Anna Eriksson’s second feature film deals with totalitarianism laced with sadomasochism. Eriksson is frightened by the prevailing self-censorship and the distance from the hardships of normal life.
In the middle of a pale factory hall, a woman in an iron corset, suffering and dying, lies medicated with a red liquid. She is Madame Europa, a dying figure who tries to hold together what remains of her humanity by screaming insanities at her Chinese man-machine, and who sometimes crawls insect-like along the concrete walls of the factory building.
China is raping Europe, which in some sick way also seems to be enjoying it.
Eriksson says he had no expectations for his first film, but everything that has followed has been nothing but positive.
– I don’t move in domestic film circles, and I don’t really know anyone there, but I would say that I haven’t been jealous in any way. On the contrary, I have received support and encouragement.
Self-censorship leads to the loss of truth
Totalitarianism, on the other hand, could not be more current as a theme: a good example of that is autocratic Russia, which in February started a cruel and ruthless war of aggression and destruction in Ukraine. As you can see from the movie, totalitarianism makes people empty shells, and one person’s life has no meaning for the totalitarian system.
– People become machine-like when reality becomes too narrow and when there is only one truth. To me, this kind of narrow truth means that truthful conversation is diminished and controlled and dictated. This is dangerous, Eriksson sums up.
In the same breath, Eriksson expresses his growing concern about the increase in self-censorship.
– Self-censorship is practiced a lot these days, both consciously and unconsciously. And such elements complete the narrow corridor of reality where people act like soulless robots.
According to Eriksson, self-censorship is also related to one manifestation of political correctness: nowadays people are afraid of being offended.
– Just as if such a thing were not part of normal life. Life is sometimes difficult, it hurts, there are impossible situations and unbearable feelings, but now we are creating a world where all this is somehow abnormal. But when it isn’t, and this kind of attitude also narrows the concept of reality and what and what kind of things we can accept.
Brutal filming conditions
As films, both are as far as possible from the desire to please and are direct opposites to cuteness and all kinds of little niceties. Eriksson brings things to the viewer’s eyes that are not everyday oat on the big screen: fetishes, taboos, shameless carnality and a twisted mental landscape.
– I want to show people these things because I know them myself. It’s not like I’m going to do something like this now and see how people react. An artist’s work is above all a search for the truth, and when you go deep enough into such themes, you will find the truth there – the brutal truth.
And in the rather brutal visuals movie, they serve food. He appears naked except for his iron suit, and in one memorable scene he urinates on the floor, from which hot steam rises.
– The correct timing of urination was perhaps the least of the worries for this film. The iron suit on me was very painful, and the temperature was around zero degrees. Except for Paimio’s sanatorium, the filming conditions were quite harsh.
According to Eriksson, the uncomfortable conditions were essential in the construction of the role of Madame Europe. According to Eriksson, pain has acted as a conscious and carefully considered method.
– Experiencing coldness and pain helped a lot in playing the role of a suffering person. As such, I didn’t want to torture myself in any way, but it was a kind of suggestion. If you want to show mental suffering, physical pain can be the way to do it.
In Eriksson’s opinion, the actor also has to suffer, at least to some extent, in order to perform this kind of – or in general a wonderful – performance.
– Of course I wouldn’t have offered this role to anyone else – I can treat myself this way, not others. In the case of other actors, as a director I follow other types of suggestion methods.
Vagina is a good symbol
In recent years, Anna Eriksson has taken an active part in cultural discussions and banged things up quite directly. Last year, for example, he stated that \”artists have resigned themselves to being primarily decent and good people\”.
– The task of art is to educate people to be good citizens, but the task of art is to bring people to the edge of strong emotions: to the edge of such emotions where people can purify themselves, calm down and experience community.
Especially from the side of high culture, Eriksson is surprised by the lack of conversationalists and opinions.
– I think it’s about fear. High culture has been pushed so tight that those who manage it don’t dare to rock the boat and others might think that it’s not worth saying anything at all.
In Sekä films, there is an element that is perhaps not quite the usual high culture – one could say effect – and which is also categorically offside on the big screen.
– I think the vagina is a very good symbol, and I’m pretty sure it appears in every one of my films, at least in some way. Seeing a vagina is shocking, but shooting a brain into a field is not. What shocks us in today’s society and how is strangely two-faced.