Interview: Director Atom Egoyan on ‘Chloe,’ His Brilliant Career

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CHICAGO – Atom Egoyan makes memorable films, examinations of the human psyche that create intuitive philosophy. His newest film, “Chloe,” is no exception, as Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried play characters that forge a complex connection.

The title character Chloe is portrayed by Seyfried, in a departure from her current soft leading lady status. Chloe is a prostitute, who is observed through an office window by a successful gynecologist named Catherine (Moore). When the good doctor suspects her husband (Liam Neeson) to be straying, she hires Chloe to seduce him and confirm her fears. The cat and mouse game that ensues results in karmic reparations for all.

These are the type of films that Egoyan, a well-known Canadian director since the 1990s, has delved into. His sense of humanity, in which the repression of sin often becomes the punishment, strengthens and manifests his cinema art. After making a splash with his amazing “Exotica” in 1994, Egoyan followed with “The Sweet Hereafter” (1997), in which he was nominated for a Best Director Oscar.

He continued his journey with two films nominated for the Palme de’Or at Cannes, “Felicia’s Journey” (1999) and “Where the Truth Lies” (2005). He has famously paired with the actor (and fellow Canadian) Bruce Greenwood, in Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and “Ararat” (2002).

BFFs: Amanda Seyfried as Chloe and Julianne Moore as Catherine in ‘Chloe’
BFFs: Amanda Seyfried as Chloe and Julianne Moore as Catherine in ‘Chloe’
Photo Credit: Rafy/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classic

HollywoodChicago.com had the honor of speaking with Atom Egoyan in anticipation of the release of Chloe, and he spoke of that film and his extraordinary career path.

HollywoodChicago.com: The hooker-with-the-worldly-viewpoint is a popular character in art and literature. What fascinates you about prostitution and what did you want to communicate regarding it’s presence in Chloe?

Atom Egoyan: What fascinates me is how hard the work is, the fact that you need to separate yourself, separate your own feelings and to be able to negotiate a very complex set of expectations. As Chloe says in the beginning, she prides herself on how the client wants to be touched, or what they want to hear. But even in how well-versed this character is, this is a very unusual situation that she’s facing.

And why a woman would hire a prostitute to flirt with her husband and report back is not characteristic, one would normally hire a private investigator. [laughs] There is something that Catherine is expecting and Chloe is not sure what that is. And then she makes a huge mistake, she thinks Catherine wants to hear her stories, because that is actually what she is telling. If falling in love is thinking that someone is hearing your story for the first time, Chloe is experiencing that and she doesn’t know what to make of it, and then she makes the wrong choice.

HC: The themes of desire, connection and reconciliation with that desire and connection are prevalent in Chloe. What fundamental element of human nature controls the character motivations in Chloe?

AE: Looking for love, the search for love. I think all three characters are looking for love and looking to be desired. Even David [Neeson], I think what he is looking for is love from Catherine. And Catherine makes the mistake of thinking, because David is getting so much positive reinforcement from the students he is surrounded by, that this is enough of a transgression. He claims she has stopped touching him. That is what he really wants, I think.

Catherine is going through a crisis, she thinks she is disappearing. This happens in a number of my movies, people act a certain way thinking they’re solving a problem, but in reality they are exaggerating it, throwing it into starker relief. And making it worse.

HC: One of the other themes of Chloe was exposure. We literally see Julianne Moore’s Catherine living in a glass house where everything seems exposed. How does that symbolism speak to the nature of the condition of the characters in Chloe?

AE: It’s either exposure or being able to watch. I think Catherine certainly has the sense of looking at her own family as if they are in an aquarium of sorts, for example, looking at David through layers of glass. And the theme of glass is so important in this film, I was sorting it through as Catherine is in a world of glass and windows, portals through which to watch and detach herself from something. And for Chloe it is about glass as a mirror, glass as a way of reflecting. So we’re introduced to Catherine through a window and Chloe through a mirror.

Atom On Set: Egoyan Directs a Scene in ‘Chloe’
Atom On Set: Egoyan Directs a Scene in ‘Chloe’
Photo Credit: Rafy/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classic

HC: We are living in a technological evolution, where communications and social interaction are being broken up into several different forms of possibilities. You touched upon it in Chloe with IM, but where do you see it going as far as changing the human condition?

AE: In the mid 1980s, and the early 1990s, when I was dealing with this, the technologies I was showing then were sort of filters to separate us from each other. In fact, what is happening now is the opposite effect, these technologies are saturating us with a degree of intimacy that we’re not really used to understanding. We’re trying to absorb that.

