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CL: How did you hear of Catherine Robbe-Grillet?
LM: On Wednesday 14th of November 2007, a studio program called "Les tabous du plaisir féminin" ("Taboos around female pleasure") was broadcast on Channel 3 in France.

In a silky soft voice, one of the guests tells a story about whipping a young, black, half naked man who is chained by the quay on the river Seine. The scene is lit by the river boats that pass regularly.

The woman is the author Catherine Robbe-Grillet and she is depicting a personal erotic experience from her new book "Le petit carnet perdu", ("The lost little notebook"). Robbe-Grillet is at the time 77 years old. She is wearing a simple black suit, a white shirt and has her hair tied in a knot at the neck. She is razor sharp, eloquent and very elegant. The discussion continues and after a while she reveals that she holds a contract with a young woman where she has been given the right to decide everything in that woman's life. The woman is, as Robbe-Grillet puts it, her "slave".

I cannot stop thinking about Robbe-Grillet. The contrast is intriguing between her little, sweet looking persona and the stories she told. I bring home a few of her books and discover an equally fascinating as alien world.

Catherine Robbe-Grillet has been part of France's intellectual elite for most of her life. She was married to famous writer Alain Robbe-Grillet for over fifty years, with whom she had an "open relationship" until his death in 2008. In her life she played the role of the perfect muse and wife, as well as publishing several works under the pseudonyms Jean and Jeanne de Berg. Her first novel, The Image (Jean de Berg) was first published in 1956 and shocked Paris to the extent that it was publicly burned. Her work is often of erotic nature and mostly inspired by her own life.

CL: How did you meet her?
LM: I was caught up in other things when I saw her on television and it was only two years after I actually sat down to write on an idea of this documentary. I wrote Catherine a letter and sent it to her publisher and then went to Paris. A week later we met.

CL: How much time did you spend with her before filming?
LM: Almost two years before I started filming. It took only a week to shoot the film.

CL: What did you know about her husband Alain?
LM: I had heard about her husband. Making this film I am interested in him as Catherine Robbe-Grillet's husband. They were married for fifty years and were extremely close so he's a very important person in her life! She talks about him in the film. In the upcoming film, the portrait that I'm making of her now I'm sure he will be even more present...

CL: How did you meet Beverly Charpentier?
LM: I met Beverly the first time two days after my first meeting with Catherine. I was invited to a (fantastic) dinner at her house with a few friends of theirs.

CL: Were you surprised to find out about this unusual relationship?
LM: Yes, I was surprised by their relationship! I had never heard anything like it before. Scandalous? No, I just became very curious.

CL: What kind of "contract" between these women is it?

LM:It's good that you ask me about what kind of contract they have. Catherine is a very precise person and she wondered why I wanted to call the film The Contract since it is not really a contract. A contract usually contains articles and clauses that both parties agree upon and both parties are tied to the contract. In this case Beverly has given herself to Catherine and she is tied to a "contract". Catherine hasn't officially promised anything. She's bound by an implicit contract, if you wish. But she is someone who takes her responsibilities very seriously, so in practice I would say that that isn't really important. Even though it is an important premise for the relationship.

CL: How did you feel about Beverly giving up her freedom for one person – one woman? If it's about love, what "kind" of love is it?
LM: Yes. Love can take many different shapes and forms, not always easy to understand if you are not part of the relationship. I don't believe in unrequited love. I do believe love needs to be watered and nourished from both parties in a relationship, otherwise it dies and becomes something else.

Both women seem to be very happy in the relationship.

CL: How did Beverly and Catherine meet?
LM: They met probably over 20 years ago, they became close friends and stayed so for many years, until Beverly suddenly understood that she wanted to engage in a different kind of relationship with Catherine. She was terrified by potentially destroying their friendship, but finally wrote a letter to Catherine. That is the letter she reads in the beginning of the film.

CL: Your daring mise-en-scene exhibits a theatrical, ballet-like choreography. Does the entire film's narrative take place in the reality or parts of it allude to the realms of fantasy, the symbolic?
LM: The ceremony, the tableau, little theatre... are written and choreographed by Catherine and shot as a piece of fiction, by us, for this documentary. The rest is... I tried to create the "reality" such as I had lived it with them during two years.

CL: Were Beverly and Catherine enthusiastic and cooperative about this film project?
LM: They have been very collaborative .You are given an enormous responsibility as a documentary filmmaker. And it is a constant give and take and construction of trust, from both parties. Finally, like in all relationships, I guess... But they let me tell their story and have the full responsibility of what goes out there, that is huge. I need, though, to have the possibility and freedom to tell the story my way.

CL: What were Beverly and Catherine's reactions upon seeing the film?
LM: I could hardly breathe when I first showed them the film. Luckily, they both seem quite happy with it.

CL: You plan to make a longer piece on Catherine R-G. Have you started working on it and what direction would you like it to take?
LM: I started to develop this project as a feature length portrait of Catherine Robbe-Grillet two and half years ago. I was given the possibility to make a short film under the theme The Woman in My Life, the theme was a little too perfect! Now I'm just continuing to work on my film about Catherine. I've started filming and I will spend most of the rest of the year in Paris, at least to the end of this year.

I have the feeling that the project is growing... but let's say it'll be finished in a year?

Maja Bogojević

NORDISK PANORAMA AWARD WINNERS, AARHUS 2011:

NORDIC DOCUMENTARY FILM COMPETITION

Last Chapter
by Peter Torbiörnsson (Sweden)

Honorable Mentions:

Imagining Emanuel
by Thomas A. Østbye (Norway)

The Guerilla Son
by David Herdies & Zanyar Adami (Sweden)

NORDIC SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Killing the Chickens to Scare the Monkeys
by Jens Assur (Sweden)

Honorable Mentions:

No Sex Just Understand
by Mariken Halle (Sweden)

To All My Friends
by Behrouz Bigdeli (Denmark)

NEW NORDIC VOICES

Manenberg
by Karen Walltorp & Christian Virum (Denmark)

Honorable Mentions:

Two
by Lucia von Horn Pagano (Sweden)

Black Swan
by Brigitta Kontros (Sweden)

FEDEORA AWARD

How to Pick Berries
by Elina Talvensaari (Finland)

GO WÆST

Seven Years of Winter
by Marcus Schwenzel (Denmark)

Talent award:

The Art World's Ugly Faces
by Malte Klagenberg (Denmark)

Honorable Mentions:

The Great Mistake
by Anders Berthelsen (Denmark)

Last Fall
by Andreas Thomsen (Denmark)

Upstairs
by Jesper Maintz (Denmark)