The world is first revealed to children on the school playground and in ‘Playground’, whose French title is ‘Un Monde’, as in ‘A World’ or ‘A Universe’, seven year old Nora and her older brother Abel whose driving desire is to fit in, find the world is filled with pitfalls, danger, and shaming. Laura Wandel’s debut feature creates the world of Nora and Abel as seen through the eyes of Nora as interpreted and played by Maya Venderbegue.
When Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora tries to find her place, torn between children’s and adult’s worlds.
In an extensive interview with Cineuropa, Wandel says,“The playground which is one of the first times children are in contact with society without their family: they’re faced with a new microcosm which they need to integrate and where they seek acknowledgement from their peers.”
In a Variety interview with Laura Wandel, the director and writer of this first feature, she stated, “I wanted to understand the issue of school bullying from different perspectives, so I attended mediations at school, watched kids play, talked to them and also had them role play so that they also could understand how bullying works and feel empathy. School bullies have often been harassed themselves or are carrying some kind of suffering and they end up inflicting it on others.”
Watch the trailer here.
“The school’s playground is a micro-society and it’s riveting to watch a child leave the family nest and go on a journey to integrate because it reflects our basic needs as human beings to be acknowledged and to belong.”
SydneysBuzz: How did you prepare to do this film?
I wrote script over five years.
I watched playgrounds for months, observing them and taking notes. It was essential for me to learn what goes on there these days, although surprisingly they still play more or less the same games as I did in my childhood. In general, when I write, I like to start with reality and turn it into fiction. I also talked a lot with many teachers, parents, heads of schools to have lots of testimony about what goes on in the schools. In general, when I write, I like to start with reality and turn it into I also met lots of children who spoke to me about their experiences at school. I sat in on mediations, etc. It involved a huge amount of work, almost like a documentary, to begin with.
I also read books about bullying and met a pedopsychiatrist specializing in bullying . All this informed my writing. I would go back and forth doing research, writing, conforming my writing with the playground.
How did you prepare the child and her brother?
First I built a relationship with Maya. We spent a lot of time together. I even taught her how to swim.
And then we worked for 3 months before the prinicipal photography began with the children who had parts in the film.
The first things I asked was that each one create a puppet themselves of their own character so they would dissociate themselves from their character.
Then I would explain the beginning of a scene and ask them what they thought would happen next. They would have to explain by the puppet, always using the puppet. I never wanted them to read the script. They had to bring their own creativity to the film.
The second step was that I asked them to improvise. Sometimes they would come up with things much more interesting than what I had written and I would rewrite the script and incorporate what they added.
The last step was that they draw themselves in the scenes. So the first drawing you see here (Laura showed me a picture book one had made) is the first scene. After three months they had the entire scenario or screenplay made of their own drawings. This would be the tool for their acting, for their understanding the atmosphere, for seeing their place in the whole work.
Did you study child psychiatry?
No. I world with a pedagogist, someone who helps people learn in the right way. Her pedagogy is often used with children who have learning disorders because they require special ways of learning things. This lady came up with this method.
I was amazed with her acting. There was a moment when she was feeling something so intensely that her face was flushed. I always look at emotions and wonder how actors come up with them, like tears for instance, I always look closely to see if they are really crying or if the tears are induced artificially. I guess I was taken with the authenticity of her acting and in fact of the entire movie. It did not seem like she was acting.
Maya is very very sensitive. For example, she sees a TV ad with a cloud in the sky she will somehow be moved. She is very connected to her emotions.
Does May want to continue acting? Absolutely she wants to continue. She is completely driven and wants to continue. She has a little role in a series. Next year she goes to a special art school where she can study acting.
I made up my own story…was it their first time n school, maybe they came out of a great tragedy? Where was the motther? Where did these two children come from?
I did not want to explain. The audience must come up with their own answers. The audience must be their own judge. It is very important to me that the audience creates their own story.
The fact that the mother is non-existing, in the playground it is the difference that creates the relationships and creates making judgements. It is also the way Nora reacts to their reactions, e.g., to her father’s presence at the school rather than the mother’s.
The style was sort of like the Dardenne Bros, very closeup, moving camera. Do you have a connection to the Dardenne brothers?
I am a big fan of their films and filmmaking. But I am more closely connected to Luc.
I met Luc at Cannes 2014 when my short Foreign Bodies showed there in Competition. Ever since, Luc has been kind of my mentor. He read several versions of the script and saw one of the cuts and gave me a lot of advice.
What about you, was Foreign Bodies, your third short, also about children?
No. Foreign Bodies (Les Corps Étrangers) was about a war photographer, an amputee of one leg, in a swimming pool, trying to cope with his disabled body with the help of a physiotherapist.
Wandel reteamed with her Foreign Bodies producer Stéphane Lhoest at Dragons Films. Jan de Clercq co-produced at Lunanime.
Will you continue working with children?
I am working on a new project. It is not from the point of view of a child; it is from an adult pov but it is about children — the gaze of another on the world of children.
Where are you on this now?
I have a treatment and I have just begun writing the screenplay.
Did you workshop Playground and, will you go to workshops for your next project?
I will work with Cinefondation for the next one. I worked on Playground at Atelier Grand Nord in French speaking Canada.
Laura, thank you very much for your time. I congratulate you on being short listed for the Oscar and wish you great success in achieving the nomination and hope to see you at the Academy Awards.
The nominations will be announced on February 8, 2022. This will be the first time since 2018 that the ceremony will be held in March (March 22, 2022) to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.
Wandel reteamed with her Foreign Bodies producer Stéphane Lhoest at Dragons Films. Jan de Clercq co-produced at Lunanime.
Playground premiered at Cannes 2021 in Un Certain Regard where it won the FIPRESCI (Critics) award and went on to many film festivals (where it won many more prizes) including Al Gouna (Egypt), Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Guanajuato (Mexico), San Sebastian (Spain), Haifa (Israel), Hamburg (Germany), BFI London (UK), Pingyao (China), Gent (Belgium), Thessaloniki (Greece), Weekend (Denmark), Taipei Golden Horse (Taiwan), Torino (Italy).
Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights and will release the film on February 11, 2022 at NYC’s Film Forum.
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