Some time ago, the Spanish suspense film [Invisible Guest] made many fans excited, it accurately completed the creation of the genre level, and there was no lack of creators' expression of social reality. "Watching a Movie: Midnight Field" had the honor of interviewing orioLe Paul, a young director from Spain, who talked in detail about suspense, truth and expression.
How did the story of [The Female Corpse Mystery Case] come to mind, and where did it get its inspiration?
Oreo Paul: [The Female Corpse Mystery Case] was conceived from a novel by a Russian writer, referring to a psychological report about what to do if all the dead in the world disappeared? This question led me to think that there was a corpse that disappeared in a space, and thus began the story of the [Female Corpse Mystery Case].
A corpse is gone, which is equivalent to the biggest suspense of this film, how do you set up the suspense and let the suspense affect the whole story?
Oriol Paul: In setting up the suspense part, I value the first five minutes of the film the most, and the first five minutes must be clear about the things and problems, and I use a script writing technique called "What if...". Of course, it is more important that the ending must clearly explain what the answer is, so that the audience can see it clearly, and it is a surprise. Between the beginning and the end, I built a bridge, adding my plot and reversals to it, which is a very important secret of my suspense. Second, I will show the audience a lot, but in fact, the side that I really want to express in my heart is hidden under the surface, and it will slowly float upwards, that is, what I see for you must not be true, and the truth is always hidden below.
[Invisible guest]
The truth of [The Mystery of the Female Corpse] and [The Invisible Guest] all erupt in the finale, but it has always been constantly overturning the truth and establishing the truth, how do you think about the truth?
Oriol Paul: First of all, my understanding of the truth is that the truth is the ultimate goal, the real core, and other things such as overturning the truth, establishing another truth, etc., are all built around the circle of the truth itself, built on the side. For example, Mario Casas (the [invisible guest] male protagonist) said one thing, everyone saw a truth, the lawyer said another thing, everyone saw another truth, just like in court, the prosecution said one thing, said it was true, the other party said one thing, also said it was true, everyone kept going back and forth around one thing, and finally kept moving closer to the real truth.
[Female Corpse Mystery Case]
How did the story of the [invisible guest] come to mind?
Oriol Paul: First of all, based on my crazy love of detective fiction as a child, I started reading works by Agatha Christie and others at the age of 14. I especially enjoyed reading stories about murders in the Chamber of Secrets, which attracted me so much that I kept reading them because I especially wanted to know the answers. But I don't see a lot of films about chamber cases, so I want to use these works I saw as a child to make a room case, and I want to have a better presentation.
[The Invisible Guest] is translated from English, what does the Spanish title of the film mean?
Oriol Paul: The original Spanish name is Contratiempo, one layer means "accident, disaster", the other layer can not be described in words, it is related to time, the stopwatch time in the film 180 minutes echoes the Spanish title.
What are the films that have had a greater impact on this film?
Oriol Paul: [The Secret History of Rolla] (directed by Otto Preminger, 1944), [Death of a Cyclist] (directed by Juan Antonio Balden, 1955), [Footprints] (Joseph Prémigné) Director L. Mankiewicz, 1972), [Very Suspect] (directed by Brian Singer, 1995).
[Lola's Secret History]
[The Death of a Cyclist] is an important work in Spanish film history, how did it specifically affect [the invisible guest]?
Oriol Paul: [The Death of a Cyclist] was filmed in the Franco period, equivalent to the Spanish Civil War, and a lot of people didn't pay attention to the film, and the impact was relatively small, so I wanted to make a work to pay tribute. Second, [The Death of a Cyclist] is also about a couple, and there is also an extramarital affair, but it just hit the bicycle, which is related to my design. I wanted to intersperse some new elements into it, like I had the driver in the film, the witness.
[Death of a Cyclist]
[Female corpse mystery case], [invisible guest] are all about a couple, but also involved in extramarital affairs, such a character setting and relationship, do you have any special consideration?
Oriol Paul: (laughs) I'm not married and I've never lived a life like this, just kidding. There is really a reason for the setting of the extramarital affair, because at the beginning of the film you know that the male protagonist is an extramarital affair, this person is a liar, because he cheated on his marriage, so you will think that everything he does is cheating, this one lie, continue to make up nonsense after the crash, continue to lie, continue to let the audience know that the root of this person is getting worse and worse, getting worse and worse.
There are a lot of elaborate props in [The Mystery of the Female Corpse] and [Invisible Guests], they reveal clues and involve the relationship between the characters, what is the ideation of these props?
Oriol Paul: My films have always wanted people to think that the truth is hidden in the details, and the most important thing for everyone to pay attention to is the details, so the setting of all these small props is very necessary. Second, in the 6 months that I wrote the script of [Invisible Guest], I have perfected these props very carefully, and they are all written on the script, because this drama leads everyone to find the truth through details, so I am very careful in the details of props.
Are there any new projects coming soon?
Oriol Paul: The next one will still have suspenseful reasoning, but not as the main element, but as a love science fiction film with a reasoning component.
You are making genre films, there are many genre films in Spain, suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction and other genres, what do you think is the reason behind it?
Oriol Paul: First of all, the Spanish film market is relatively independent, we have a lot of freedom to do the films we want to make, which may not be the same as in some other countries, we are more concerned with doing our own things from personal preferences, which is also related to our culture and customs. Secondly, I am very grateful for the fact that the society is now developing very fast, and the young directors who are growing up are particularly rich in what they have absorbed and seen, and their creative inspiration has become more diverse.
Oriol Paul's Spanish Film List:
[Death of a Cyclist] Muerte deun ciclista (1955)
[Executioner] El Verdugo(1963)
¿Quiénpuede matar a un niño? (1976)
[Death Papers] Tesis (1996)
[Man with a Thousand Faces] El hombre delas mil caras (2016)
[May God forgive us] Que Diosnos perdone (2016)
[Belated Rage] Tarde parala ira (2016)