MONTREAL - It?s all about the bug.
British filmmaker Chris Swanton always wondered why no one had ever made an English feature film directly based on (not loosely adapted from) Franz Kafka?s classic short story Metamorphosis ? until he began shooting his own true-to-the-text version that will have its world premiere at the Festival des films du Monde on Friday.
?Now I know why nobody else has done it,? he said, with a laugh, as we settled into our chairs in the bar of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
In Kafka?s story, the narrative revolves around a large insect, formerly a human being of the hard-working male bachelor variety. ?As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect,? runs the famous first line of the tale, which was written in 1912 and published, in German as Die Verwandlung, in Prague, in 1915.
At first, the toughest decision he had to make, Swanton said, was whether the creature should be seen or merely heard. Then, having decided to make him visible, the challenge became how to represent him. In British playwright Steven Berkoff?s 1969 play, the actor is required to move like a cockroach or beetle, without benefit of costume or special makeup.
For film, however, a more authentic parasite seemed appropriate. Swanton?s team researched for months before coming up with a bug shot that appealed to them. ?We didn?t want to make him too much like a real insect,? he said. ?Yet he had to be believable. So it was a weird compromise. I would say it?s about 70 per cent accurate as an insect; the head and things like that. We just gave him more of a human face. He?s a bit like a pet, really.? (Not one that you would want in your lap.)
?We started with a (stuffed) puppet, but it fell apart and didn?t work,? he admitted. Luckily they already had a CGI (computer generated imagery) company on-site to help with the leg movements. So Swanton opted for a completely computer-generated insect that looks somewhat like a humongous louse, but is actually a hybrid creation, with gentle, saucer-like eyes.
In this delicately crafted film, Gregor the bug (with voice by Paul Thornley) is surrounded and supported by a fine cast of British actors, notably Robert Pugh as the baffled father; Maureen Lipman as the fearful, but devoted mother; and Lara Rees as the violin-playing sister who grows impatient with her transformed sibling.
Swanton said he chose to present, rather than interpret the story to let us make up our own minds about it.
?Poor old Gregor has been supporting his family to the best of his abilities for the last five years. This is what?s behind this whole thing. He wakes up one day and says, ?I can?t do this anymore.? I think the key thing is that Gregor hates his job; he?s doing it purely to fulfill the responsibilities he feels he owes to his family.?
Whether Metamorphosis is taken as a socialistic worker?s lament, an existentialist ode, or an absurdist comedy, it has a lasting, universal allure. Everyone has woken up to a bad day, reluctant to look in the mirror.
Swanton, a soft-spoken man in his early 60s, said his obsession with Metamorphosis dates back to his student days. He began his career as an academic (PhD in German from King?s College, London) and studied theatre with Brecht?s Berliner Ensemble, but ended up spending most of his working life (17 years) as a sound and picture editor at the BBC. He admits his connection with the Kafka novella might have intensified during the years he stayed on the BBC, after the circa 1980s cutbacks began and the creative thrill was gone to support his family. He?s now a father of five, grandfather of 10.
For years, Swanton said, he tried to persuade someone at the BBC to take up the Metamorphosis project, but to no avail. It was only after he took an early retirement buyout that he decided to pursue a second career and direct it himself.
The budget was in the million-dollar range, most of it out of his own pocket ? after selling two real estate properties. The rest came from some friends from the BBC, the British Film Council and the CGI company (Rockkiss Digital Media Entertainment Ltd.) that created Gregor.
?As co-producers, we managed to put this thing together,? he said.
This film?s potential market value, as Swanton well knows, lies in the art-house circuit, public television and as a DVD for educational purposes.
Shot in muted colours, with keen attention to period dress and clocking in at about 110 minutes, it?s very much the stuff of Masterpiece Theatre. This could ensure it a long life, if not an instantly profitable one.
To Swanton, Metamorphosis was just one of those things he had to do or spend the rest of his life regretting it. ?This is my first and last adventure,? he said. Or, if there?s a next time, he?s going to make sure someone else puts up all of the money.
Metamorphosis screens Friday at 9:30 p.m., Saturday. at 2:30 p.m., Sunday. at 4:30 p.m. at Cin?ma Quartier Latin.
pdonnell@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: @patstagepage
? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
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