Eva Ionesco Director of My Little Princess

Why did you use the conventions of a fairytale to tell such a personal story?

I was drawn towards the fairytale genre quite quickly, and to a story told in a rather linear and naïve way, in the good sense of the word, because I found that this corresponded well to the development of the characters. The idea came to me because with a fairytale, there is the concept of the devouring mother, who loves her daughter and completely consumes her, almost to the point of killing her. That’s really what it is. The film shows this mum who photographs, but does not see her daughter. The story was also well-suited to fairytale, because I like to start with: “Once upon a time…” It had to be told very simply: there was always a danger of it turning towards psychodrama.

Do you recognise yourself in the term autofiction?

I wouldn’t say autofiction, because my work was to decentre myself. I didn’t want to act in the film at all, for example. I love filming people and I love images, this is what I prefer. The question to ask is whether you are the best person to tell your own story. I would say that yes it’s autofiction and at the same time it’s not. Autofiction is a genre in itself. For example, in Maiwenn’s film: she put in place a system to film herself.

Could you tell us about your meeting with Isabelle Huppert?

I had wanted to work with Isabelle for a very long time. I really had her in mind for this character, because for me she was the only one who could play someone intellectual and yet so poisonous at the same time, and make it believable. So I waited quite a long time. Isabelle fascinated me, but I was a bit scared. I found myself in Africa with Isabelle for one week, during the shooting of Claire Denis’ film. I gave her the script, and she replied very soon after. She liked it straight away.

Was it difficult to find someone for the role of Violetta, played by Anamaria Vartolomei?

I met Anamaria quite late actually. There was a casting with 500 little girls, which is a lot. I was looking mostly for girls from the East, a little rounded, pale complexioned, preferably blonde. We made a call in a Romanian newspaper, and I think she and her parents saw it, and she came. There were a fair few screen tests. I wanted to know if she really wanted to do it, if she was going to be scared.

How did you allow her to appropriate the story for herself?

It’s doesn’t come so naturally for a 10-and-a-half-year-old to play a girl from a rather strange background - a little girl who rebels against a mother who undresses her, who wants her to be naked. We had to create the character, find parallels. I wanted her to completely understand the script and what she was doing, and we had to rehearse a lot. We de-dramatised the story, which was difficult, and we worked on the confrontation, the loneliness, the joviality. I also lent her my clown nose so that she could learn to joke around with her body. I showed her Zazie dans le métro, the films of François Truffaut. She also saw the films of Isabelle Huppert, who she didn’t know, and of course Lolita by Kubrick – all of these films are kind of cousins of My Little Princess. I also showed her the photos of my mother, but not all of them. Above all, we talked a lot about the character, and about violence: she had to leave childhood for something a lot more trashy.

By Matthieu Darras (France)