Pop Culture

JANE CAMPION IN THE CUT

Chances are, this is not the only article about Jane Campion that you have seen this month. Ten years after the mystical romance The Piano won her a Palm d'Or, two AFI Awards and an Oscar, the New Zealand-born writer-director is talking about her new movie. If you liked The Piano... it doesn't necessarily mean you'll like In the Cut.

Her busy interview schedule is a necessary evil, for someone who is not overly fond of talking about herself. "I like a conversation," she says, "when you're revealing your humanity to each other. It goes both ways. An interview situation is just you." Her humanity, she says, is something she prefers to reveal in her films. "I feel freer to explore in my films than in daily life," she confesses.

Of course, there are a few good reasons to discuss In the Cut. It has already won some controversy (and in America, a few cuts) for its shocking storyline and lurid sex scenes. It has Meg Ryan, America's sweetheart, reinventing herself. Moreover, it's the return of one of Australia's most acclaimed filmmakers. Like Quentin Tarantino with Kill Bill: Volume One, or Peter Weir with the upcoming Master and Commander, it has been a few years since Campion made her previous film, Holy Smoke (1999). Who could begrudge us a few interviews?

"I do think it's important that there's controversial work in the world," she says. "When I started watching films in the seventies, a lot of films were exciting and daring, taking risks." She compares that to today's film scene. "It's all about box office. If you take the analogy of restaurants, having a high turnover and popularity -- like McDonald's or Burger King -- doesn't necessarily make for high cuisine."

Australian cinematographer Dion Beebe, who worked with Campion on both Holy Smoke and In the Cut, sees her strength as a willingness to challenge herself. "She loves to take chances," he says. "With In the Cut... we were determined not to take the easy way out."

In the Cut gives Campion another new setting: the mean streets of New York. Frannie (Ryan) is an attractive but dour schoolteacher, living in an area where a serial killer is murdering young women. She meets Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), who is investigating the murders, and they are attracted to each other. One small problem: Malloy, as Frannie discovers, might well be the culprit.

"The two main heroes, Detective Malloy and Frannie, have this sexually inspired relationship to start with, but actually they're looking for a way to make it more soulful," says Campion. "They want love. They just don't trust it. They're scared of what would happen if they trusted the wrong person. I would say that In the Cut is telling the story of many men and women in Western society, in a culture that completely obsesses and fetishises romance."

Ryan's character is light years away from the kooky blonde she has played so often. "In this film, she's not Meg Ryan," says Campion. "She's an actor." Complete with red hair, she reminds one of Campion's good friend Nicole Kidman, who was originally cast as Frannie. (Kidman opted out, but remained on board as a producer.)

Campion's leading ladies tend to transform themselves, whether Holly Hunter's Oscar-winning role as a mute pianist in The Piano, or Kate Winslet's portrayal of an Australian spiritual seeker in Holy Smoke. The director has always focused on female outsiders. Her early films, like Sweetie (1989) and the TV movie An Angel at My Table (1990), established her as a talent to watch. The Piano, however, gave her a name (critically, if not commercially) as the world's foremost female director. After sharing the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival, she became only the second woman ever to be nominated for a directing Oscar. (She lost to Steven Spielberg, but won for her screenplay.) The film was hailed as modern masterpiece. "Not since the early days of cinema, when audiences trampled over each other towards the exit to avoid the train emerging from the screen, could I imagine the medium of film to be so powerful," wrote Lizzie Francke in the British journal Sight and Sound.

Since then, Campion might have lost some of her lustre. The story credits of The Piano have been disputed by a few people, including The Canberra Times journalist Robert Macklin in (who called for her "original screenplay" Oscar to be returned). Her next films, Portrait of a Lady (1996) and Holy Smoke, were not so well-received. Indeed, some critics were scathing.

Campion's high-profile supporters blamed such criticism on ignorance and tall poppy syndrome. However true this was, the sometimes angry response to the reviews gave Campion a reputation as a filmmaker who can't take criticism.

So what does she really think of critics? "I think they can be invaluable," she says. "When the critical community have taken the responsibility to elevate cinema, like when Truffaut was writing about film in France, they really changed cinema, really elevated the craft and the art, because they encouraged and rewarded filmmakers for doing this interesting work. We've got amazing people here who make our country a better home for independent filmmaking than, say, America is... Everyone's work can be discussed, and I accept that. I never feel above criticism. I always feel there's a lot to criticise about my own work."

So she's pro-criticism? Wait, there's more: "Everyone needs encouragement as well. Our industry needs encouragement, and you don't get people flourishing in a non-encouraging atmosphere. The critics, if they're smart and passionate and thoughtful, are wonderful. If they're negative and personal and mean, I think they're not doing a very good job.

"I'm really grateful for those film critics who have supported me all along -- like David [Stratton] and Margaret [Pomeranz] -- because they really have enabled my career. The ones who've loathed me all along, it's almost like they're old friends. Like an old uncle or aunt that hates everything you do... I make strong films, and people are reactive to strong work."

So far, reviews for In the Cut have been mixed, exciting some critics ("Basic Instinct with brains," suggested Empire), and repelling others (IF magazine described it as "mordant, gloomy and glacial"). It was based on Susanna Moore's even gloomier novel. "I was taken by the book," says Campion. "In fact, quite taken aback... At first I thought, 'Well, maybe some daring young filmmaker could make it, and I'll produce it.' I ended up just feeling that I really did want to be part of this adventure."

She wrote the screenplay with Moore. "It's just much quicker when you've got someone to collaborate with, to say 'What do you think of that idea?' Otherwise, it could take six weeks to try it out and see then that you've made a mistake... It's also good fun to work with someone."

However, when The Piano won an Oscar for its screenplay, it was for Campion alone. "I think that I was probably the only one who could do that [script], because it really fit into a personal style of my own way of thinking."

She talks about the pros and cons of collaboration. "Feedback is very important to help extend you, but it can also really deflate you. You can feel so crushed, hopeless, and think 'Oh I can't do it.' All those dramas are the most time-consuming parts of the process. The time you spend telling yourself you're hopeless. 'I can't do it. I'm a dunce.' About 95 percent of the job is telling yourself 'Yes, I can do it.' Five percent of the job is actually doing the work."

Maybe she is more perturbed by critics than she will admit. Still, considering her emotional investment in each film, who can blame her? "People say, 'Oh, you haven't made very many films.' But I'll tell you what: I've made a lot of films, considering I've had a part in seeing every single one of my films, from the first idea to their final realisation and release... I've actually done seven pictures in 19 years. What's that -- one in less than every three years? It's probably more than any other female director."

For her next project, she wants to do NOTHING. At least, not for the next four years. After she finishes promoting In the Cut, she plans to spend more time with Alice, her nine-year-old daughter. "She's been very patient. I don't want to miss out, and she doesn't want to miss out... Also, it's like a sabbatical. What do I think about life now? It's about time I really thought about it. I guess it's something I think many people would like to do, if they could afford to do it."

Perhaps, after all these years of exploring the hearts and minds of humanity, Jane Campion is ready to explore her own.