02. “Butterfly”: Interview with Florence Miailhe

Synopsis
A man swims in the sea. As he does so, memories come flooding back. From his early childhood to his adult life, all the memories are connected to water. Some are happy, some glorious, some traumatic. This story will be the story of his last swim. It will take us from the source to the river – from the waters of childhood paddling pools to those of swimming baths, from a North African country to the shores of the Mediterranean, from Olympic stadia to reservoirs, from concentration camps to the paradise beaches of Réunion.

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Butterfly is a new film from the multi-award-winning director Florence Miailhe. It portrays the life story of a talented swimmer, inspired by Alfred Nakache who was one of the greatest French butterfly swimmers. The scenes that drive the film’s narrative convey the various aspects of human nature – sometimes kindness and courage, sometimes cold-heartedness and cruelty, and sometimes love and sadness.

This film has embarked on its journey to be nominated for many international film festivals across the world, including Berlinale, Annecy Festival, and Animafest Zagreb.

Here is our interview with Florence Miailhe on Butterfly.

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Interview with Florence Miailhe

Hideki Nagaishi (HN): How did this film project start?

Florence Miailhe: I was working on the development of my feature film, The Crossing (2021), and my producer Dora Benousilio and I were having trouble securing the budget. I started looking for an idea for another project. I don’t know why, but I remembered that my father knew a champion swimmer, Alfred Nakache, that he often talked to me about when I was ten years old. Alfred Nakache was the older brother of our swimming instructor, and my father had met him during World War II in Toulouse.

This memory led me to look up on the internet about this world champion, whom my father admired so much, and I came across his story. It was an obvious choice for me to create a film about Alfred Nakache. Everything about him inspired me: his passion for water, his dramatic fate in the history of World War II, his courage, and his resilience. It was also the fact that it was his younger brother who had probably taught me the same butterfly stroke that he practiced.

HN: What was your main goal in developing this film when you were at the beginning of the film project? And now, after completing the film, what do you want the audience to take away from this film the most?

Florence Miailhe: When I started working on Butterfly, I wanted it to be about one man’s courage in the face of the tragedy in his personal story and the tragedy of history. I also wanted to talk about his love of swimming, which undoubtedly helped him get through the ordeals. I wanted to tell the story of a man who spent his life in the water like a legend or a tale: Once upon a time, there was a man who grew up in the water and died there.

I’d like for us to keep in mind the need to remember these historic periods. That we must always be vigilant in the face of racism, anti-Semitism, and discrimination, wherever it may come from. I started thinking about this film in 2015. Since then, unfortunately, it seems increasingly relevant.

HN: Did you face any creative difficulties, or any other creative experiences that were impressive for you, throughout the film’s production?

Florence Miailhe: I had no particular difficulties in producing the film. Ron Dyens, the producer, was immediately on board, and we quickly found financial partners. Luc Camilli, who was also co-producer of The Crossing, joined the project without hesitation.

I had a very precise idea of the film. For the animation, I worked with two young women. They had worked on The Crossing with me, so I knew what I could expect from them. As always, when I entrust animation to them, there are pleasant surprises and unexpected results. They are often more patient than I am and sometimes go further in the precision of a movement.

HN: What did you take care in the most when you developed the film’s story, and what was the most difficult part of the story to make for you?

Florence Miailhe: I wanted to make the whole film and Nakache’s memories be linked to water. To achieve this, I had to transform one or two episodes from his life. Then we had to ensure the whole thing can be understood, including all the flashbacks. The most difficult aspect of the animation was depicting the repetitive nature of the swimming with an animation technique that doesn’t allow for many loops, as well as depicting the slowness of certain underwater movements.

HN: For young animation creators who discovered your animation work for the first time in this film, could you please briefly explain the animation techniques you used to create this film? And what do you think are the strengths and benefits for you to use these animation techniques in visual storytelling?

Florence Miailhe: The animation technique I use is direct animation under the camera, whether with oil paint on glass, sand, or pastel. We call it stop-motion, but my films are in 2D.

For Butterfly, I worked on the animation with oil paint on canvas. The backgrounds were painted on canvas beforehand. Those were covered with a layer of varnish for not only protecting them, but also for animating the characters directly on top of them.

I set a glass above the canvas to depict the out-of-water body parts and effects. So, I could partially erase the swimmers’ bodies and give the impression of water transparency and, in contrast, their disappearance into murky waters.

I love the materials/textures you obtain by working on direct animation and the invention this produces all along the creative process. I also like the surprises, the accidents, and the chance that this technique introduces into the slow process of creating animation. And I like to create each image quickly and directly with the final rendering.

HN: The visual expression of all the water in the film is fascinating and leaves a strong impression on the audience. Could you please let us know how you achieved that? What did you especially pay attention to when animating the water? Also, were there any technical things that were particularly important when you were animating water?

Florence Miailhe: I wanted the audience to understand the different symbolisms and the multifaceted nature of water. So, each “water” was treated differently: The sea, the clear and transparent waters of childhood, the murky waters of the camps, and the sea of lovers.

Representing water is fascinating. The representations that allow us to perceive something as water are, sometimes, just the deformation of the flow of water on pebbles at the bottom of a river, the bodies deformed under water, or partly visible like only seeing an arm, a head, and so on.

We came up with technical tricks to represent these different states of water: animated with oil paint on the glass set above the background painted on canvas, swimmers moving from above to below the water surface in slightly different colours, and soapy water was used very experimentally.

HN: I felt that all the music in the film makes each scene more emotional and empathetic. Could you please let us know the story behind the film’s music? How did Pierre Oberkampf join the film project, and how was the collaboration with Pierre for you? What did you take care in, regarding the film music?

Florence Miailhe: I’ve known Pierre for a long time because he worked on the films of his wife, Agnès Patron, who was one of my students at ENSAD (École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs). I did a test with him for the trailer for the Bucheon International Animation Festival 2022 and it convinced me. He has a great sensitivity. So, he was involved from the beginning of the project. We talked about the emotions that we needed to convey, including the swimmer’s breathing, and the sound in general (he also did the film’s sound design).

When we were editing the animatic with Nassim Gordji -Tehrani, the editor of the film, we chose the moments where we felt the music would add another dimension to the image, and asked him to give us demos. Once we’d finished the animation and the final editing, he went back from his tests to compose the music. The final touch was the recording of the bass clarinet, to give the swimmer the breath of the instrument. I was very happy with this collaboration. Pierre is very attentive, and his music must not invade the image but bring another dimension. Sometimes it helps us understand the film. It enables us to enter Alfred Nakache’s memories and feelings.