La Lunga Ombra was made in 5 days in an improvised manner, with no script whatsoever, only a vague thought to address the disquiet which pervades Europe in the wake of 9/11, a disturbance which works unacknowledged and of which little is ever said.
As with most of my films, La Lunga Ombra approaches its subject indirectly and poetically.
The post-9-11 period in Europe presented an undercurrent of fear and guilt, which seems blocked and unspoken, in part because those afflicted may not understand its source themselves. The film works with visuals, with atmosphere, with tonalities rather than with plot driven narrative. In this case it also works with performances, in this case really fine ones from all parties.
This film was made at the request of Eliana Miglio, my friend, an Italian actress who had worked with me previously on Uno a te, Uno a me. A mixture of things prompted her to ask - I think primarily the desire to do something more interesting than the kinds of things Italian television and film offers these days. Our budget was nothing. In a short while we gathered the tangible things needed - 3 actresses, a house to shoot in, a writer friend to play himself in an interview, a photographer's studio - again a friend. We had 5 days to shoot and began with only the most vague of ideas, though each actress was assigned a character (job, marriage status) to work with, and from there on we improvised.
On the first day we shot our literal arrival at the house, on a clouded stormy evening. The first sequences after the introductory sequence in the photo studio were promptly shot on arrival, with no preparation or pre-thought. The atmosphere decided the shots; what followed came directly from our experiences there, deciding step-by-step what seemed appropriate to do.
On the 3rd day an actor who had said he would come backed out and did not come and forced some sharp alterations, in my view all for the better. Had he come we had a "romantic" sequence in mind, something that would set up jealousies between the women, but in the absense of this actor, with only two days to find a conclusion and finish, instead I thought to make a harsh rupture in both the form and content, a rupture expressive of the breakdown in the psychologies of the three women. This enhanced the claustrophobic aspects of the film, and heightened the sense of tension. The rupture is initiated with the sequences in which the actors speak directly to the camera and the film shifts to black and white. The actresses did not know what the others had said, and improvised their commentary under my guidance. Once this sequence was completed the balance of the film fell very directly into place. The sequences in the photography studio and interviewing the writer were shot, along with a few pickup shots of the writer, in the following week. The film took no more than 6 shooting days.
For the most part the film was edited on site, on a notebook computer, including some relatively complex "special effects" sequences. In this manner we were able to be guided by the sequences we already had. Some of the story line was dictated by realities - for example Simonetta had to return to Rome for some work matters, so we filmed her departure and then had a section in which Eliana and Agnese were alone.
When the film was completed, I attempted to get a number of Italian festivals to show it, in large measure because I thought the actresses had done a wonderful job, and that it should be shown in their home country so it might best serve them professionally. The festivals to which it was sent
had normally taken my previous work and I was initially a bit surprised by the rejection but then thought it was in keeping with the content of the film: they really don't want to deal with this. Sadly for the actresses its been unshown in Italy to date (2008).
