COVER STORY Livia Ulman

The Finnish-Estonian-RussianGerman co-production Compartment No. 6 won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and is shortlisted for an Academy Award. The screenwriters Livia Ulman and Andris Feldmanis share the story of turning a promising idea into an international hit.

Keep Calm

Write

Directors seem to go through different phases while making a film – from a nervousness on set and during editing, to a sense of calm and acceptance after the premiere, and then constructive self-criticism some time later. How does it go for screenwriters? LU: When we start working, everything usually seems to go fine at first. We talk and discuss and put the general structure in place. And then, when we feel something isn’t working and we will not be able to move forward with it, we go into full panic. You just have to get through this feeling. When we began as screenwriters, we often got stuck in this panic, and started doubting ourselves. Now we are aware it’s part of the process. You have to begin every project not knowing if and how it will work, because if you do already know, then it will probably bore you. AF: I read some old email exchanges with Juho (Kuosmanen, the director of Compartment No. 6 – ed.). Quite some time before filming he wrote to us how it clicked for him, what the story is about, and that the film will be very good. LU: Juho can seem very confident. Or maybe writers can just enjoy the ups and downs of hesitation and certainty more because the nature of the work is a bit different. AF: Of course, after we have finished our work, anything can change during the shoot. LU: Then we get the next panic attack about what will remain of the story. We have had some experiences where we thought we have gone through everything with the director, but then we discover the director is just starting to search for the meaning. That’s a horrible moment for us, thinking: but where were you before!?

Compartment No. 6

How much distance do you have with Compartment No. 6 by now? Are you satisfied with it or is there something you think might have worked better? LU: We don’t have any qualms. We went through the whole development with Juho. Of course there are details which we might have done a little differently had we been in sole control of the creative process, but that’s only due to us just being different people. AF: I mostly focus on the process, and once the film is finished the process is also finished and I’m ready to move on. It is exhausting and unhealthy to keep obsessing about this one thing. I think you probably learn more from the process than the finished article. LU: It’s not vital to us for everything to be exactly as we wrote it. The ideal is that everyone fits in with each other creatively and gives their best – then the end result is something that couldn’t have worked without these specific people. The synergy is what makes something special.

Did you have any major disagreements among yourselves, or did you have the story mapped out from the beginning? LU: We saw the main themes and the philosophical meanings similarly from the very beginning. The actors and locations caused some changes, of course, and we weren’t prepared that we would have so much creative license. We drifted quite a bit from the book (Rosa Liksom’s Hytti nro 6 from 2011 – ed.).

In the media, directors and actors get most of the spotlight. How much do you seek out any feedback for the script from reviews? LU: This might be an ego thing, but I do check if the screenwriters are mentioned, because it really annoys me if they aren’t. The story is such a central part of a film, there is no reason you should leave out the screenwriter. AF: This might be a cliché, but film is a collective art form. In hindsight it’s sometimes very difficult to say where something stems from, be it directorial choices, the dialogue, or the casting.

It’s not vital to us for everything to be exactly as we wrote it. The ideal is that

everyone fits in with each other

creatively and gives their best.

Juho Kuosmanen has had a dream start to his career, with both Compartment No. 6 and The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki before that winning multiple awards. Based on your collaboration with him, can you describe what makes him stand out? AF: If you get into a discussion with him, you instantly get the feeling he has a specific and personal relationship with cinema from the way he talks about scenes or actors. It’s not something you can borrow from somewhere; it really runs in his blood. I also think his talent is to seek out and put his trust in unexpected things. I mean, we were a sort of random choice for him as screenwriters, but he makes many decisions based on instinct and just how well he connects with people. LU: He has an openness about him, and he doesn’t seem to be too ego-driven. We never got the feeling that he thinks of himself as above others, being the director. AF: As a filmmaker he is also very much facing the audience. He tries to make the film as an author with his own vision, but also puts great care into making it accessible for people.

Andris, you worked as a film critic before going into screenwriting. Now your own work is an object of criticism. Has it changed your views on the function of criticism in any way? AF: That’s a difficult question. Of course you want critics to say they liked the film, but you also hope they talk about it in a way that makes the public want to see the film. If you are content with the film yourself, you just hope for people to see it. Otherwise filmmaking turns into a rather lonely art, even if the critics praise it.

As screenwriters, how much do you try to assess the script while watching films yourselves? LU: We try to look at the film as a whole. AF: Sometimes you do notice some really obvious screenwriting techniques, which pull you out of the experience. And of course you notice great dialogue, such as in the HBO series Succession. Then we get jealous! LU: If I couldn’t enjoy films as a spectator anymore, I would give the work up. Of

Scriptwriters Andris Feldmanis and Livia Ulman with the director Juho Kuosmanen in Cannes.

The best way to learn is to keep working and learning from the results all the time.

Dark Paradise

Photo by Heikki Leis

course I sometimes spot specific details of filmmaking such as a great sound, but mostly it’s just a feeling – whether I like it or not.

There’s been a long-running discussion in the media that while Estonian film has talented directors and directors of photography, there is a lack of good scripts. How do you evaluate the current situation? AF: I’ve always found those claims to be suspect. I don’t think it’s a question of screenwriting or directing, but a question of storytelling in general. If you’re a great storyteller as a director, you can’t really direct a poor script, because you understand it will not work. LU: It’s very difficult for me to detach the role of the screenwriter from the film. It sometimes seems to me that whatever goes wrong gets noted as the screenwriter’s fault, because they are in the shadows, somehow non-human. AF: Again, you have to find the solutions collectively. Otherwise many aspects can ruin a film. You can choose a great visual style and directorial sensibilities for a great script, but if these don’t match each other, the film might still be a bust.

Photo by Priit Grepp Erik Stoneheart

The key challenge for screenwriters seems to be finding a balance between a structure that works and breaking the rules in that structure in search of originality. How do you find the right balance? LU: We are wildlings in the sense that we have never studied screenwriting, nor do we read books and guides on it. The best way to learn is to keep working and learning from the results all the time. Over time, you develop a sense of what works, and when. Of course you can put it into a formal structure – three acts etc. – but if a person is telling a story and is good at it, there is something very primordial in that. AF: If a great story is being told, you never think: hey, wait, what is going on, shouldn’t act one have ended already!? The most important aspect is to gain and keep the audience’s attention. You seek some kind of intensity or tension. It’s similar to jazz music for me, where you have standards and a melodic whole, but also a lot of freedom within them. And the most interesting creative area for me is when control is starting to drift away, but the “music” hasn’t turned completely abstract yet.

You have two films coming out this year - Erik Stoneheart directed by Ilmar Raag and Triin Ruumet’s Dark Paradise, written together with the director. But what do you dream of in the long-term? Are there any themes you want to cover, or stories you are looking to tell? LU: I hope that we can continue with the kind of work and the kind of collaborations we like. We don’t really dream of going to Hollywood or something like that. I try not to think of life as a perpetual uphill climb, but rather enjoy the moment.

Shall I note: Hollywood need not bother. LU: Haha, no, don’t put that down, there’s nothing wrong with Hollywood. A good offer may come from anywhere, it’s not really dependent on the size and fame behind it. AF: We often get asked if we’ve had any great offers after Compartment No. 6, but it’s very difficult to say what actually is a great offer. The most important thing is to get to do the things you like yourself, and tell the stories you believe are worth telling. EF

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