Jane Champion will receive the Pardo d'Onore Manor Award for lifetime achievement at the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Friday night. But the New Zealand director also took time to talk to members of the press about a wide range of topics, including the success of Greta Gerwig'S Barbiethe history of male dominance in Hollywood and her “very problematic” relationship with her own films.
The New Zealand filmmaker called Gerwig 'the Barbie story… fantastic. Because for once we have a movie that is not made up of Marvel hero characters, but a kind of humorous and very creative and funny look at the Barbie “mental story.”
Campion added: “She's the first woman to really make it a historic package, she's got into the billions. It's fantastic. It just means that women [will] “finally being trusted with money.”
When asked why some of her films, such as In the cut, The portrait of a lady And Holy smokeweren't celebrated in the same way when they came out as they might be celebrated now, Campion said: “I really don't know why, but I can guess. The industry was very male-dominated, and it still is very male-dominated. But thank God the Berlin Wall of gender dominance has come down now, and I feel like things have really had a much better chance.”
She added: “We have seen so many amazing women come forward recently, winning many great awards, such as Chloe Zhao And Justine Triesteand much, much more. So I'm very hopeful.”
About Portrait of a ladyCampion said: “People didn't see it Nicole Kidman at that moment as the actress that she really is, and we know from Australia that she can be, because they saw her as Tom Cruise's girlfriend or wife, and felt that it was a kind of hand-back role and that she shouldn't be playing such a classical heroine, certainly not American. But from my point of view she was brilliant.”
Campion was also asked about her relationship with her filmography, which she described as “very problematic”. She pointed out that “the period of intensity in trying to bring it to fruition… is so intense”, adding: “And it's quite critical, the way I look at the film [them]…I'm just afraid to look at it and think, 'Oh my God, I missed this,' and I can't handle it.”
The filmmaker concluded, “Yeah, I can be pretty hard on myself. I feel like I'm some kind of mother animal, and I'm like, 'Okay, you can fly. Go away! Don't let me see you anymore.' But the period of nurturing them to their best versions of themselves is full of love and intensity. Maybe it's like when you're in an intense relationship with someone and it's over, and you don't really want to see them anymore.”