Filmmaker Statement

At times when I've felt very alone, I've met someone who has made me feel like they could fill whatever hole I had in my life. Of course, looking back, I realize that they were placeholders of a sort for something bigger that was missing - more a band aid that provided a temporary sense of relief than a solution to the actual problem. However, that doesn't make those encounters any less meaningful to me. In this short, I wanted to capture in this film - the experience of being with someone in a very intimate way, and yet, simultaneously, feeling more alone than ever when you are with them. I was attracted to the idea of bringing two people from entirely different worlds together. Agnès is a wealthy woman living in the shadow of her absent husband, and Jean is a hooker in a fairytale-like Bois de Boulogne who has found a family of sorts in his all female colleagues. During the single night they spend together, they are both gently forced out of their comfort zones and thrust into the intimacy of one another’ lives. I also loved playing with audiences' expectations through gender role reversal – most films I’ve seen with sex workers depict a man picking up a female worker. What if a woman paid for a man? How would that be different? Would she want the same thing out of him? I grew up in a very female household that stretched over three generations. The women who raised me are both staunchly independent and deeply romantic, loyal to the men in their lives long after they left. It was important to me that Agnès reflect this point of contention: a mixture of the traditional, withdrawn wife, and the strong woman who exerts her power over Jean in subtle but firm ways. Ultimately, it is really Agnès who runs the show, and who gets what she wants out of that night. Jean’s character came to me when my friend, Mikaël Mittelstadt, kept telling me Mastroianni's definition of an actor: "The actor (...) is a whore, because a whore never say no, she’s always up for anything. » I wanted to explore this idea and see what happens to a whore – or an actor – when their usual tricks fail to please. How far will they go to seduce and win someone over, at the risk of exposing their true selves? Is it worth the cost? And what reward do they stand to gain out of this transaction? Several Italian movies inspired me, notably Ettore Scola’s A Special Day, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and his Brothers and Senso. More recent references include Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain and Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone. Visually, Fellini, and Todd Haynes’ Carol. The goal was to make a film was where nothing happens, while in fact, a whole lot happens. It was not intended to be realistic - the aesthetic is imbued with fairy tale references, and the characters are romanticized. But what they are feeling is real, and hopefully, comes across as such to the audience.