Kristen talks to Premiere France for 'The Chronology of Water' at the Cannes Film Festival

 

Google translated.

When did you first want to adapt Lidia Yuknavitch's The Chronology of Water , the book in which she recounted how she managed to escape a toxic family environment ravaged by violence through literature  ?

Kristen Stewart: Before I'd even finished reading it! Page after page, this story had hit me and brought out of the closet a mind-boggling number of corpses that I myself had locked away. But this rush, born of this intimate experience as a reader, was obviously the opposite of what was needed to adapt this book to the screen, constructed like a kaleidoscope or a puzzle whose full meaning must be grasped until the final piece is placed in place.

How did you proceed then?

I took my time. It took me several years to write my version of each page of this book. While obviously as I grew up, as I matured, my relationship with this work changed. That's why this long time, although not always my fault, served the project. My final version of this script contained at least 5 different films. And then I chose... not to choose! Because I was certain that it would be the only way to find my own film. In this respect, I can say that the making of The Chronology of Water resembled free jazz. During the shooting as well as the editing. Moreover, for at least a year, during the post-production phase, I thought I had messed everything up. I even went through a kind of mourning that I had difficulty releasing because I was so angry with myself for not having lived up to it. And then suddenly, the film appeared to me. I had succeeded in building my kaleidoscope. Among the fifteen possible films from my rushes, I managed to make one. Which resembles what I felt as a reader. The journey was long and trying, but I have never felt so alive.

Your film stands out for its incredible sensory power, your work on textures, colors, the grain of different skins... Was your director of photography Corey C. Waters present very early on in the writing to create this universe?

I would have loved to! Because since that shoot, Corey C. Waters has become like a blood brother to me. But what happened at that position tells the emotional roller coaster that this whole adventure was for me. I had indeed done all the preparation with another cinematographer, but I sensed that something wasn't right. So, one weekend, very late in the day, I decided to change everything and call on Corey. I was aware of the madness of this gesture. It's like jumping off a cliff without knowing how to swim and without a life jacket. Corey is even younger than me and not very experienced. We were two babies. But he immediately connected with the images I had in mind and transcended them. He immediately became an essential part of this project. Even if he was actually one of the last to join.

It was obvious from the start that you would not play the central role?

Yes, because I would have been absolutely incapable of managing everything.

And what made you want to entrust it to Imogen Poots?

Because I hadn't seen her bad on screen. But also because beyond her talent, I knew that the audience would naturally become attached to her and therefore follow her character, including all the bad decisions she makes. Imogen spontaneously arouses an empathy that is essential to the balance of my film. And I think that she, like me, have reached a stage in our lives where we were able to take hold of this story. Like a second beginning for us who started very young on screen. We were taught for a long time to hide certain things to attract attention, to find work, to "succeed"... With The Chronology of Water, I have the feeling that we are in exactly the opposite logic. And each in our place, her in front of the camera, me behind it, we revealed new things about ourselves.

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