MONDAIN VERLANGEN
Mundane Desire
Short fiction film
10 minutes
2023
Synopsis
Two voice-overs bring to life an abandoned castle, where a young woman, Violante, grows up and falls in love with Honoré. This artistic period piece is also a letter to the cinematic form of Marguerite Duras: how can we still make a film in a castle with costumes today? The short is also based on Marcel Proust's short story "La Mondanité” (i.e. “High Society”).
Director's statement
I am very interested in Romanticism. In the first instance, for me that means the yearning for nature that comes from a kind of Weltschmerz about modern existence and return to something restful, as a critique of modern society. But in the second instance, this return is also something incorrect. It carries a misunderstanding of what nature and tranquility actually are. Romanticism struggles to distinguish between dreams and reality.
Proust's short story "La Mondanité" deals with exactly these two sides. Violante has trouble separating the two worlds: dream and reality. The reality of her love for Honoré does not match her desires. I tried to tell that in this film by also creating two worlds: one in sound and one in image. What we hear is not always what we see. And what we see is not always what we hear. A certain world comes to life in this way, not only on the screen, but especially in the viewer's sensation.
This makes this film (both in theme and form) a letter to the films of Marguerite Duras. It tries to deal with the question of how we can still make costume dramas today. Perhaps that can only be done by demonstrating its impermanence; in a self-reflexive guise where the voice-overs are merely exaggerated subtractions of the voice-overs in Duras's films.
Director: Theo Warnier
Production: Theo Warnier, KASK & Conservatorium
Recognition
Short list - Visions du Réel (Switzerland, 2024)