A Conversation with Olivier Assayas, Moderated by Richard Linklater
SXSW – Austin Convention Center, March 11, 2018
Article by Stacey Lovett and Photography by Jim Chapin
Filmmaker and Austinite Richard Linklater couldn’t have been a more natural moderator for Olivier Assayas’ panel at SXSW 2018, as the French director draws from multiple cultures not only for his films but for his filmmaking style. They discussed the cultural contexts surrounding Assayas’ films and how that creates a humanist view in his work.
Growing up in France in the political landscape of the 1970s lent a different background to his art and filmmaking and he vowed to create and share his ideals in his own “bubble of freedom.” Carlos proved a perfect example of achieving this artistic freedom as he took that canvas to explore the complexities of the lead character in a 5 ½ hour portrait of the mercenary and explore the evolution of how he becomes it. Deeply inspired by the strategy and revolution of the complexities of the political strategy set forth in Steven Soderbergh’s Ché films, Assayer translated this analysis into a never-before stylistically done film involving geopolitics and expanding his own filmmaking immensely. He continued to draw from the outside world revolutionizing the film industry and pushing the envelope into creating new heights from studying Rainer Fassbender’s new perspective in German film to embracing his fascination with the culture and aesthetics of Chinese filmmaking, ultimately becoming a figurehead in bringing the Hong Kong film culture to France in the 1980s.
Assayer went further to describe his methods behind his other films and how his personal background and understanding of culture has aided in creating the humanizing qualities so thick in his work. Not afraid to explore genre elements Personal Shopper delves into a deep physical reaction to create a connection of the viewer with their own body as he stated that inner fears and anxieties are stronger than the tangible world. In Demonlover he shows a more abstract, humanistic way of sci-fi reconstruction and how Western Civilization – due to the lack of religious concentration – has to recreate their own rituals to deal with death. His visceral account of how technology affects humankind in the film was made by paying attention to instinct over adhering to traditional filmmaking rules, reaching outside the framework and taking great risks in doing so. Assayer stated that he was inspired by the fact that the internet had evolved into a means of accessibility to fantasy like never before and explores this transformation of the human experience of technology becoming a disturbing transformative element in sexualization.
Recognition of the cultures and generations in history – opening up that historical point of view into something you can further push the boundaries with is something Assayer and Linklater both know about and craft that importance to recognize the liberties surrounding you and mold them to in turn take your own artistically.
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