#deutschlandfunk

The news by Deutschlandfunk.

As far as I understand, it's simply the news they share in the radio recorded and uploaded (every 30min) to Spotify, and it covers international as well as national news.

What's super nice about it (especially if you're still practicing German!) is that it's only 5 minutes long and in those five minutes:

- they give an overview at the start (short list, one sentence for each topic)

- they go through each topic, about 30-60sec each

- they give the same overview again

Tickets on sale now! So so so so ready to hit the road again next year for these shows across Europe. Come hang out somewhere along the way. 

Also, Marigold Raasay Sessions full album is out today 🎉

And a full live performance filmed at Deutschlandfunk last year is available over at YouTube now too.

Translated radio interview / transcript

Dance of the gazes and female desire

Susanne Burg, Deutschlandfunk, 26th of October 2019

// Additions or clarifications for translating purposes are denoted as [T: …]. You can listen to the interview (in German) here. Noémie speaks in English, but unfortunately you can’t hear most of it due to the simultaneous translation (or maybe you can if you have superhuman hearing). I’ve tried to combine the transcript with the recording where possible. Apologies, it gets a bit messy. //

‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ is about a female painter who is supposed to paint a woman, who doesn’t want to be painted. The film received the Best Screenplay in Cannes. Lead actress Noémie Merlant explains why this film is so special.

One of the films that has been talked about a lot in Cannes this year, in the queues, in reviews and finally at the award ceremony, was ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’. […] It is a period film, but turns many gender roles upside down and tenderly creates a utopia of liberated love.

[T: Omitted short description of film]

Interviewer: You play the painter Marianne, who is commissioned by the Countess to do a portrait of her younger daughter Héloïse. Héloïse refuses to pose. Marianne therefore has to study her face during the day and then paint her at night. Why did she even accept this commission? Does she think in the beginning, it is just a job like any other?

Noémie Merlant: She is a painter and is still at the beginning of her career. She wants to work and as a woman gets the opportunity to do so. At the time there were maybe around a hundred [T: womans 😘], who were painters. She is modern in the sense that she is and wants to work as a freelancer, [T: (as per recording) so she has to accept to work this way, in secret.]

--- [T: This bit is not in the recording for whatever reason]

I: She does that, she studies Héloïse’s face, they talk with each other. When does she start to feel guilty, because she is lying to Héloïse?

NM: I believe that she already feels a bit guilty in the beginning, when she accepts the job. This guilt is getting stronger, the more she feels for Héloïse. The more in love she feels, the more guilty she also feels.

---

I: How does their relationship change, when Héloïse finds out?

NM: [T: (as per recording) It changes everything, because then Héloïse accepts to collaborate,] she accepts to sit for the portrait. From this moment, it is about the collaboration of two women, and the love story can really begin. They collaborate on the same level, the gazes are horizontal. The concept of the muse is reinvented in this film – Héloïse is not a muse, [T: (as per recording) she is a collaborator. So this starts at that moment.]

I: Héloïse has a very strong opinion about Marianne’s painting. And Marianne is also not very happy about the result of her work at first. Why is that?

NM: Marianne has the opportunity not to marry, but to pursue her passion as painter. But she is stuck, she hasn’t really found her art. She is trapped in the constraints of a commissioned painter. But when she starts to collaborate with Héloïse, when Héloïse practically opens her eyes, that is when Marianne realizes she has to be sincere with this portrait, in this case it means the intimacy and shared moments of these women. Héloïse has found her way back in life, [T: (as per recording) and Marianne is back in life, too, so it’s easier for her to find the kind of truth in the portrait.]

--- [T: This bit is not in the recording either]

I: I read that the director Céline Sciamma was inspired by the painter Hélène Delmaire for the character of Marianne? How much did you look at her art as preparation for the film?

