Atom Egoyan: The Movieline Interview

There seems to be this suggestion in Chloe that good sex is a magic bullet to intimacy, or conversely, if the physical element isn't there, it's a symptom of larger problems for a couple. Is that something you were actively exploring in the film? Is it what you believe?

I think it's very important that it be addressed. It is a switch that's turned on, and it's amazing how in a long-term relationship it can eventually be turned off completely. And I think that raises certain issues. Especially when it's clear that there is an erotic need at some level. This is a very interesting study of what happened in this particular marriage, where Catherine, played by Julianne Moore, really feels that she's disappearing. And so therefore has she lost her erotic connection to her husband through her own feelings of inadequacy, but she's also not living up to certain things that he probably needs, which is to have an erotic acknowledgment from her. She sees him surrounded by all these young women, and thinks that he's getting more than enough support. But what he says later on is, "You stopped touching me." It's one of these situations where once that line is broken, it sort of leads to these patterns of behavior that are more problematic.

There's that one scene, which I think is one of the saddest moments in the film, where she comes out of the shower after masturbating and opens the glass door, and comes to bed and he's awake. So the fact that he's either aware of what she's doing or sensing that and they're not able to address that is really indicative of how very, very far apart they are from each other.

In shooting a scene like the sex scene between Catherine and Chloe, I'd assume you have to have a vast amount of trust from your actors. How do you go about earning that trust in such a short amount of time?

By dealing with it as any other dramatic scene. By not switching modes, but having a directorial approach where it all just feels of a piece. Not scheduling on the first day of shoot. By the time you get to a scene like that, there's been a relationship that's developed between the two of them. Being very clear about how it's going to be choreographed, letting them understand how it's going to look -- and how great it's going to look in this case. And just saying, OK, now let's talk about what's going on in your heads. They're exceptional actors, and they know that their bodies are instruments. This is what they do. I think where it becomes really difficult is where you treat it as standing apart from the rest of the film, or exhibit that something else has changed. If you're nervous, that's going to be a problem.

How long does it take to shoot a scene like that?

It was a compressed shoot. We probably had half a day to shoot all that material.

Do you think you might return to Armenian themes in future films?

I keep thinking about it. I just don't know what else I would say at this point. I'm really proud of Ararat. I think it exposed something that I haven't seen any Holocaust movies deal with, which is the generational effect of denial. Because not many genocides have been systematically denied by their perpetrators. I always have to feel that I'm treading in territory that hasn't been explored before. There's such an expectation from a certain community of victims to set the record straight, but it's not the role of film to do that. And I think that's one of the issues Ararat deals with. That sometimes history is best understood not through these grand gestures, but through conversations -- in this case between a Canada customs official and a young man from Turkey coming back with rolls of film.

Scenes at airport customs pop up in many of your films. What is the fascination there?

I've thought about that, and it must be -- if you believe in Freud and that these primal experiences you have before the age of three are ingrained in you -- I came to Canada when I was two. And I must have really observed that moment, with my parents negotiating with the various agents. I guess. But there is something profound about that question: "What are you bringing into this country?" That's just not literally about what you're bringing, but you're whole cultural history. Whether or not it has a place, how it will fit in, will it fit in. I was very aware of the process of assimilation.

Finally, I'd like to clear up something about the origin of your first name, Atom. I always assumed it was the Armenian version of Adam, but according to your Wikipedia page, that's not the case.

Armenians do have a version of Adam that's Adom, and Eastern Armenians pronounce the "d" with a "t". So a lot of Armenians think it's this classic Armenian name. But it's not, actually.

So you were in fact named in honor of an Egyptian nuclear reactor?

Nuclear energy. There was no nuclear reactor in Egypt at that time. I don't know how that story got out. My parents were artists toying with the advent of nuclear energy. It's hilarious because Egypt was decidedly not a nuclear power at the time. That would have been very problematic for the whole region!

Pages: 1 2