Dinner with Fin de saison

Interview with Matthieu Vigneau, director of Fin de saison

Why were you interested in the camping environment?
The world of camping world didn’t really interest me. I was looking to create a restricted yet accessible place, a confined space. A campground enables the main character to work and live in the same place. A small area where people live close to each other for a while.

How did you create the musical composition for [titre en anglais] and the words to the songs?
I asked Arthur Larrègle, from the group J.C. Satàn, to compose the music for the film. We looked for ideas together then he composed the pieces. It wasn’t until afterwards that I rewrote the lyrics to the songs, adapting them to the melodies.

How did you compose your group of characters and what were your objectives?
I wanted to create four independent groups, the Douglas family, little Claude’s family, the photographer couple and the two longhaired guys. They are all different, they all have different activities or different desires but all of them have a connection to Audrey, the girl who has disappeared.

What interested you in the female character that everyone falls in love with but in fact no one really knows?
In cinema, there is often a pretty girl that everyone watches from a distance. I didn’t invent anything special. Summer love is a classic but when you are 45, have a loving wife and a child, it’s not so pretty. Audrey, whom we don’t see very much in the film in fact, had to have a ghostly presence.

To what point and why we you interested in emphasizing the joy of daily life instead of its mysteries that don’t necessarily have to be explained?
Filming daily life is rarely interesting. It needs to be shaken up a bit, no matter how it’s done. I tend to cut out what’s explicit which doesn’t always help the spectator, but it’s what I prefer.

Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?
Yes, of course. I just made a musical in which one of the characters finds a human tongue in the river.

What are your works of reference? In cinema and music?
I don’t really have any anymore. I like Bruno Dumont as much as John McTiernan. And regarding music, my heart sways between Bach and J.C. Satàn.

Fin de saison is being shown in the National Competition F10.