Directors
Featured Director
Candid: A Talk with Sean Gustafson
Sean Gustafson’s directorial debut in English, "My Mirror Image", tells the tale of a young American man finding a remarkable relationship on his journey through France. The touching story of Matthew and French twins, Theo and Isabelle, leaves an undying impression.
But in our interview, Sean tells us that, at times, he was truly the one being touched...
For you, what does this film boil down to? Is it about love?
For me, basically it’s a film about hope. How we can find hope experiencing such extraordinary losses, how we can survive that. That’s what I love about these characters, about their weaknesses and strengths. And in the end it's a love story. Watching Conrad, Sybil, and Bernadette, I was really moved by the raw circumstances, and how these lonely people need each other.
As with "Te Quiero" you have three different characters, different stories that connect. What draws you to that structure?
There’s something that attracts me about the characters’ affects on each other. I think to tell a story about somebody, you have to look at all the people he’s crossing in his life. We are what we are because of the others. We are the others at some point. And I really like that. I feel we are so connected, I like how we affect each other. Sometimes we're not conscious of it. That gives me the opportunity to have a bigger vision. I can explore more things, more emotions. It's a little bit ambitious.
Now that you’ve done an English-language film, will you continue working in English or will you go back to Romance-language works?
Maybe I'll do a Japanese one [laughs]. I don't know. We are working, Pierre and I, on another project. We are just starting so I don't have an idea. The fascination of cinema is that it can make you understand people without limitations of borders or vanities. So I feel comfortable [working in English], plus my English isn't as bad as when I started.
Why is the time-shifting structure so important in "My Mirror Image"?
I say to the audience in the first minutes, you will be part of this experience of these characters. You will be alive with these characters. You will know them as your friends.
It really involves the audience mentally. You’re thinking, you’re wondering, you’re frustrated.
I hope that it’s more emotionally than intellectually. That was one challenge: how can we be more emotional than intellectual? I hate intellectual films. I hate cold art.