DIRECTOR’S NOTES :
Suite Francaise is a bold, ambitious novel – an epic tale of war from the civilians’ point of view. It’s also, of course, a book that was left tragically unfinished.
I’ve chosen to focus my adaptation on the relationships between French women and the German soldiers who’ve come to occupy their village – in particular the forbidden love story of Lucile, the seemingly ‘good’ French wife, and Bruno, a cultured German officer who nevertheless believes in the cause he’s fighting for. This tension sits amid other controversial conflicts – over class and collaboration – with townsfolk turning against each other, widespread distrust and denunciations.
I also chose to book-end the film with the story of the novel’s discovery – how the original manuscript was kept by Irene’s daughter for sixty years until she finally found the strength to read it. To me, it’s very much part of the emotional power of the novel as a whole and mirrors a crucial theme: just as Denise didn’t want to read her mother’s writings and face the painful truths of the past, so too have the French found it hard to look back at the realities of life under occupation. And for both, the end is not defeat but survival and redemption.
Irene was writing with events unfolding around her and in the making of the film I want to capture this strong sense of immediacy and authenticity. The action should feel that it’s happening now – urgent, tense, spontaneous, made with no benefit of hindsight – like we’ve discovered a time capsule. And very far from a safe, stuffy period piece.
The film’s look will also set extreme emotional intimacy against grand cinematic scale, contrasting the closeness of living with the enemy in the very next room with the magnitude of what’s going on outside. So while the love story should feel intense and powerful, the visual impact of the exodus, for instance, is visceral, dynamic, dangerous and at times shocking.
Irene intended to build a structure for her novel around maximum variety of rhythm between the parts, like a symphony (hence her title). I love the ambition of this idea and have applied it in designing the structure of the film – so as each act progresses, it does so with its own distinct pace and tone, defying expectation at each turn.
So the beginning will be fast, lively and dramatic, full of adrenaline, energy and action as Lucile sees polite society disintegrating around her. The middle section is more lyrical and romantic, imbued with a heavy sense of sexuality as a town of young women is swamped by a virile army of fit young men over a hot summer – and forbidden love beckons. The last part gives way to tension and tragedy as the initially benign German occupiers turn on the village, and Lucile and Bruno have to choose which side they’re really on.
The role of music in this film is crucial and I want it to work on two levels. The first is the score – subtle and atmospheric.
The second is Bruno’s on-going composition. This works as a kind of score within a score and – in direct contrast to the first – is naturally much more consciously ‘musical’ in nature. I intend to have Bruno’s piece created by the composer before we shoot and then played by Bruno throughout the film as a developing theme. Not only will this be an integrated part of the story but it also carries the emotional weight of the closing scenes, finally reappearing for the end credits in full, cathartic orchestral form.
In short, Suite Francaise is a film I’m passionate to make. It’s at once a complex exploration of how people behave under the enormous pressure of occupation – and simply a powerful story of two misfits who unexpectedly find each other only to realise they’re unable to detach themselves from the massive events going on around them.
Saul Dibb, July 2012
