determined to be there for her daughter and make the right decision to save her. But she ends up doing the worst thing: teaching him to run away when life isn’t going well. Ultimately, I believe that we pass on to our children what we have not resolved within ourselves.
Like your short films, the film is set up like a thriller…
“I think it’s something I do subconsciously. I really like keeping information. As a spectator, I don’t like being taken by the hand and having everything explained to me. I like to discover as I go, and I like the things left unsaid, which probably contributes to the tension we find in my films. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen too many Hitchcock movies!
It is Celine Bonnier who plays the role of the mother. But this character was written for you first?
“It’s true that it was originally written for me. Klaus [Brie] was going to direct the movie and I would play the lead. Then finally, a few years ago, I wanted to make my first feature film and we kind of pulled this project out of the drawer. And it is certain that from the moment I made the film I would not act in it again. I was co-producing, scripting and directing during a pandemic, that was enough work! If I had had to stand in front of the camera as well, it would have been really too exhausting.
How do you see the impact of your 2019 Oscar nomination on your directing career?
“It certainly didn’t hurt. We talked a lot about Marguerite and it gave me credibility as a director that I wouldn’t have had easily. But at the same time, that doesn’t automatically allow me to get financing. It’s an environment that’s not obvious to anyone, even if you’ve been to the Oscars.
You started out as an actress, but now you seem to be working more as a director. did you give up the game
“I’ve had less time to work as an actress in recent years, but I did the Transplant series this year and really enjoyed it. I hadn’t acted since the film Ours (2020) and it felt good. It was fun coming on set and just doing one thing and just being happy and listening. So I have no intention of putting acting aside. I like it too much.”
♦ North of Albany hits theaters on December 2nd.