Immediately afterwards, the head of communication and press office Dimitra Nikolopoulou, who moderated the press conference, welcomed in her turn the Greek film director, explaining that he is an old TIFF acquaintance and friend, since both his previous films, Without (2008) and Miss Violence (2013), were screened in Thessaloniki. Consequently, after making a brief mention to the basic plot of the film, which is based on a recent true story of unheard cruelty, she asked Alexandros Avranas to explain the reasons why he chose to adapt this particular violent incident to cinema.
The director talked about the event that became the film’s raw material, a violent killing that took place in 2011, when a couple murdered a young immigrant in a well thought-of fraud in order to collect the money from life insurance. The Greek director explained, though, that the film’s ending, just like the invention of the surrogate mother, are definitely fictional elements, while a particularly cruel part of the real story, the fact that the young immigrant was burnt in front of her child, was not depicted. “My purpose was to show that nowadays people shut themselves off, trying to safeguard their rights, which creates an atmosphere of alienation, loneliness and isolation. The crisis has of course played a role to this phenomenon, but not a decisive one”, Mr Avranas said.
Consequently, talking about his intention to touch upon the subject of the contamination of family as a reflection of a wider social pathogenicity, the director explained that what he had in mind this time was not family in its nuclear form, but rather the collapse of moral values, as well as how concepts such as love and friendship tend to degrade in our times. “Moral barriers not only loosen today, but tend to eliminate, as we are being trapped in ourselves and our artificial needs, unable to efficiently coexist with other people. This is where the film’s cruelty derives from, and I think it is a great mistake to say that it leans towards any misogynism. I wanted to make the viewer see that they end up feeling pity and solidarity towards a character, whom just a while ago they considered a brutal murderer”, he added.
Consequently, Mr Avranas spoke about the concept of punishment being present throughout his film, and compared it with Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, where the main character Raskolnikov chooses to get arrested and punished for his crime, though he can get away. The director explained that the main female character of the film is letting herself being punished, as she seeks a way out to redemption and personal catharsis through pain and suffering. “The heroine surrendered and did not fight back, nor hid, though she could. She surrendered because she is trying to find out her own truth in a world where everyone is from the start and a priori lost. As we grow up and mature, we experience a sense of injustice for what we were feeling we were worth of, but never received, and resort to vengeance and looting. At the same time, it is a matter of pinning her hopes and putting her faith in her husband, who betrays her unhesitatingly. Betrayal is manifold and to every direction in the film”, he added.
The director also talked about the key concept of love in his film, which is emphatically stated in the title as well. “In Love me Νot, love is being approached via its absence. The film’s title is in the imperative. In a few words, don’t love me, because I won’t be able to love you back, give you everything that has to be given by someone who loves”, he said.
Consequently, in the Q&A session, Mr Avranas referred to a particular scene in the film, where the main male character visits his aunt. “The scene of the visit, besides its functional value, since it functions as the male character’s alibi at a moment when a murder is being committed, aims at showing his human side, which is simulated, though, and derives from the rules for good behavior. Love me Not looks like a relay race, where we pass from one character to another, but we have to always feel close to the one we just let behind. In general, the film is constantly trying to demolish what it just built. Its structure is complex, and it lacks the emphatic facts that result to an immediate sentimental involvement on behalf of the viewer. My purpose is to encourage the viewer to always suspect that something different is going on than what they watch on screen as an initial motivation. It was a very difficult procedure, which I have to admit exhasted me”, he concluded.
At the end of the press conference, the two actors who played the two main female characters of the film, Eleni Roussinou and Celestine Aposporis, described the way they experienced the shootings. “Each time I am being asked how I felt during the shootings of a film and how I got prepared for a demanding role, I honestly find it very hard to answer, as it is a very deep and personal procedure. I will just say that it has been a pleasure for me to work with a director who knew exactly what he wanted from each actor, and I must say the cooperation with all contributors in the film was flawless”, said Mrs Roussinou.
Consequently, the director informed the audience that for the role ultimately assigned to Celestine Aposporis an open casting process had preceded, with 1,100 participants. “When we claim that we want to act outside the mainstream, we have to provide opportunities to younger people as well, not solely to discover a newborn star, but because it is necessary to give the chance to young people and not support this system of recycling the same persons, which prevails in Greek cinema. As to Celestine, I can say that, as all young people with ambition do, she swept into the chance she was given”, he said. Celestine Aposporis talked immediately after, saying that she will never forget her taking part in the film, since it was her first role as an actor. She also noted that the cooperation with Alexandros Avranas and the rest of the actors was exemplary.