NM: It was important for me to closely observe Hélène at work, to absorb the gaze of the painter. She has a certain kind of gaze that all painters have somehow, when they work – how she looks at something that she paints and then at the canvas. I had to adopt this gaze, the eyes of a painter. I also observed her rhythm at work, her gestures and all the technical steps to create a portrait. You can see in the film that the portrait is reminiscent of modern art at first, the light, the shadows, how it’s built piece by piece. I find it important to understand this right from the beginning.

---

I: The dresses in the film are quite impressive, in my opinion. And they are also quite important for the protagonists in the film. How much does the dress, which you wear in the film, characterise Marianne?

NM: [T: (as per recording) This dress got pockets. It’s true at that time there were pockets,] but these were banned later on and disappeared from the dresses. These pockets were a step towards autonomy for women. As a painter these pockets are important for my character und also influence her gestures. There is also a cape that was made for the character of Marianne, it is more of a masculine cape. This dress, the pockets and the cape also helped me to get into the spirit of the character. Same for the fact that the dress with the corset was quite tight and heavy. The film also gives an idea how oppressive these social forces were, and with the heavy dress I could directly feel these restrictions. During the course of the film [T: (as per recording) the costumes get less (tight), and we smile more, we feel more, we desire more. And so the costume helped (with) that.]

I: It is a story about love and art, which takes place in the 18th century, but it also feels quite contemporary. How did the idea that the story is also saying something about the present time influence your interpretation of the role?

NM: [T: (as per recording) When I act, even if it’s in the 18th century…] I don’t think about these things, when I act. There are of course the costumes and the text that cannot be changed, but when I act and when Adèle acts, then we act together and are fully in the moment, we create that moment. But when I read the script for the first time, I was [T: in the bathtube] captivated by the film. This story has been missing so far. The stories of female painters were erased historically, and cannot be found anymore. Stories about women and the female gaze have been missing. There are only those with the male gaze, which became the universal gaze. [T: (as per recording) … it was really strong because it was necessary to share this (story) and give back this expression to the womans (sic), you know.]

--- [T: This bit is not in the recording either]

I: How does the atmosphere change on set, when it is mainly women working there?

NM: There are almost no men in the film. There are a lot of films with only men, but we don’t realise it. That is normal. This film is a kind of invitation for women and men to look at women as they are. We were indeed mainly women on set. It was different in the way… we were not necessarily freer, but maybe more ourselves and less intimidated, and there was just this horizontal gaze between all of us.

---

I: Marianne and Héloïse talk a lot with each other, but there is also a lot of non-verbal communication, especially when they start to fall in love with each other and which must take place in secret at first. How did you work on the non-verbal communication between the two of you?

NM: [T: (as per recording) Yes, the silence (is) a big part in the movie.] It was also all in the script already, the gazes, the gestures and so on. But we worked a lot on the details. An important detail is the music. There are only two pieces of music in the film. It was very difficult to listen to music then, it was predominantly silent. And when you then hear the music, you immediately thought ‘Wow!’ – this could also be conveyed through the volume. It is the same for the gazes, the touches and the silence between Héloïse and Marianne – all those details were already written down, but it is about how you fill them out, how you adopt these, and what you put in.  

Adèle has for example suggested a gaze, and it was always a different one, just like this, or with a smile. So it was a surprise, because I didn’t expect it. We worked on finding our autonomy in these. And even the breathing is important in this film. It influences every scene and their rhythm. If you finish a scene with an inhale or exhale, it changes everything. [T: (as per recording) That was great and really interesting, we were working on holding back, you know.]

I: You are in each scene of the film. What does that mean for your preparation and work?

NM: [T: (as per recording) Yes, it is exhausting, because you] have to be present the whole time – it is not about not losing control, that can be good sometimes – but to constantly be mentally present is more exhausting than being physically there. We didn’t work chronologically. It is important that the audience notices how my character and Héloïse’s change during the course of the film. And because we didn’t work chronologically, we had to carefully prepare each scene at the kitchen table, and carefully check where we are in the story, in the relationship, in the work.

