Interview (Written): Andrea Pallaoro

A conversation with the co-writer and director of the new indie drama Monica.

The Moveable Feast published an interview this week with Andrea Pallaoro. The new movie Monica follows two other films Pallaoro directed: Medeas and Hannah. Each he co-wrote with Orlando Tirado.

Plot summary: A woman returns home to care for her ailing mother who she hasn’t seen in years in this tender portrait of family, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Here are excerpts from the interview.

This continues a thread that began with your previous film “Hannah” — did you know you’d make a thematic follow-up?

Yes, I think I had the desire to tell this story even when I was writing “Hannah,” and I knew the themes that I was grappling with in “Hannah,” needed much more time, so I wanted to explore them through different characters. I felt this theme of abandonment [with its] traumas and consequences and complexities, and the lengths that we go through in order to heal those wounds plays such an important role in defining who we are. It’s so inherently human and something that we all experience in one way or another and can connect to, so I set out to explore these three different characters, centering around this theme and there will be a third chapter that’s [now] in development. It’s still in the writing phase, but that will come eventually.

I’m excited for it, and even though this experience is universal, what was it like to put a trans character at the center?

In fact, the character of Monica is inspired by a very dear friend of mine and since the beginning, I knew that I wouldn’t consider making this film without a trans lead. That was always a crucial component for me, and then finding the person that could embody this character and bring it to life was the most consequential choice in realizing this film. Because of that, I was very, very careful in selecting and committing to that collaboration. I saw over 30 candidates for the role and it’s a process that lasted over a year. When I met Trace, I really felt that I knew I had found the person to do this with and [at the time] the character was different — on the page, [Monica] was much older than her, so it was a character that didn’t really fit her completely. But I connected so much to her potential as an actress and also the passion and unwavering determination that she had to tell this story that I was like, “Let’s go, I found you.”

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When there’s a sense of discovery about each of the characters throughout, is that a tough thing to protect, whether in the script process or even the edit about how much information an audience needs?

I am very drawn to that type of cinema that doesn’t tell you what to think and feel, but it actually protects the mystery of the characters, and what you choose to reveal and what you choose to keep from a spectator and does not rely on exposition, but capitalizes on the non-verbal allows a spectator to penetrate the emotional and psychological world of a character, sensorially really more than intellectually. Because of all these things, that type of storytelling comes very natural to me to allow the spectator to connect the dots themselves and I find that freedom is very important in just finding a way to learn about yourself [because] that to me is the most beautiful thing that cinema can do.

That’s such an interesting perspective: I am very drawn to that type of cinema that doesn’t tell you what to think and feel, but it actually protects the mystery of the characters. It feels very much in the spirit of “less is more.”

It reminds of that quote from Billy Wilder: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.

In other words, don’t figure out the equation for them. Don’t spoon feed them everything. Don’t fill the story with exposition which connect the dots.

Allow the audience the opportunity to inject their own interpretation of what they see transpiring on screen.

It makes them more of an active participant in the unfolding story, rather than a passive spectator.

A trailer for the movie:

For the rest of the interview, go here.

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