Kristen Stewart returns to the Cannes Film Festival this year as a director to present her first feature film, “The Chronology of Water.”
At the Cannes Film Festival, Kristen Stewart presented her directorial debut, the adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir, The Chronology of Water , in the Un Certain Regard category ( read our review here ). We spoke with the new filmmaker about feminism, violence, and beauty.
During the presentation of the film, you emphasized the impact that The Chronology of Water will have on our bodies.
Having a female body is a political act, a radical act. It takes real energy to keep getting back up. It might sound dramatic, but it's the truth. It's okay to rely on hyperbole here. The only reason we don't is because no one wants to hear it. It would be disgusting. But we can make it fun. The film deals with a very difficult subject, and our goal was to give ourselves an electric shock and laugh hysterically. The last time I saw the film, there was deathly silence in the theater. And I was like, "But wait, this is funny!"
There are so many things about this film that I find funny and exciting. I was a little worried people wouldn't understand... The goal was to listen to our feelings, our impressions, and let them guide us into unknown territories. When I watch Imogen Poots ejaculate against her childhood bedroom door, I could fly. I can't believe we did that.
How did you discover this text by Lidia Yuknavitch?
I read it when I was 25, maybe 26. I already had a long career behind me. People were asking me questions. I had platforms to speak. But I was starting to feel like I hadn't said much, that I hadn't been very honest, even though I am honest, sometimes excessively so. There are topics that seem steeped in shame, that you're not supposed to articulate.
There's this scene in the film where Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots) reads from her book on stage in public. She can barely speak. Her voice comes out in writing. She can't externalize it. It's a very internal thing. She says it started to piss her off that she had a hole. Suddenly, she realizes she's saying it in front of an audience. She catches herself, swallows her anger. If you say things too brutally, people don't listen. The idea was to make it beautiful. Some violent things can be beautiful.
The fault line between pain and pleasure is blatant. It's okay that bad things have happened to you. You have to recategorize them, reclaim them through words. It's de-stigmatizing. Everyone has had disgusting sexual experiences—even if you haven't been abused in that way, even if you haven't had an experience of violence, as a woman, as a queer person, rape is endless, it happens daily. It creeps into the images we consume, into media conversations, into our oppressive patriarchal society. I say that and people say, oh, more feminist bullshit! It feels good to find a way to get up, set your hair on fire, take all your clothes off, come really hard in public, and say, “Look, this is actually cool!” For my first film, I thought that's what I had to do.
You use a lot of cut-ups; the editing of your film is very fragmented. Is this something that comes from the book by Lidia Yuknavitch that you're adapting, or something you came up with yourself?
The book is an experience of broken pieces being reassembled. It's an incredible emotional mosaic. It's funny because that's what movies do. Movies can be like dreams; they're the only format that does that. Making a film from this book was very satisfying because it's one of my favorite texts. It's an active work, which made me understand that it's okay to explore yourself, to explore others, and to do it loudly. It's healthy. It's stifling to live in a woman's body and have your inner voice constantly told to shut up. I know how it feels. We all have physical memories that come up every day like flashes.
When you read what people say about the book, it's often diminished. What happened to her? Oh, she was sexually abused by her father and found an outlet through swimming and literature. That's not what it's about. It's about what happens to all of us and how we categorize that pain. How we can reframe it, relabel it through the words we say to ourselves and others in order to transform that pain into pleasure. All our desires are completely bastilled from a very young age. Women don't decide what they like. It's imposed on us. So you have to understand why these mechanisms are there and reclaim them. Otherwise, you're screwed.
The Chronology Of Water by Kristen Stewart with Imogen Poots, Thora Birch, James Belushi – Un Certain Regard – with the support of Chanel
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