jezevex wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 1:08 amI was misled by the plot summary where is written that she is returning to her birthplace for the commemoration of some childhood friend, thinking she or killed him, was a witness of his murder and didn't report it, or just took a part in some dangerous children's game that led to his death by accident, falling from the roof or dying in a fire in the barn, for example. And now, she has qualms about it. There are some movies like this, but in this case, I was wrong.
Yeah, I was expecting one of those stories where a group of friends was doing something stupid as kids and one of them died, then the rest of them covered it up, now this one woman is going back and having to face what happened all those years ago. Something like that.
Young actress Rosa Marchant was 16 at the time filming on this movie completed, older than she looks (before looking her up I guessed 12 or 13). Here's a detailed interview with Rosa and director Veerle Baetens where they discuss the making of the film:
ferdi111 wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2024 2:14 pm
Those who look younger than they actually are can take that as advantage when playing in movies
That depends. For some roles it's an asset, for others it's a liability.
Here's another interview with Rosa Marchant from last October. Open the spoiler if you want to read it (translated from German).
Spoiler:
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At the first audition for Het Melts, Rosa Marchant (18) still walked around with a portable tube due to a heart defect. The day she was released from the hospital, she got the lead role. “It was like it was meant to be.”
Yannick Dangre October 25, 2023
Marchant looks cheerful and healthy nervous when I meet her in her home city of Antwerp. She looks very young for her age, but there is hardly any trace of the girl with a boy's hairstyle and clothes from the film in real life. “I had to undergo a physical transformation,” she says. 'The idea is that Eva, the main character, is one of the boys and is as unattractive as possible. After we had deliberately cut my hair twice, Veerle (Baetens, who makes her directorial debut with 'It Melts', ed.) called me and said: 'I have bad news, Rosa. It should look as if the mother cut the hair herself. I'm afraid we'll have to make you a lot uglier.' (laughs)
The role was not only physically challenging. In 'It Melts' we follow gloomy twenty-something Eva (Charlotte De Bruyne), who drives to a memorial service with a block of ice in her car. In sultry flashbacks we learn that 13-year-old Eva flees her dysfunctional family as often as possible to hang out with Tim (Anthony Vyt) and Laurens (Matthijs Meertens). Those 'three musketeers' are inseparable, until everything goes completely out of hand and Eva is left traumatized.
- There seem to be easier roles to debut with, especially as a teenager.
MARCHANT "I had read the book before I auditioned, so I knew it would be solid material. And yes, also that there would be a scene with sexual misconduct in the film. That was of course intense, but I, like my fellow actors, received excellent guidance. Both Veerle and the other crew members checked before and after each scene whether everything felt okay for everyone. We had a children's coach and a psychologist on set who we could always contact. All of that made everyone feel very safe."
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Behind the scenes of 'It melts'.
"It also helped that that charged scene was scheduled at the end of shooting, at a time when you already know and trust each other well. I also knew exactly what to do, because ultimately such a scene is also something technical. To compensate for the intensity, Anthony, Matthijs, Charlotte (Van der Eecken, the most beautiful girl in the village, who is also involved in the scene, ed.) and I had extra fun between takes. Letting off steam, so to speak. At the same time, I'm glad I was 16 and not 13 like my character. At 16 you know that sexual violence exists and I also know people who have experienced it."
- How did 'It Melts' come your way?
MARCHANT "Very coincidentally, through a friend who was completely in love with the book. I started looking up things about it and came across a casting call on Facebook for Tess, Eva's sister. Actually, they were looking for someone between the ages of 7 and 10 for that role, while I was 15. Because I looked so young, I thought with a healthy dose of overconfidence: I better turn that disadvantage into an advantage. That's how I ended up at the casting among all those little children, but I was allowed to come back. When Veerle called me that it was for the leading role, I couldn't believe my luck.
