Director Christina Tournatzés knew “almost instantly” that Elise Krieps, the daughter of lauded “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps, was the right choice to lead her searing examination of trauma, “Karla.” The film, playing as part of the prestigious Ingmar Bergman competition at the Göteborg Film Festival, heavily relied on the breakout performance of then 12-year-old Krieps as the titular character.
With world sales handled by Playmaker Munich, Tournatzés’s feature debut is inspired by the real-life story of a young girl in Munich who, in 1962, took her father to court for sexual abuse. The director first learned about the story from the author of a comprehensive book on the case, who was close to the real Karla. Speaking with Variety ahead of the film’s screening in Göteborg, Tournatzés says the personal aspect made it “challenging” to tackle the story at first.
“Quickly, it became personal to me as well,” she recalls. “When I read the book, I knew instantly that I would like to make this film because she is such a strong character, even though the topic itself is horrific.”
The filmmaker emphasizes how society still feels an immense sense of “powerlessness” when it comes to the abuse of children, which is why we need more films like “Karla,” that center around hope instead of trauma. “Karla is a strong character who fights for her rights and gives others hope. She demands to be heard without having to speak the unspeakable. For me, that quickly became the most interesting question: how can we make a film about something that cannot be shown? That’s the dilemma, and I wanted to tell it authentically and radically from Karla’s perspective.”
Throughout the sombre drama, there are no images of the abuse itself, with Tournatzés focusing on Karla’s journey as she goes from knocking at a police station in search of a judge all the way to the courtroom. Rainer Bock (“The White Ribbon“) and Imogen Kogge (“The Zone of Interest“) star alongside newcomer Krieps.
“Karla,” courtesy of Göteborg Film Festival
The production did not hold traditional casting calls for the lead role. A producer instead suggested Vicky Krieps’ daughter after hearing she had starred in a short film. “We sent Vicky the script, then we met, and Elise was very happy to do it. She said she wanted to do it because she felt it was a story that could empower and encourage children who were in that situation. For me, that was the best possible answer,” says Tournatzés.
“It was also important that she knew she was playing a role, which she did because both her parents are actors,” adds the director. “She’s grown up seeing people standing in front of cameras, and that helped because that role was very demanding, and she was, of course, playing the lead and having to sustain a certain presence throughout almost all the film scenes. She’s basically in every frame. It was amazing working with her, she’s such a smart girl, who asked so many questions and wanted to know everything about every detail on set.”
Tournatzés decided early on that she would work differently with Krieps than she did with the older cast. The director did not give the young actor the script in advance. “We did that because Karla experiences a big development throughout the film, and I wanted Elise to feel the same. Because we shot chronologically, that worked out great.”
Working with a 12-year-old, however, brought limitations to the production itself. Krieps could only be on set for a maximum of five hours a day, and only shoot for three hours. Because of that, Tournatzés forewent lengthy rehearsals, choosing to heavily brief the adult cast instead. “We had to know the goal of the scene and make sure everybody was perfectly briefed before Elise came into the room,” she recalls.
“Because she was still a child when we shot, she had this freeness, which helped a lot,” goes on the filmmaker. “She wasn’t in her head. And we had great actors surrounding her, who deeply understood their characters. Not rehearsing much and having Elise bring some freedom to it really helped with this sense of authenticity you feel in the film.”
As for the visual language of the film, it was key for Tournatzés to be able to broach the sensitive issue of sexual assault without having to illustrate the abuse. Her solution was to focus on the legal minutiae of Karla’s case, as well as her relationship with the judge played by Bock. Whenever Karla would be confronted with the horrifying truth of her father’s abuse, the film dipped into ethereal, almost surrealist flashback sequences of the young girl in nature.
“We tried to create an audiovisual language for the flashbacks, because they are not classic film flashbacks; they are emotional,” explains the director. “Within psychology, there is this world where a traumatized person gets thrown into immediately when they are confronted with trauma. I wanted to make that feel real and livable for the audience, as well as not show anything that would interfere with the child’s dignity. We also wanted to protect Elise, of course, and not have her play any scenes like it.”
Now, Tournatzés is gearing to shoot TV series “Tamin” in February while also working on the script for her sophomore effort. Her next film, the director says, will also deal with themes of “speechlessness,” but it’ll be a more “personal story.”
“Karla” is produced by Jamila Wenske and Melanie Blocksdorf for Achtung Panda! Media.
