Women Changing Reality in American Cinema: Interview with the "Farewell" Director

"Farewell" is one of the most talked about films of the year, and has also earned its star Aquapina in the Golden Globe. In an exclusive interview on his departure in Israel, screenwriter-director Lulu Wang explains why it's so important to portray American women of Asian descent and why Israelis can also connect to her story

Women Changing Reality in American Cinema: Interview with the "Farewell" Director

Chinese families, it turns out, are not very different from Polish families. When filmmaker Lulu Wang grew up in the United States as the daughter of a couple who emigrated from China, they bought her a piano, cast their hands on it, and reacted passively-aggressively as she tried to break away from it. "From the age of four, I had to practice it every day for an hour until I was twenty, even when I didn't want to," she says in an interview with Walla! culture. "My parents would tell me 'You can retire if you want, but you know we gave up everything for this piano. Feel free to throw it away, but just remember how much we sacrificed for it. Most of my life, I was driven out of guilt. I loved and hated the piano, but in retrospect it is Teaching me discipline, and it really helps me as a screenwriter, because writing screenplays requires you to be able to break away from everything, to sit on the butt, spend time properly and get better. "

Wang's diligence paid off. Her debut work, "Posthumous," came out five years ago and was widely appreciated, though it did not leave any resonance, and this year the big break has already arrived, thanks to her second film, "The Farewell," which airs here this weekend. Since his debut at the Sundance Festival a year ago, he has become one of the most talked-about products of American industry in recent times, receiving widespread criticism, extensive media coverage, fine commercial achievements, and numerous nominations and awards. Being a Chinese speaker, he was nominated for the Golden Globe in the foreign language film category (and lost to "The Presets"), and his star Aquapina even made history by becoming the first Asian-winning actress in the comedy film actress category.

The film presents a story that sounds fantastic, but is based on events that happened in reality. Aquapina portrays the screenwriter-director: American young woman, immigrant daughter from China. Her grandmother stayed in the homeland, and when it is revealed that she is about to die soon, doctors forbid the family to tell her the bitter gospel, out of Chinese tradition whereby the dying are not informed. Her relatives are still looking for a way to gather all her offspring, scattered around the world, to say goodbye to her, and they find an excuse: the wedding of one of their family members. The wedding takes place in China, and in addition to being a wedding ceremony, it is also a farewell ceremony for the beloved grandmother, who then turns out to have some surprises up her sleeve.

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Based on a true story, or rather, a true lie. From "The Separation" (Photo: PR)

The separation (Photo: New Cinema, PR)

The trip to China also allows the heroine to experience cultural gaps and generations and to formulate her personal identity - processes that Lulu Wang went through herself. I meet her at the Zurich Festival, one of the many cinema events where "separation" has been screened over the past year, and she tells a small group of journalists from across Europe and me that the script is almost entirely autobiographical. "The family in this movie is my family. My great-aunt even embodies herself. We shot in my grandmother's house, and her character is the same in reality," says the filmmaker in an interview for Walla! culture. "So, too, are my feelings, and so are the questions - what is it like to be an immigrant, what is it to be away from home, away from the roots. I didn't do a film degree. My first film was school for me, followed by the realization that I wanted to do something personal. A movie about my family. I thought it was funny, and when it happened to my grandmother, I thought it was a good situation to base a script on, because I could explore issues like my relationship with my family and China, and the dynamics between East and West. "

Of course, in the current climate, the way to make a movie was not easy. "When I presented the projects, producers asked me if it was a Chinese or American movie. They said if it was a Chinese movie, I can't be the heroine, because my point of view is American - but if it's an American movie, everyone has to speak English. And American as well, because it's my experience and a lot of other people's, "she recalls. "They told me it didn't work, and I asked if they said so because my writing was bad, or that they were not sons of Chinese immigrants, and did not know this experience. I fought for it - and I won, and it proves worthwhile to fight for your truth."