The childlike open-mindedness is essential in the book, and Veerle wanted to recreate that on set. That's why she only gave us the lyrics at the very last minute, so that we wouldn't rehearse them at home beforehand."
- Did you already have any acting experience, or were those recordings your baptism in fire?
MARCHANT "Apart from the annual school play, I had never done anything with acting. I liked it, because during those pieces I also memorized all the other roles just for fun. (laughs) But I never saw that as a real option to do later.
As soon as I got on set, I did everything mainly by feeling, so much so that sometimes I felt like I wasn't really 'acting'. You also become part of a whirlpool of energy, because it is a fantastic feeling to work together on such a large project.”
- If you are so intensely busy on set, are you able to avoid bringing Eva's negative feelings home with you?
MARCHANT "If we had worked on the same scene for a whole day, I sometimes found it difficult to disconnect from my role. Veerle also warned me about this: I shouldn't let Eva's feelings become my own too much, because her youth obviously doesn't make you happy.
At the same time, it was almost therapeutic at the best of times. I was able to use that role to get the darkest feelings out of my mind, and then I could get out again. There's something liberating about that."
- Did you recognize yourself in Eva?
MARCHANT "I think Eva's story is recognizable for many girls of that age. She is an early teenager and doesn't really know what she wants or how to behave, while everyone else around her is growing up very quickly and doing all kinds of things that she is not yet ready for. She would actually still like to sit on her mother's lap, but in the meantime she wants to be considered cool by her friends and peers, who are already busy having sex, for example. She wants to fit in, but that doesn't quite work out."
(hesitates for a moment) "I recognize that. I myself was hospitalized on and off for a few years due to a heart defect, so I watched people around me grow up while I was forced to observe. That was hard, but in retrospect I don't mind it so much, because it changed me from a child who played outside to someone who mainly wanted to nourish her spirit."
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Behind the scenes of 'It melts'
"During that period I devoured endless novels and films and constantly wanted to teach myself new things. That's exactly why I can now do the things I like.
When I was finally freed from my health problems, I really had the feeling that I had to go outside. That after years of being bedridden I had to do something. The melt came at the perfect time. I am extremely grateful to Veerle, especially because I still walked around with a portable probe during the first audition. She saw through that and always treated me like a normal girl. The first time I got a call back from the casting director happened to be the day I was finally released from the hospital. That almost felt like a Disney moment, like it was meant to be."
- But you did recognize Eva's position as an outsider?
MARCHANT "At her age I was fairly invisible, even when I was not in the hospital. Especially because I looked so extremely young, I, like Eva, did not count for the average teenager who was discovering his sexuality. It's also quite a strange feeling to be constantly rated 10 at the age of 15. And that's still kind of going on. Last week I received a lollipop at a restaurant, while I could actually order a whiskey and cola there. But hey, it also has its advantages: I got into the Book Fair for free until I was 16. (laughs)
What I also recognized in 'It Melts' was that in the first year of secondary school the change takes place that suddenly makes children very cruel. Everyone is constantly concerned about what everyone else thinks of him or her, every conversation is filled with superlatives, and there is always an argument. Partly I'm glad that I didn't always have to experience that from the front row."
- Despite everything you say now, did you have a happy childhood?
MARCHANT "Yes, certainly. My father runs a fashion agency and my mother is a designer who sang with De Nieuwe Snaar in her younger years. They separated when I was 4, after which my father was absent earlier. He now realizes that and we can now talk about it in a good way. But in practice I mainly grew up with my mother and sister who is ten years older, with whom I have a strong bond."
- So no family snake pit for you like Eva's?
MARCHANT "No, I could always go to my family, but also outside of it. There was and is a large family, which was very decisive. I think Eva misses exactly that: people outside her family who she can listen to. For me that was self-evident. For as long as I remember, my mother has surrounded herself with a lot of friends who go on holiday with us and with whom I still celebrate Christmas every year. Very early on they took me to the cinema, the theater, on outings. At one point my mom even became concerned because I spent more time with adults than with my peers. (laughs)
They were also important to remaining myself, especially during the periods in the hospital. I have always been reluctant to just blend in with a group, or I couldn't do it for practical reasons. From an early age I was committed to following my own path, something my family only encouraged me to do."
