Director Michel Gondry spoke a viewing of his documentary L'épine dans le coeur (The Thorn in the Heart) at MIT on January 15, 2010.
The thread of the story follows the eight schools and sites in rural France where Aunt Suzette taught children from 1952 to 1986. Aunt Suzette comes from a generation in France who saw teaching children as a duty. As both mother and teacher to her son Jean-Yves, she had some family struggles. In one scene, she calls her son a thorn in her heart.
“My auntie getting older, so many experiences to tell, I would fail her to not record them. The village where she lived all her life, it’s a place people don’t talk about it. Everybody knew the story but had never talked about it,” said Michel Gondry.
Jean-Yves, the son of Aunt Suzette, built a train model as a child. Jean-Yves comes out of the closet in the film. He describes building the train set because he didn’t have friends and didn’t like to drink. The train model represents a kind of loneliness. Jean-Yves reconstructed the train set for the documentary. The train appears as transition between scenes filming school sites.
“It would dangerous to have structure when start documentary, sensitive to follow the thread,” said Michel Gondry.
The film includes some animation and reenactments to bring humor. The director reenacts Suzette’s clothesline rack blocking Jean-Yves from exiting the bathroom to show the tension in the relationship.
“Every family has some dark places and they appreciate that we show it to them,” said Michel Gondry.
During the film discussion, a cockroach scuttled across the floor towards the director.
“He likes me. Do you see, he’s driving the machine?” improvised Michel Gondry.
Someone in the audience moved to capture the cockroach in a popcorn container.
“Oh, he’s touching it!” whispered Michel Gondry.
What’s the difference between being a child and adult?
“Physical. You have hair, not very much. I don’t know. I don’t see the discontinuity. I’m lucky. The thing I used to do as a child I do now. I hold a microphone. I’m talking to you now. I don’t think I would do that as a child. I’m very shy. I have a child who is 18. I think I’ve done some duty to be adult. Sometimes I see black dots. My senses are a little eroded,” replied Michel Gondry.
Later in the Q&A, he added, “I didn’t really shoot when I was younger. Lego blocks and wood. Running really fast like superman.”
How is working in documentary?
“I saw that the camera was an instrument to stop the life from happening, so I had to work against this. To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out what to do. By going into documentary, I’m learning when you interview a person you have to say something to make them talk. You don’t have any recipe to follow. You just have to improvise. Waste footage and time,” answered Michel Gondry.
One scene in the film takes places in New York City. It films Michel Gondry’s son and Aunt Suzette together in a NYC apartment. . It’s confusing because the audience could think the young boy was the director. The explanation is that Michel Gondry moved to NYC to shoot and edit Eternal Sunshine in NYC, and he invited Aunt Suzette to stay with him and assist his son in school.
“She was very courageous. It took her two months before she used the subway,” said Michel Gondry.
What’s your favorite joke?
“It’s a guy with two left feet and he goes into a shoe store, and asks for a pair of flop flop,” answered Michel Gondry.
The thread of the story follows the eight schools and sites in rural France where Aunt Suzette taught children from 1952 to 1986. Aunt Suzette comes from a generation in France who saw teaching children as a duty. As both mother and teacher to her son Jean-Yves, she had some family struggles. In one scene, she calls her son a thorn in her heart.
“My auntie getting older, so many experiences to tell, I would fail her to not record them. The village where she lived all her life, it’s a place people don’t talk about it. Everybody knew the story but had never talked about it,” said Michel Gondry.
Jean-Yves, the son of Aunt Suzette, built a train model as a child. Jean-Yves comes out of the closet in the film. He describes building the train set because he didn’t have friends and didn’t like to drink. The train model represents a kind of loneliness. Jean-Yves reconstructed the train set for the documentary. The train appears as transition between scenes filming school sites.
“It would dangerous to have structure when start documentary, sensitive to follow the thread,” said Michel Gondry.
The film includes some animation and reenactments to bring humor. The director reenacts Suzette’s clothesline rack blocking Jean-Yves from exiting the bathroom to show the tension in the relationship.
“Every family has some dark places and they appreciate that we show it to them,” said Michel Gondry.
During the film discussion, a cockroach scuttled across the floor towards the director.
“He likes me. Do you see, he’s driving the machine?” improvised Michel Gondry.
Someone in the audience moved to capture the cockroach in a popcorn container.
“Oh, he’s touching it!” whispered Michel Gondry.
What’s the difference between being a child and adult?
“Physical. You have hair, not very much. I don’t know. I don’t see the discontinuity. I’m lucky. The thing I used to do as a child I do now. I hold a microphone. I’m talking to you now. I don’t think I would do that as a child. I’m very shy. I have a child who is 18. I think I’ve done some duty to be adult. Sometimes I see black dots. My senses are a little eroded,” replied Michel Gondry.
Later in the Q&A, he added, “I didn’t really shoot when I was younger. Lego blocks and wood. Running really fast like superman.”
How is working in documentary?
“I saw that the camera was an instrument to stop the life from happening, so I had to work against this. To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out what to do. By going into documentary, I’m learning when you interview a person you have to say something to make them talk. You don’t have any recipe to follow. You just have to improvise. Waste footage and time,” answered Michel Gondry.
One scene in the film takes places in New York City. It films Michel Gondry’s son and Aunt Suzette together in a NYC apartment. . It’s confusing because the audience could think the young boy was the director. The explanation is that Michel Gondry moved to NYC to shoot and edit Eternal Sunshine in NYC, and he invited Aunt Suzette to stay with him and assist his son in school.
“She was very courageous. It took her two months before she used the subway,” said Michel Gondry.
What’s your favorite joke?
“It’s a guy with two left feet and he goes into a shoe store, and asks for a pair of flop flop,” answered Michel Gondry.