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| Lovisa Sirén says the core of the film is the physical aspect of having a young kid and how attached one can be physically and emotionally'' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance |
The 39-year-old has said it was partially based on her own experiences of being a young mum and when I catch up with her over Zoom shortly after Without Kelly screened at Sundance, she says: “This was absolutely the most personal film for me. I was a little bit hesitant like in the beginning because I felt that, ‘Oh, it could be too personal. Or is this even something that people will care about?’ You always have this hesitant doubt in the beginning. But then I was like, ‘Oh but I still feel so strongly about it and I know that it's not going to be a documentary’. So, I just started writing and as I was writing, I disconnected a little bit from my personal experience so what felt private didn't feel private any more. It’s a story.”
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| Lovisa Sirén: 'I decided to do this as a short film, just to have something to work on and for the joy of doing a casting and working with other people and directing' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
It’s comparatively unusual for a director to return to short films after making their first feature and Sirén says she did originally plan for this to be a longer film.
She explains: “But everything is so slow in features. It was in the winter and we shot in the summer. So in the winter I was like, ‘No, I really want to shoot again’. So that’s how I decided to do this as a short film, just to have something to work on and for the joy of doing a casting and working with other people and directing. I just decided it’s going to happen now instead of the long process of writing a feature script.”
As for whether it might go on to be further developed into a longer form, she adds: “It could be although maybe not right now. People seem to like the subject, although I was a little bit unsure about the theme of it and whether people would feel it. Now I have proof of that, so that gives me a little more spark to work on the feature.”
Without Kelly spotlights not only the emotional ties that Esther (Strid) has with her daughter but also the very physical bond that the pair of them share, as she is breastfeeding.
“That was the core of it – the physical aspect of having a young kid and how attached one can be physically and emotionally. They go hand in hand but it's a lot about how the body acts,” says Sirén.
Strid is crucial to the short and announces herself as a real discovery in her first role. Explaining how she found her, Sirén says: “I was teaching at a film school and she was an actress student there. So I had seen her in some short films that other students had made and I just had the feeling she could work really well for this character. She has this innocent look but she can be a little bit dangerous or seductive in a way that I thought was interesting.”
Another key player is, of course, baby Kelly. Sirén outlines the challenges of that saying: “It was very difficult. We needed more time than we had. But we had to spend as much time as we could on the scenes with the baby because, obviously, I could not direct her at all, what happens happens when we start rolling the camera, but we tried to prepare as much as we could – that she could hang out with Medea and Truls Carlberg, who plays the father. Especially with Medea as she had to feel safe with her.
“Sometimes the baby would look at me or the production designer, who’s also a mother of two, with small children, because we both had that motherly attitude with her. But then we had to hide so she would go to Medea. I had to develop some tricks as we were shooting. Sometimes I was waving behind the camera, trying to make her smile. We used all the tricks we could. Her mum had actually thought about that, she co-operated so well with us and said, ‘I should not be on set’. So she wasn't there but they had the dad and a nanny as well.”
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| Lovisa Sirén on Medea Strid as Esther: She has this innocent look but she can be a little bit dangerous or seductive in a way that I thought was interesting' Photo: Silverbelt Films |
The director says she wanted the father’s home to be “bright and sunny, kind of a summer feeling” adding that she wanted a contrast with Esther’s home. Initially opting for warm and cosy lighting but “when she’s back in the apartment the second time we wanted it to be a bit darker, now she’s without the kid.”
She adds: “I was also very picky with the nights. Here in Stockholm in the summer in June, it's so bright, so I didn’t want it to get completely dark in the scene when they’re outside the bar. I made it a little bit brighter. Then when she exits the bar, It was important that it was the real morning light.”
On her collaboration with Leuhusen, she says: “I’d definitely work together again with the DoP. I hadn't worked with her before as a DoP. I worked with her a couple of years ago when she was still a gaffer and I just remembered that she had a really good energy and was good as a gaffer. I’d love to work with her again. We were in Gothenburg for the festival recently and she received a cinematography prize.”
Looking to the future, Sirén is now working on another feature. She adds: “With a short, it’s exactly the same thing but you kind of want more. You want to develop it more and dig deeper and dive into it more. You spend so much time with a short anyway that you might as well do a feature.”
It will feature a central female character and Sirén adds: “It’s more of a drama with a little bit of a thriller in it, for the first time. I’m looking forward to exploring that more.I like to watch thrillers, so let’s explore it.”
