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| Looking for trouble |
The beautiful, bleak landscape of the Tyrol; two orphaned children living alone on a remote farm; a gang of men whose brutal actions reshape all their lives. This is Autumn Blood, the stunnning début film from Markus Blunder starring Beautiful Kate’s Sophie Lowe and young Austrian TV star Maximilian Harnisch. It originated, Blunder says, with “a very brave woman that shared with me a story from her childhood,” and he was drawn to take up the challenge of directing because “My life was filled with darkness and bright light. There is many things I want to communicate to the world.”
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| Maximilian Harnisch and Sophie Lowe |
Blunder has a complex background, starting out in music videos and moving on to secure a stellar reputation as an advertising director. Trained as an actor, he directs theatre and had brought these disparate aspects of his work together in Autumn Blood, which presents a series of visually stunning vignettes yet remains character-focused, enabling Lowe in particular to make the most of an extraordinary talent. This approach is all the more important because the film has very little dialogue, with no-one speaking at all for the first third – something that would scare off many seasoned directors. I asked Blunder why he decided to do things that way.
“I needed the audience to be drawn towards our characters and their unfolding fate through experience rather then being told through words,” he responded. “I believe that this way a viewer has a better chance to experience the emotional impact that these events unfolding have upon the girl and the boy. Also Nature is a principal character in this film. The canvas of words is not big enough to speak for nature. That is why Michelangelo used to paint and I chose for my characters not to speak.”
Working with children didn’t deter Blunder ether. “Maximilian is a super smart kid with a great sensibility and was totally in synch with Sophie's emotional state. They really had a beautiful bond on and off screen.” But it is nature that he keeps coming back to. “Nature is divine and beautiful at times and then again she can be very harsh. Just like humans. Nature can heal herself and also our emotional scars if you are willing to let her in. Just like humans. We need to respect Nature like humans and vice versa.”
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| On the high farm |
One of the most difficult aspects of the film was the rape scenes, where Blunder has succeeded in striking a difficult balance, showing us the men’s desire without eroticising the situation. “I did not want to exploit the subject. I just wanted to tell the terrible truth, but more than that I wanted to show what violence and injustice does to the victim, but also to the the perpetrator,” he explained. The latter we see only through small glances, hesitations, unexpected choices. It quickly becomes clear that the gang is losing its unity, but the point is subtly made.
Next up for this ambitious young director is another directorial venture, No Limits. And then? “Making more films. I better buy shares in a coffee plantation.”
Autumn Blood is released in the US tomorrow (September 19).