I don’t think it makes our relationships to each other more distant at all, I think it in fact it gives us this sense of access that is shocking, especially for a middle-aged generation. But I look at the younger generation and I don’t see them as being particularly alienated, in fact they feel super connected and aware. I don’t have any moral position on that, but as a dramatist you want to show your characters in a social situation that is current. And that’s part of the way people communicate.
I explore that more in my last feature, ‘Adoration,’ Chloe merely touches on it.

HC: Were there any problems regarding the way that Amanda Seyfried had to handle this different type of character role, both in the situations you presented her and the radical exposure she would have to do for the character?

AE: It’s all about coming to an agreement. It’s all about setting parameters and understanding that those parameters will be respected and observed. And treating it as dramatic scenes. We knew what she was comfortable with, what she wasn’t comfortable with, we just concentrated on the drama. It was about their comfort and knowing that they were going to be photographed in a certain way. Treating it as if you would treat any other scene.

HC: One of your characters [Bruce Greenwood as Francis] asks a fundamental question in the film Exotica, it was the additional question to ‘why am I here since I didn’t ask to be here.’ The question was ‘who is asking you to stay?’ Do the characters of Chloe know the answer to that question?

AE: That is the problem, right? Why Chloe lets herself go. It’s that Catherine is not reaching out and asking her to stay. Chloe is faced with that fundamental question and no one is asking her to stay. That is very sad. That responsibility is what haunts Catherine.

Exotica is why Ivan Reitman [the producer] asked me to do Chloe, he really loved that movie, and wanted something of that sensibility for Chloe. When I was given the screenplay, I told Ivan that what gives Exotica its tone is the structure and storytelling. He understood but also said that since I made Exotica I could also elevate this material. That was astute.

Patrick McDonald and Atom Egoyan, March 19, 2010
Patrick McDonald and Atom Egoyan, March 19, 2010
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

HC: Who are your direct influences in the art of cinema? What directors create the illusion that keeps you either unsettled or grounded?

AE: Well, first and foremost, probably Ingmar Bergman. He is the person that is essential to my development. Also since I come from theater, and he is a person of theater, he understands the relationship between theater and film. He was really important to me. One of cinema’s clichés is ‘Bergmanesque.’ I don’t know if people today understand how important those films were and are.

HC: How many films have you done with Bruce Greenwood, and do you plan to work together again?

AE: Three, and I just saw him the other day and we’ll continue to work together. He is a wonderful actor.

HC: I think you are responsible for his breakthrough to the mainstream, in his performance in The Sweet Hereafter.

AE: Yes it was, but he was amazing in Exotica. He never really felt that he ‘got’ that part. But he got it so beautifully. It is funny, for The Sweet Hereafter he completely knew that character, knew the persona of British Columbia, but with Exotica he was uncertain.

I find that always interesting, because I’ve had that uncertainty a couple times with actors. Where the actor doesn’t feel like they are getting something but you know that they are. And you don’t know how to convey to them that they are surpassing your expectations. You see that they are suffering, but there is not much you can do except say, ‘trust me, you’re nailing that.’

HC: Some of your major life’s influences have revolved around losing your roots, and then regaining them [Egoyan’s family were Armenian expatriates in Canada]. How does your art evolve through that circumstance? Does it continue to be filtered through your cultural detachments and reattachments, or are you more interested in the now?

AE: I think it’s a huge part of my earlier work, and when you are new to a country and trying to assimilate you become really aware of what it takes to be a functioning member of a community. You become much more aware of personality as a construct, and the things you can absorb and the things you can’t. I’m a fully assimilated member of my culture, but I also remember it was something that I learned, and it wasn’t completely natural, and it does form you in a certain way.

HC: There seems to be a theme of redemption in many of your films. What is your idea of redemption and how do we maintain the path toward it?

AE: It involves a degree of empathy, first and foremost, being able to understand how someone is feeling about something. What we are taught in our Western tradition is to treat others as you treat yourself. There are, however, a lot of people who would not want to be treated as you treat yourself. [laughs] That strikes me as narcissistic. But to wrap your head around that, is fundamental in understanding the true nature of empathy.

”Chloe” has a limited release in Chicago and elsewhere on March 26th. Check local listings for screening locations and times. Featuring Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Max Theriot, directed by Atom Egoyan. Rated “R”

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2010 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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