Wang's family, too, she raised eyebrows. "When I told my dad about the movie, he asked if I was being paid. When he told me he did, he said 'Well, now you can pay rent.' He didn't think anyone would be interested in this story, but after the Sundance festival premiere, when he saw the reactions around, he realized it was A story that a lot of people connect with. It was important for me to read the script, and after reading it, told me it was completely authentic, and I didn't overdo it at all. "

Aquapina, which was revealed to the general public in "Ocean 8" and "Surprisingly Rich," is one of the most thriving actresses in the US industry, and also stars in the "Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens" series this week. In "The Separation," she completes her becoming a heroine of a culture that we haven't seen before on screens. "It was very important to me to design the heroine as someone very New York, but also very Asian," says Wang. "You never see New Yorkers of Asian descent on screen, even if there are many. It was important for me to make the heroine grow up in America, and feel like an outsider in China. It was a challenge for me, because if you take Scarlett Johansson to China, it's obviously an outside fish But how does the general public feel about someone who looks like Aquapina? Therefore, her New York behavior is extroverted and bold - body gesture, speech-cutting, attire. It's all very American. Her attire, black and white, monochromatic, very New York style as well. The colorfulness of her Chinese family. "

"My dad didn't understand why anyone would be interested in our story." Lulu Wang (Photo: Imagebank)

Lulu Wang (Photo: GettyImages)

During the whole wonderful journey the movie went through, were you particularly exciting moments?

"When a white man sees another white man's movie, he doesn't come and tell him, 'Well done, you're doing this for more people.' It's like no one treats drinking water as something special, because we've been drinking water all my life. Asian women came and said to me, "This is the first time I see myself and my family on screen," which was very exciting. The problem now is that in all the interviews on the film, I only talk about representation questions. Nobody comes to white men and asks them " Hey, what's your perspective on female characters. "They talk about camera movements."

Let's talk about the camera really, and the music, too.

"I worked with photographer Anna Francqua Solano. We used very wide frames because the family actually raises a show for the grandmother, and I wanted there to be a theatrical feeling, like we were watching them on stage and they were playing in front of us. About the music, I wanted to use it to express the inner world of the characters, Express her words that they don't say, the crying they don't cry. "

The Israeli premiere of the film took place at the Jerusalem Festival, and I spoke to her afterwards with people who are immigrants or sons of immigrants themselves, though not from China, and they nevertheless identified with and connected with him. Did you mean that he had a universal dimension?

"When you tell a story, you can't tell how others will react. I tried to be as specific as possible. White producers told me, 'People won't understand, you have to explain to them all the Chinese nuances.' About things I haven't experienced, but understand them and learn them through watching. It's like learning while on a trip. When I'm in China, I don't understand why the wedding at 12 noon and why they eat one or the other, and nobody explains to me - I study and understand on my own. Want the audience to experience that too, and the more specific and personal the story, the more universal it is, because you give people points to connect with Them. When a particular story, is just a generic ".

"I am treated as cute. I am cute, but also angry." Lulu Wang (Photo: Imagebank)

Lulu Wang (Photo: GettyImages)

In connection with all this, why do Chinese doctors forbid meat dying for its fate?

"Because the Chinese strongly believe in the connection between the body and the soul and the power of thought. They think that if you think you are going to die, you will really die, but if you think you will be fine, you might really be fine."

The Girl On Tops venture, which produces shirts with the names of female moviegoers, recently printed a shirt with your name, alongside legendary filmmakers such as Anise Verde and Emma Thompson. How do you feel about it?

"It's crazy. It's very weird. I don't feel like I'm on any of those names. There are a few women in the industry, lightweight and non-white women. We need as much as we can. When I'm in China, people tell me, 'You don't look American.' Because they grew up on an American culture that portrays American women in a very particular way. If we don't start telling other stories, people won't see reality the way it is. Because I'm a low-floor Asian woman, people think I'm very cute, and not really cute. "But that doesn't mean I can be reduced. I can also stand up and be angry when needed."

You do it on your Twitter sometimes.

"Yeah, I always tweet when I'm drunk, not sure that's a good idea."

Almost a year after Sundance, it's finally coming to Israel. From "The Separation" (Photo: PR)

The separation (Photo: New Cinema, PR)

How do you look at the piano story afterwards?

"I think he largely symbolizes the dynamics between different generations of immigration. The first generation struggles and does the battles, and then the second generation is in conflict: on the other, he has to carry the victim's baggage they did for him, but on the other, he wants to be a normal child like Everyone, and mostly just doing what he wants, without the commitment of wanting his parents all the time. "

"I always tweet when I'm drunk." Lulu Wang (Photo: Imagebank)

Lulu Wang (Photo: GettyImages)