Lorcan Finnegan has a lot to say about the negative effects of capitalism and consumerism. In his 2019 feature film Vivarium, Finnegan uses a young couple buying a house in the suburbs to represent how capitalism forces people to follow social norms and get stuck in everyday life. Finnegan explores capitalism again in his new film, Nocebobut he frames his discussion through the distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor.
Eva Green plays Christine, a fashion designer plagued by a mysterious illness that limits her ability to work and form relationships. When Diana (Chai Fonacier), a Filipino nanny, begins to help Christine with her illness, traditional healing methods work. As Christine leans on Diana for extra help, her marriage to Felix (Mark Strong) suffers, putting their family’s well-being at risk. The psychological thriller is a fascinating examination of the placebo and nocebo effects and a startling commentary on consumer culture.
In an interview with Digital Trends, Finnegan talks about noceb, capitalism, Eva Green and how the connection between Filipino shamanism and Irish folklore inspired his latest film.
Eva Green as Christine in the thriller NOCEBO, released by RLJE Films and Shudder. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: After watching the movie, I went to the kitchen. I go to turn on the faucet and I see this bug crawling on the wall and I’m like, “You’ve got to be kidding me with those bugs.” I killed him so quickly. I didn’t want to risk it.
Lorcan Finnegan: [Laughs] In fact, I keep forgetting about that element of the film.
No more errors for me. I want to know what first sparked your curiosity about noceb and the nocebo effect.
I read a book that’s actually called That was written by medical anthropologist Shelley Adler. It was just an interesting area. Attic [Shanley], the writer I work with, also read the book and we started just doing placebo research. They are the opposite of noceb. Our research somehow led us to the Philippines, strangely enough. As we dug into it, we somehow realized that placebos are related to shamanism, and so are nocebos.
Ireland had a tradition of folk healing, you know. These powerful women in society are called wise women. This species was eradicated by the arrival of Christianity and then later by colonization by Britain. While we have been more concerned with shamanism and contemporary shamanism, it still exists in the Philippines, especially in Cebu, the island, and Siquijor, the island next to Cebu. So we started studying it more and started connecting ours [Irish] folklore and their folklore of the Philippines, which is strangely related even to very specific things.
Mark Strong as Felix in the thriller NOCEBO, released by RLJE Films and Shudder. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder.
We went to the Philippines to explore more. It is obvious that the Philippines were colonized by the Spanish about 10 years before Ireland was colonized by the British. They introduced Christianity and sort of wiped out those powerful healing women called Babylon. When we went to the Philippines in 2019, we visited witch doctors, practitioners of Kulam, which is like black magic, and tribal chiefs.
We were able to understand it more fully, and we began to see this other relationship that is kind of connected, that creates a story between the eradication of these kinds of nature-based beliefs and capitalism and colonization. They are all somehow connected.
Now the countries in Southeast Asia, in particular, are still colonized by the West and exploited by the West in a new neo-colonial way. So we thought that was an interesting way to tell our story, and that’s kind of how it started. It’s a long way to get into it. [Laughs]
You touched on the topics of capitalism and consumer culture. You have dealt with these topics in previous films. IN Nocebo, you see the divide between the rich and the poor. Why do you continue to explore these themes in your films?
Interesting. Well, I mean, that’s one of the problems with humanity. It is one of the biggest causes of all kinds of quarrels and wars and everything. This kind of huge divide between the rich and the poor. It just grows and grows. Yes, I think that kind of injustice mostly angers us, and it is, again, a provocation to do business.
NOCEBO Trailer (2022) Eva Green, Mark Strong, Thriller
Eva is fascinating in this movie. For his previous choices in big-budget and genre films like the James Bond film Casino Royale, she always goes for it. That’s the best way to describe her performance. How would you describe Eva?
Yes, she is amazing. She is an amazing actress and totally committed. As for Eva, also, in this story, the themes we’re exploring, she’s quite politically oriented. She thought it was important for her to get stuck in, even though she was playing an unpleasant character. [Laughs]
That’s a challenge.
Yeah right. She’s great. She is great to work with.
As good as Eva is, the performance that will appeal to most people is from Chai. I think other people will have that reaction too. During the casting process, what qualities were you looking for to fill the role and how did you come to choose Chai?
Well, it was interesting. After we went to the Philippines and all that and decided to go with this story, we pitched the project in Macau, China. We hired these co-producers from the Philippines and Epic Media. We could understand the nuance of the culture a little better, but we still wanted to make sure we got it right so we brought in this writer, Ara Chawdhury from Cebu.
Our character was then based in Cebu. We had to find a Cebuano–speaking actor. I really wanted to make sure they were a true representation of the Cebuano woman. We didn’t have a big pool to start looking. Our co-producers in the Philippines have worked with Chai before, and they suggested her, as well as Ara.
We probably saw 15-20 people for the role via Zoom because everything was happening due to COVID. She [Chai] it was simply brilliant. I think she just managed to strike a balance between being very friendly and a bit submissive. Also, being able to be quite dominant and also threatening.
She did this amazing audition thing where she would disarm you with a smile. She would say something that could be perceived as a bit strange, but then she would smile beautifully, broadly, warmly. You don’t really know how to take it. That’s where we started to develop that character.
Chai Fonacier as Diana in the thriller NOCEBO, released by RLJE Films and Shudder. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder.
She has these two sides. As the flashbacks begin to increase, it almost becomes her move. It’s like he’s switching roles with Christine. Was that a conscious decision you made in the writing process?
Yes, that was a real challenge, and that’s what we set out to do in the film, to do placebo and nocebo with the story. So, like switching allegiances halfway through the story. What you think is good can be bad or what is bad can be good. That was the intention.
There are so many close-ups and intuitive images, I mean the dog and the fire. They are both terrifying and beautiful in a strange way. Why did you decide to take these close-up pictures?
That. I think. I kind of developed the project for a long time, so it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when we said, “Oh yeah, use a lot of close-ups.” Me and DP, Radek [Ladczuk], we are talking about various films. Bergmanova Persona was actually an influence in terms of close-ups.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
We shot in 1.66:1, which is a bit tighter because we knew we had two characters that were going to be quite close. We wanted to bring them closer, which was a lot of portraits in two frames as well as close-ups. You get closer to the characters and feel that you may know them from a close-up, but are subverted as the film progresses.
You feel claustrophobic.
That. I also like portraits in photography. Sometimes a good close-up can really create a different impression of a person, not just a wider impression of them. You can really see their faces and you can see the nuances in their facial expressions.
Nocebo it’s in theaters now. It will be on demand and in digital format on November 22. The film will air on Shudder at a later date.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn