Mia Hansen-Love Goodbye, First Love Interview

Mia Hansen-Love Goodbye, First Love Interview

Cast: Lola Creton, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Magne-Havard Brekke
Director: Mia Hansen-Love
Genre: Romance, Drama
Running Time: 110 minutes

Synopsis: Spring, 1999. Camille (radiant newcomer Lola Creton) is 15 years old and head-over-heels in love and lust with Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky), a brooding, huskyvoiced boy four years her senior. Too young to be jaded or even realistic about love, the long-haired, open-faced Camille takes her first relationship extremely seriously, but Sullivan wants to go to South America for a year. In autumn, he leaves her.

2003: Four years have passed. Camille studies architecture and lives on her own. On a trip to Denmark, she slowly falls for her eloquent Danish professor, Lorenz (Magne- Havard Brekke). In many ways he offers her what Sullivan couldn't: stability and a future. But theirs is a rapport constructed on reason more than unbridled passion, and when Sullivan reappears a few years later, Camille finds herself caught between two loves...

The gorgeous new romantic drama from rising talent Mia Hansen-Løve (Father of My Children) is an unashamedly personal story of love, loss and the tender memories from youth that can never truly be erased.

Release Date: April 5, 2012

Interview with Mia Hansen-Love

Question: What inspired you to write Goodbye, First Love?

Mia Hansen-Love: It's a long story and it is difficult to answer that question in a few words because the idea comes from many different places of my life. After having completed my two previous films All Is Forgiven and Father Of My Children I felt like there was something I had not been able to say yet and needed to express and that had to do with physical love; my two other films were about love between fathers and daughters. Another kind of love had been extremely important, even crucial in my life and I felt the necessity to give a frame to that chaos of feelings.


Question: How did you cast Lola Creton in the leading role?

Mia Hansen-Love: For Lola Creton it was extremely easy because by accident I was watching Bluebeard a film by Catherine Breillat when I had finished the script for Goodbye, First Love and I was immediately struck by her presence, maturity and the simplicity of her acting which is something that I appreciate a lot and found quite unusual. Lola Creton was still almost a child in Bluebeard and she wasn't talking much but she was extremely expressive and intense; I feel in love with her immediately and that is the first time that has happened; with my other films the process of finding the actress was longer. I always choose actors that I really love but it didn't happen as fast for the other films as it did with Goodbye, First Love.

The casting of Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky ) and Lorenz (Magne-Havard Brekke) was different. Magne-Havard Brekke had acted in Father Of My Children and I enjoyed working with him. He hasn't really been in many films but acted in theatre, in Germany, because he hasn't been in many films he has an innocence very close to that of children, in front of the camera and that is something I appreciate a lot because I see that innocence is reflected in his character.


Question: Can you talk about the difficulty of filming, over a long period of time?

Mia Hansen-Love: Yes, there were two difficulties in filming. One was that we had to shoot in both summer and winter and we had to interrupt the shooting for a couple of months and that is extremely hard I found because that was the first time I had to do so. The other difficulty was the weather in the countryside, in the mountains, where we shot; the weather can be quite bad in the mountains and it's difficult to have the sun and it's a risk to shoot there, but it is a region that I really love because it is extremely preserved and wild. Whilst filming we would spend hours, sitting on the grass, waiting for the sun to come out and then we only had a few minutes, or less, for the take. The process was quite stressful but I really enjoyed it. Most of the time I did a lot of takes and I could not work like that, for this part and I think that was very stimulating to have that restriction because of the weather.


Question: What scene did you enjoy filming most?

Mia Hansen-Love: I enjoyed filming all of the scenes because I enjoy filming so much and I write only scenes that I want to film. I never write scenes just because I have too. I did enjoy the scene when Camille goes to school in Denmark because we filmed in the middle of a crowd and I enjoy when we have to be as small as possible, as a team, when we have to hide to film the 'real life'. There is nothing that I enjoy more than if we are filming a documentary and have to hide and be very discreet. When we filmed that particular scene, it was the very first day of shooting and it was as if we had everything organise: the sun was there, the people were there (we call them the free extras) and we hid well - it was like paradise for me!


Question: Do you remember your first love?

Mia Hansen-Love: No (laughing) I have forgotten, that's why I make films - to make new memories (laughing).


Question: What do you hope audiences take away from Goodbye, First Love?

Mia Hansen-Love: A certain safe in life and a feeling of truth, I am not trying to intimidate the audience or impress them, the most important thing, for me, is to translate the feeling of truth and love of life.


Question: What originally inspired you to become a filmmaker?

Mia Hansen-Love: I think I did my first short film without really knowing where I was going and when I was on the set it was a revelation and I was confident, I knew what I wanted to do from that moment; I knew that set was the right place for me, it is difficult to explain how I knew, but I did. It has to do with the relationship I have with writing and the importance it has in my life and action, I need action in my life, without action I would be writing in my room all day long, I needed to find a way to express myself that had to do with being in contact with the world and people and so far I think cinema is quite unique and I enjoy it the most.


Question: Are you currently working on another project?

Mia Hansen-Love: Yes, I have written a script called Lost in Music which is about electronic music in Paris on a stretch of twenty years from 1992 to 2012. The film is in two parts, it is two films that form one four hour film and it is quite an ambitious film and I am just starting to look for finance for the film.


Interview by Brooke Hunter