- I assume that they reacted very positively when you told them that you would play in 'It Melts'?
MARCHANT "Of course everyone was over the moon. Or at least until they knew what kind of scenes I would have to play."
- How did they react when they saw the film for the first time? Were you afraid of their reactions?
MARCHANT "Absolutely. I found the idea of them seeing the film much scarier than seeing it myself for the first time. My grandparents, for example, were extremely affected, even though they had talked a lot with Veerle before the recordings and they think she is great. My father was also deeply impressed."
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Rosa Marchant: 'I think Eva's story is recognizable for many girls of that age.'
"My mother, on the other hand, had followed the entire process closely. She was often present on the set and was therefore able to estimate much better what it would look like. She also saw that I had complete confidence in it and at no time did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable."
- Could you look at it yourself with that look?
MARCHANT "After the very first screening for cast and crew, I was the only one of the children who did not cry. (remains silent for a moment) Of course it is intense to see yourself like this, but it is less noticeable because you already know it or something. I was especially impressed with the others. During the recordings it is sometimes difficult to judge whether it is going well or badly, or what exactly it will look like, but the image I had made of it in my head ultimately corresponded quite well with the final version. By the way, that image was very close to how I read the book.”
- Did you feel extra pressure because it is such a well-known novel, or because you think it is so good?
MARCHANT "During the filming I felt a great responsibility to do justice to the book. As with any film adaptation, some changes have been made from the novel, but the crucial scenes are the same. When I had to play that, Lize Spit came to the set again, so those were the most exciting moments of that entire period."
- The film has already made a flying start at the Sundance Festival. You even received the Special Jury Award for best acting performance. How did it feel, as a 17-year-old, to suddenly be awarded at a famous film festival on another continent?
MARCHANT "I was incredibly nervous. For me it was a combination of many firsts: for the first time in America, for the first time showing the film to an audience, for the first time giving interviews, in English at that. I was very happy that Veerle and Charlotte were with me. They are two professionals from whom I have learned a lot. I had also received a short media training just before we left. Certain topics are more sensitive, especially in America. For example, I was absolutely not allowed to use the word revenge.
The prize itself was quite a surprise. We were so modest that we flew home the day before the ceremony. I was sitting on the couch in my pajamas in Belgium when I suddenly saw my photo appear on the festival's Instagram page and not much later Veerle called me. That price really felt unreal."
- Are you someone who immediately reads all the reviews during such a festival?
MARCHANT "Not really. I received it through Veerle and Charlotte, and fortunately the reactions were mainly positive. I was often approached by people who came to tell me their personal story because they recognized something of Eva in their own youth. It was quite intense to hear all that. But in the end everyone was friendly and open, which quickly dissipated my fear."
- The few criticisms that came were mainly about the darkness of the film. How much do you believe that a person cannot escape their past?
MARCHANT "I think it depends from person to person and how indicative your past is. I don't buy into the doom-laden idea that you can't escape it, and I hope there are people who, like me, have an environment around them to get out of it. Eva doesn't have that and that is crucial. But at the same time it is realistic. Veerle often said: 'Remember that sometimes this really happens', so we did not avoid the darkness."
- What do you expect from the reactions here?
MARCHANT "I'm especially curious, because after two years of waiting you long for feedback. Who knows, maybe all kinds of people will spontaneously tell me their life stories, so I have to be prepared for that." (laughs)
'It Melts' is now showing in cinemas.
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Rosa Marchant was 16 at the time filming on this movie completed, older than she looks (before looking her up I guessed 12 or 13). Here's a detailed interview with Rosa and director
