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| Barry Ward and Barbora Bobulova in Ungrateful Beings. Barry Ward: 'I do like when things are really challenging' |
A teenage holiday romance offers the possibility of hope – and trouble – after separated dad David (Irish star Barry Ward) takes his 17-year-old daughter Klara (Dexter Franc) and younger teen brother Theo (Antonin Chmela) on holiday to Croatia in Olmo Olmerzu’s Ungrateful Beings. A bilingual family, whose mother Laura is Czech (Barbora Bobulova), there are problems stemming not just from potential divorce but from Klara, who has an eating disorder. When Klara falls for slightly older local Jack-the-lad Denis (Timon Sturbej), she begins to eat but events are about to lead to an abrupt separation which, ironically, will see David and Laura brought closer together.
A film that hinges on communication, and the lack of it and which subverts expectations, we caught up with Ward and Bobulova at San Sebastian Film Festival to chat about their roles and Ungrateful Beings’ themes.
How was it to work with different languages in this film, especially for you, Barry, as you would have had to learn lines in a language you don’t speak
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| Barbora Bobulova in San Sebastian: 'I think to be a parent today in this historical period is really hard. It's the hardest job' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Jorge Fuembuena |
Barbora Bobulova: I think it was much harder for Barry because I'm used to acting in different languages. I was born in Czechoslovakia so I started there as an actress but then I moved to Italy and I’ve lived and worked there for 30 years, so I act mostly in Italian. So for me to switch from one language to another probably is easier because I’ve practiced it for a long time.
Barry Ward: It was a challenge and Czech being so unrelated to English, it's very different but it was a great challenge and something me and Olmo talked about a lot and really wanted to push. We thought the idea of a multilingual family was not that usual on screens but very commonplace in life so we really wanted to go down that route. Originally the whole thing was in Czech and then he lost his actor, so he said to me, “I've got a bilingual version, will you read it?” But we were careful then about when to include Czech and when to not when we spoke in English.
BB: We did quite a lot of readings before and Olmo, I think, was searching for and trying to understand where we could switch, where we could use Czech language, where we could use English, to make it work.
BW: And to sell the idea of that being a reality without giving away the conceit. So it had to feel natural and I hope it works.
So was that what partly drew you to the role? The opportunity to have a go at the language?
BW: I do like when things are really challenging and that was like, “Holy shit, this looks nearly impossible. Great, it makes it more challenging. It definitely makes it more attractive. You have to be thick skinned because sometimes other people who speak it natively will laugh in your face at your attempts. So you can't get too embarrassed about it. You just have to dive in.
BB: It was very funny when he opened his mouth and tried Czech because it's a very difficult language so I really admired that he accepted this challenge.
You’re working with teenagers and I wondered whether you had a lot of rehearsal time with them because it must be quite tricky to create the family dynamic?
BB:We rehearsed a lot. We always met in Prague. I came from Rome. He came from Ireland and we met a couple of times in Prague for readings and it was kind of a laboratory at the beginning, because Olmo is a very creative person. I think he was trying to understand how to build this relationship and this family. So yes, we had quite a lot of rehearsals.
BW: Yes, and I know that Olmo worked with Dex and Tonda (Antonín Chmela), who play the kids, because they all live in Prague. They workshopped a lot together, over the course of a year, I think and they made a short movie together as kind of a proof of concept or at least to establish a working relationship. Then I was over and back quite a bit for a few months and worked closely with the kids because the opening is all about the three of us on holiday. So even for me that was a more elongated rehearsal period than would be the norm but I think it really pays off.
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| Barry Ward and Dexter Franc in Ungrateful Beings |
We were all really comfortable with each other. We could improvise together and and you know, it's an incredible thing for me to witness and to be part of, when you've got two kids say that 14 and 16 or 14 and 17 for them, the year-long rehearsal and shoot is a sizeable percentage of their entire lives. It's a very huge thing for them so they actually changed a great deal over the course of that. So to see them grow and really come into their own is an amazing thing.
The dynamic between your two adult characters grows throughout the film, was the complexity something that attracted you to the roles?
BB: I think to be a parent today in this historical period is really hard. It's the hardest job. I am a mother of two teenage girls so I know what it is. And so I was very happy to be a part of this project that tells the story of difficult communication between parents and children. How difficult it is to tell your children that mum and dad don't love each other any more and especially at that fragile age which is teenage.
BW: That's the the great irony of the film, isn't it? How difficult it is for adults to communicate with kids and vice versa and now all communication is electronic and to see us communicating with our kid electronically.
BB: How far you can push yourself as a parent to save your children is a very interesting question for me, as a mother. It seems like our happiness depends on this small device which is a mobile phone. All these questions of today that we deal with, that’s why I like the film. Everyone is hyper-connected but there is a lot of loneliness in the world. I think that our mental health is not in a very good condition, we’re losing contact with human beings.
But, why don’t we tell the story… Once they called me from Croatia and I’m supposed to be in Prague but I wasn’t in Prague, I was in Rome at home. I was all day sitting in my living room, waiting for this scene.
It’s interesting that you shot the scene ‘live’ though, rather than someone just reading your lines on the set
BW: It’s a big help.
You seem to be challenging yourselves with your roles. Do you like to look for things that you haven't done before?
BW: It's very interesting and the character is not exactly like we are, but if there is something for us to discover. So if there’s some space, which doesn't belong to me as Barbara, it's always very attractive for me. If you are able to go out of your comfort zone you can improve and move ahead.
BB: I think the location and setting are big factors and if you can do something so far removed from the last thing it’s always an attraction.
Is there any genre or type of role you’ve not had the chance to do that you would like to?
BB: I would like to do a musical, Mamma Mia, something like that. But I would also like to do action movie.
BW: They’re fun, you know.
BB: Just to shoot and liberate your energy and it must be very funny, of course, on the set. Some superhero that is saving the world. It’s a dream of mine.
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| Barry Ward in San Sebastian: 'I'd love to do more with Olmo, we’ve similar sensibilities and similar tastes' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Jorge Fuembuena |
How about you, Barry? Do you fancy being a superhero?
BW: No. More European arthouse films, that’s what I’ve always wanted to be in.
BB: You don’t want to be a superhero and fight evil?
You’d rather be in Bergman?
BW: Yes, exactly. Olmo is the most exciting director around, I think. I'd love to do more with Olmo, we’ve similar sensibilities and similar tastes. So more good thought-provoking dramas that’s what I’d like to do. I’ve always preferred cinema to TV for that reason. I think film can lean into those greater complexities and quieter moments in large part because it’s a bigger format. TV is not as thought-provoking to me at all, as a viewer.
And do either of you have other things coming up you can tell me about?
BB: In Italy. I was in Venice with Marco Bellochio’s new series [Portobello] about a miscarriage of justice and Enzo Tortora, for HBO.
BW: On The Sea is hopefully coming out soon and I did an indie during the year called Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which was a really lovely script, and they’re just finishing the edit on that. And I’ve got a Channel 4 series coming out, Trespasses, about northern Ireland and I’m shooting a Netflix show, a Marian Keyes adaptation, Grown Ups.
Read what Barry Ward told us about On The Sea
Read what Olmo Omerzu told us about communication breakdown in Ungrateful Beings