In the beginning we both kind of wear a mask, we don’t show much of us, we are reserved and shy. And piece by piece, we open up a bit more. The eyes, the smile, the mouth, the dress, everything is more open. [T: (as per recording) So I had to really stay focused in each scene, where am I at that moment.]

I: You worked quite intensively on this film and it was then in competition at Cannes in May. How is it for you to see the film and yourself on the big screen?

NM: [T: (as per recording) I have a mix of feelings.] I am happy, because I love this film, it is great and I am proud of it. On the other hand, I always find it difficult to see myself or to hear my voice, [T: (as per recording) but I try to forget that and you know, appreciate what I see.]

Mit dem Auto durchs Radioland

Ich habe über das lange Wochenende mehrere lange Autofahrten vor mir, der iPod liegt auf der Arbeit und das Audiokabel, mit dem ich das Smartphone am Autoradio anschließen kann, ist auch irgendwie verschollen. Um extra noch irgendwo rauszufahren und mir ein Kabel zu kaufen bin ich zu faul und/oder zu geizig. Dann höre ich halt ganz normal Radio, wird ja wohl nicht so schlimm sein …

Ich höre seit etwas der Jahrtausendwende höchstens noch morgens Radio, ansonsten hat mich das ewig gleiche Formatradio-Gedudel erfolgreich vergrault. Stattdessen habe ich über Jahre hinweg mehrere iPod-Generationen mit mehr und mehr Musik gefüttert, aktuell sind es so um die 27.000 Titel, also genug Abwechslung mit verschwindend geringer Chance, mir jemals auf die Nerven zu gehen.

Und jetzt also fahre ich durch das deutsche Formatradioland. NDR2, Antenne Niedersachsen, WDR4, hr3, Bayern3 und wie sie alle heißen … die müssen sich abgesprochen und auf ein gemeinsames Repertoire von ca. 20 Liedern geeinigt haben, die sie in Dauerschleife rauf und runter spielen. Ich kann zwischen den Sendern hin und her schalten, wie ich will, irgendwo dudelt gerade sicherlich Mark Forster. Ich bin froh, wenn ich einen Oldie-Sender erwische, da scheint mir noch wenigstens etwas mehr Abwechslung zu herrschen. Oder ich höre Deutschlandfunk. Da gibt es doch tatsächlich viele lange Wortbeiträge, Interviews und Reportagen, denen zuzuhören man im Auto die nötige Muße hat. Ich komme mir vor, als würde ich Podcasts hören.

Und ich sehne mich zurück in eine Zeit, als Radiosender noch so was wie ein eigenes Profil hatten und ihren Hörern Abwechslung boten. Oder war das früher auch schon so und sie haben auch damals schon die immer gleichen, aber anderen, Lieder rauf und runter gespielt und es hat einen nicht so sehr gestört, weil man nicht wusste, wie viel andere Musik es abseits des Radios sonst noch gibt?

Wieder zuhause schmeiße ich meine eigene Musiksammlung an. Was ist denn das für ein Lied? Noch nie gehört. Wann habe ich das denn in meine Sammlung gepackt? Egal. Ich liebe es.

Playing Whisky & Blankets on a piano is one of my favourite things to do even though I can't really play the piano and had to spend about a hundred hours working it out. 

I was so nervous to play this insanely amazing Steinway at Deutschlandfunk (German National Radio) which I know is normally only played by people who can actually play the piano. But here is that performance, beautifully filmed by Marvin Deufrains and his team. 

Thanks again to Tim Schauen and the team at DLF for hosting me and looking after me so well! 

Amongst the craziness of 2020, a real highlight was being able to visit Deutschlandfunk in August to hang out with Tim Schauen and the team there. 

I turned up with my guitar and played a show for the first time in many months. Crowd-less as it was, it was so nice to set up and play and record a bunch of songs including Wide Awake & Dreaming on Tim's old Gibson and Whisky & Blankets on the most beautiful piano I ever played. 

Thank you to all the audio, lighting, video and radio people who turned up to look after this little Australian in Cologne last year.