In order to mend their marriage, Judith and Steve spend a few days at a marriage retreat on an island. Their daughters Stephanie and Emmy are on the trip. While Judith desperately tries to express her many dissatisfactions, Steve remains stubbornly closed. As tension rises between the spouses, their daughters are prey to their own torments. International Critics Prize at TIFF, Seagrass (Echo of the sea) is the first feature film by Meredith Hama-Brown, with whom The duty spoke.
“The first images that came to me, even before the beginning of the story, are those of two sisters who are in this characteristic relationship of protection of the other and rejection of the other all at the same time,” confides the filmmaker of Vancouver.
Thus the eldest Stephanie shows herself attentive to her little sister Emmy in private, but while distancing herself in public. This, in order to favorably impress other young girls of her age, whose parents are also in couples therapy.
Although it alternates between each member of the family, the film undeniably favors Judith’s point of view. Meredith Hama-Brown tells the story of this woman in a production that is as inspired as it is concerted.
“During writing, I obviously have flashes scenes that come to me. That said, not all of these preliminary ideas stick. When I begin the visual design work with my director of photography, Norm Li, with whom I have collaborated on all my short films, my imagination unfolds further, in contact with his. We gradually establish the visual language of the film. For example, for Seagrass, we decided that the sequences with the parents would be filmed statically, especially in wide shots, in an objective manner. For the girls, we opted for a light and nervous camera, in order to capture both the spontaneity of childhood, but also the stress and anxiety. »
In fact, everyone struggles, in their own way, with a feeling of isolation, even alienation. This is particularly true of Judith.
“The theme of isolation, of solitude, is very present in my short films and it emerged quite naturally in this first feature. I would point out, however, that, contrary to what has been circulating, the film is not autobiographical. It’s just that some themes are very personal. In addition to isolation, the Japanese heritage of the character of Judith, which I share through my mother, is central. »
In fact, it is this cultural legacy which determined the theater of action.
“For me, setting the film on an island was obvious. On the one hand, it made the characters prisoners, symbolically, of a confined place, and where it therefore becomes more and more difficult to repress the frustrations that drive them. On the other hand, you should know that the sea, the Pacific coast, has immense psychological importance for the Japanese-Canadian community. During World War II, Japanese Canadians living on the Pacific coast were interned in inland camps. Except that, even after the war, they were forbidden for years to live within 200 kilometers of the coast. There is a whole historical trauma there that I wanted to explore. »
For the character of Judith, who lived “inland”, suddenly finding herself in the presence of the sea all around has something liberating. Moreover, Judith’s psychological journey which passes, not without clashes, from a state of repression to a state of expression, constitutes the main plot of the film.
“Quite,” agrees the filmmaker. It’s funny, because there are people who would have preferred an ending, a clearer, more classic resolution. Whereas the resolution is this: it is the speaking of this woman who struggled throughout the film not only to find the words, but to be heard. »