Interview with Doulla Panaretou, writer, director and producer for « Enamour »

Doulla Panaretou, welcome to our World Film Festival in Cannes. Congratulations for being nominated in the category “Best Narrative Short Film”. This short is compelling and the suspension of disbelief happens from the word go. How did you achieve this?

I think this was achieved due to many factors. The music is suspenseful which gives the story a compelling effect. Editing contributes to the compelling nature, particularly intercutting scenes, the audience is wandering what will happen next with each of the two strands of narrative that will culminate together ultimately. Another reason is because the short opens with a tracking in shot of woodland at night which draws the audience into the story in a traditional way, which is converse to the vampire focus. An innovative approach, arguably particularly if the story is easy to follow, can give the story a more compelling effect.

The suspension of disbelief is established by making the story plausible.

I think this was achieved in many ways. The acting is authentic and believable. The suspension is also achieved because the story starts in the middle of the protagonist’s intense emotion, there isn’t an introduction to his story, for instance.

“Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door –

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such name as ‘Nevermore.’

The Raven is all about hopelessness and pain.” 

Why this choice? Why this inspiration? Tell us more.

I have always felt this source material, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, is brilliantly written, in terms of development of narrative, character and use of language, regarding rhythm and rhyme particularly. It is narrative poetry which makes it particularly adaptable to screenplay also.

I personally feel that poetry and cinema are similar art forms, both are very visual and the rhythmic potential of poetry can be related to that of film, regarding editing. With Enamour, I suggested to the editor, that perhaps the rhythm of the poem could be aligned in some ways to the short’s editing. He mentioned Eisenstein’s theory of editing, metric montage in relation to meter in poetry, for instance. Poetry can be very emotional, emotion is important in cinema, regarding the emotional engagement of the audience to narrative development.

Another significant reason for my choice of this text is that in the source material, the female character has very little power, she only exists in relation to the protagonist’s perception of her, his gaze perhaps. 

I was interested in subverting this power dynamic, a female, cinematic response to canonical, male literary representations of women, as powerless, submissive and only significant as male interpretations.

The unnamed narrator sits up late one December night, mourning the loss of his beloved, Lenore, when a raven appears at the window and speaks the repeated single word, ‘Nevermore’. According to literary experts, “the narrator starts to view the raven as some sort of prophet.” 

Can you tell us more about why you decided to give this loose adaptation of Poe’s The Raven a vampire story turn? Also can you reveal the contents of the glass vial the narrator drinks from and if this liquid creates any connection with his loved one. Do tell.

I decided to give the adaptation a vampire plot turning to make the female character powerful, I was interested in making a short in the gothic genre also. In Enamour she i powerful, she is a vampire and has magical powers, she dominates. I reinforced her power in relation to the actor’s physical positioning. When she arrives, the protagonist goes onto his knees, she is taller. 

She dominates the voyeur character with the lantern in narrative and cinematic ways. She reacts to the character as he steps on twigs in the exterior shot, he hides, she is dominating.

She shuts the door on this character in the interior shot, not only on the character but on his gaze, as he is looking at her, this is a deliberate reference to the male gaze in cinematic theory. She controls his gaze, he represents the audience as a voyeur, she is narratively and  cinematically dominant. 

I felt as though personally I was making a statement about being a female film director myself in a male dominated industry.

The contents of the vial the narrator drinks is opium and alcohol, 

There is a connection between the liquid and the woman he loves, he is trying to console himself with this. There is also the possibility that these substances have made the character delusional, giving the narrative uncertainty, which could contribute to the story’s compelling effect.

What would The Raven look like if transposed to a 21st Century setting?

The Raven transposed to a modern setting might be a robotic bird perhaps. There wouldn’t be candlelight or lanterns, electricity and lampposts rather than this. Although I don’t keep absolutely to the period setting of the narrative, the voyeur’s hat is influenced by Sergio Leone, for instance.

How did you go about funding your film and did you encounter any problems and if so, how did you solve them?

I self funded my short, I tried to keep costs as low as possible.  The short was shot on one location, I was very disciplined with directing and creative decisions on set, so that it could all be shot in two days also.

This was partly achieved with meticulous planning, storyboarding and collaboration with my cinematographer, editor and art director, so that everything was prepared. The special effects didn’t’ cost anything, the magical appearance of the ring on the vampire was achieved in post production, the vampire magically closing the door was achieved by the actor behind the door closing this.

Can you tell us about any forthcoming future film endeavours you might have?

I have been working on an animated, feature length screenplay for children about protecting animal habitats and the environment.

I have been developing a feature length screenplay about a female artist and poet soldier who are separated when he is called to fight in the Second World War in addition to this.

What results that can be achieved in a short that would be unfeasible with any other feature?

A short can be a compelling idea with few characters, whereas a feature is usually the development of several ideas, interacting characters, and groups of characters also.

How do you envision the future of cinema with generative AI? Is it a boon or a bane?

AI can be used to improve visual effects in films and its capabilities should be taken advantage of.

What is your vision of post Covid cinema in a short statement?

I think that filmmakers need to do more to draw people to the cinema in a post covid society.

Barbie and Oppenheimer attracted a significant cinema audience because of publicity which connected the films, Barbieheimer, establishing the films as a phenomenon which people felt they should be part of.

In my opinion, refreshing strategies like this are needed to draw audiences significantly.

©2024 Isabelle Rouault-Röhlich