Interview Gust van den Berghe (‘And where the star stood still’)

Amsterdam, Eye Film Institute, Monday 19 December 2011

All-rounder Gust van den Berghe has made two films so far and both appeared in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs program at Cannes. His debut, ‘And where the sterre remained silent’, is a traditional Flemish version of the story of the Three Kings, intense through visual narrativity and the gentle character of the actors with Down syndrome. A masterpiece by a former ballet dancer.

I speak to the director next to the library of the EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam; a bare white room that completely diminishes the imaginative oeuvre of the filmmaker who, when he speaks, speaks in poetic sentences with a soft Flemish accent. He rarely explains himself, but only often and briefly looks for ways to explain his filmmaking; not just the visual splendor so often brought up, but the abstract art of a dancer who sees himself as a narrator and secretly aspires to a job as a writer. When he talks about his upcoming opera, the poem with which his debut film opens or his period as a lover of sound art, the enthusiast in Van den Berghe comes to the fore. He does talk about film, but his struggle is visible: ‘I have a permanent battle with my own medium,’ he explains. However, even when he falls into serious or harsh wording, his statements still sound mild, and the Fleming seems to have thought through every element of his film. Composed as an experimental whole, it has become that way, just as the director also sees an amalgamation in the film profession: ‘I don’t know why I started making films. It may encompass for me the diverse arts that I so appreciate, and at the same time that certain feeling of being able to look life in the eye. I think that especially makes me stronger as a person. I have also grown as an artist, but it is mainly the person who wakes up.’

Thus opens ‘And where the star stood still’ too. Like someone who wakes up. ‘I open my eyes,’ says Van den Berghe about the shot; the very first image of him as a filmmaker. ‘The shot was beautiful, but you’re nothing with beauty,’ the Fleming continues. ‘When you make a film, you look for balance, equilibrium and, above all, harmony. I felt a tremendous harmony in that shot. The elements I got, visual, auditory, settlement, income in the world. The setting of a tone, of a chord – because a chord consists of different notes in harmony forms – that was an opening chord. It’s also separate from the movie, in a way. What I’m saying is, it’s the cover of my book.’

New Dimensions

The film continues, which mainly tells the story with images. Poverty sowers Suskewiet, Pitje Vogel and Schrobberbeeck get lost on their way back to the cafe in the winter forest and unexpectedly witness the birth of Jesus as real Three Kings. Van den Berghe made a well-considered choice for the actors with Down Syndrome: ‘I find it interesting to make a film with these guys in which they don’t play a disabled person. That they are given a role that they can play and that we take them seriously in that role. I don’t think that ever happened. That a handicapped does not play a handicapped. I also don’t think you consciously see them acting. I like that, that chopping. Because at the same time it also brings the text to life. For me, you see? I got sounds that gave a new dimension to all those words, to all those sentences. I got a game that gave a new dimension to all those actions and all those lyrics. So it was so non-complex, because I don’t think the film is that complex, basically. It’s a farmer’s parable. But because we play it with those men, because it happens this way, a sacred level comes into play. Of innocence, because there is so much between those words. Like they have to fight for every word. And that’s why it can never be layered, or pretentious.’

The Trilogy

The innocence in ‘And where the star remained silent’ must be accompanied by the loss of innocence in the successor ‘Blue Bird’ – called a ‘cinematic experience’ by Van den Berghe – and guilt in the third film ‘Lucifer’ yet to be made. . The triptych thus sets the tone of the director, with closely related themes, even though the first film was originally barely approved by his film teachers. The graduation film with a budget of 9,000 euros was eventually made, and after a producer saw it, polished it and was selected for Cannes, Van den Berghe’s life changed completely. “I never thought it would come true. I had already found work in a sandwich bar. The film story was closed for me.’ But in no time the story was reopened, and now the world beckons for the Fleming, who says they don’t want to specialize too much on one thing. Comparisons with great directors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Béla Tarr and Alexander Sokurov were made easy, even though Van den Berghe had not yet seen their films: ‘I did look them up and saw that there were a lot of parallels. I felt that I was subconsciously in line with that tradition. An audiovisual tradition. They are storytellers, and effective. I also see myself as a storyteller. The story is the most important to me. The visual is subordinate to the emotion, to the story and the course.’

Aware of his ability and inability, the director is already thinking beyond a life as a filmmaker. An opera, a triptych of paintings and a possible poetry collection are all possible. It is hard to imagine that the Belgian could not master these areas as well, and amaze the world. In sounds, beautiful texts or again in images, probably, although a statement by the director still resounds for a long time as a warning to the visually inclined: ‘With beauty you are nothing.’