Breakfast with Jonathan’s Chest

An interview with Christopher Radcliff, director of Jonathan’s Chest

 How did you get into directing Jonathan’s Chest?

The idea for Jonathan’s Chest came from some research I had been doing on true stories of missing children, and a sort of wave of paranoia and fear that swept the United States during the 1980s and beyond in which people became very scared that their children were in danger from predators and other unseen, threatening forces. Whether realistic or not, the perception we have of these things in our mind and the question of where reality intersects with such nightmarish ideas is what interested me in telling this story, and I wanted to see if I could express that in a very simple and small short film.

 Had you already worked on the themes of madness or fear? To what extent was it enjoyable to explore them?

Yes, I’ve worked with these themes in the past most similarly in my previous short film The Strange Ones which played Clermont-Ferrand in 2011. It also dealt with this idea of a hidden darkness beneath the calm of normal life, and the sort of fear that we have in wondering if these awful things could possibly be truth or merely fiction. I find that I enjoy exploring this territory because it reflects a sort of intriguing perception of reality in which there is a constant lack of clarity, as well as the sort of maddening idea of there being a sort of essential unknowability in the world.

 For Jonathan’s Chest, have you studied some analysis on the abilities parents show, in crisis or war situations, to protect their children? If you haven’t, how did you come up with these parents skills and the reasons for their existence?

I have not actually studied parenting skills or anything related to how parents deal with crisis situations in making this film, but that is really fascinating to think about. In terms of the mother character in Jonathan’s Chest, much of what informed the way I portrayed her was just my sort of instinctual idea of what it might be like to be the parent of a child who commits a violent crime, or has the potential to, and what their methods of parenting or relating to their child might be. So rather than thinking of it as a more overt crisis or war scenario, I tried to imagine the experience of having to live in a kind of tense domestic situation where there is a constant threat of crisis simmering beneath the surface, and the sort of difficulty a parent must face in navigating this.

 I believe that Jonathan’s Chest focuses on a frustration that lies within all of us: the acceptance of not being almighty, all-powerful. And how frustrating it is that our expectations have to obey laws and regulations of the community. For instance when we want something we don’t have money for… Did you have frustrations while writing and directing Jonathan’s Chest?

I really like that reading of the film – I agree it definitely has a thematic layer to it that deals with the frustration of being left wanting, and of things being impossible, out of reach, or somehow unattainable. In terms of my frustrations while directing the film, yes I definitely had some, the biggest probably being the lack of time and money in making the film. We only shot it over the course of only 2 1/2 days, so I felt that I had sometimes to rush through scenes and would have liked a bit more time to refine certain moments and aspects of the film.

 What do you think of these thirtysomethings children, still living with their parents and not becoming independent?

This is a scenario that is becoming increasingly common, isn’t it? I think there are certainly societal factors that affect how and why this happens, but for me the internal reasons someone would remain in this insular, womb-like situation are fascinating to think about. I could relate it to the main character of my film, Alex, as he is someone who exists in a cocoon, and someone who seems to be both fearful of the unknown, but also intensely unhappy within his isolated home life. This tension between his dissatisfaction with his immediate reality and his fear of the possibilities that lie in the outside world is something I personally empathize with a great deal.

 Are you sensitive to the injustice inherent in the way dictatorships attempt to force people into things by terror?

Of course – this sensitivity is something that I think is so elemental. And I think, as it relates to Jonathan’s Chest, or my previous work like The Strange Ones – I think this is another thing that interests me about telling stories about young people and children. They are so often in a situation that they themselves cannot control, and are forced to bend to someone else’s will or to circumstances, be it their parents or school or whatever. This kind of subtle tyranny is an aspect of childhood that I find very intriguing and sympathetic. The idea of what a child has to do to navigate these circumstances, or break out from them, and what awaits them on the other side once they do – this is of great interest to me.

 Do you have plans for future films that deal with children’s issues or that show the world as a child sees it, as Jonathan’s Chest does ?

Yes, telling stories through the point of view of young people is something I plan to continue to do. I think that in youth there is sort of mystery and excitement to the world that doesn’t quite exist in the same way when you become an adult… I think it is a point of view that can be extremely dark, which is often the case for me, or also quite beautiful. Most of the ideas I have deal with this in some way, and I suppose what I would like to do is to continue to make films that respect and take seriously the emotions and issues we face in our youth, and that deal with both the extreme pain and beauty that exists in the world when we are young.

 Jonathan’s Chest was produced in France. According to you, what does French production bring to short film that no other would ?

In my experience, I find that a French production is really respectful of the director as an author and of the short film format in general. There is an appreciation for the art of the short film that I think is very different from other places. Shorts are is taken seriously, and there is an open-mindedness to the short film’s sort of inherently experimental format. And unlike elsewhere it’s not as much seen as simply a prelude to feature filmmaking or a sort beginner’s medium, which is really refreshing.

Programme for viewing Jonathan’s chest: National Competition F1.

More info The film was selected in Sundance 2014, SXSW 2014, Tokyo Short Shorts 2014, International Kurzfilm Hamburg 2014, Alcine 2014 and FEC European Short Film Festival 2015.