Felling a tree is at least a two man job. But in “Värn,” one man takes on the tree.
Throughout the film the protagonist Karl singlehandly constructs a redoubt, a fortified house, for what he believes is impending war. It’s in the midst of the Cold War in rural Sweden and Karl has been convinced by a pamphlet called “When War Comes” that he must warproof his home. He gathers supplies and builds totally on his own. One such one-man feat is sawing down a tree, in which he runs from one end of the saw to the other, pulling, then running back.
Tedious, quixotic actions like this constitute most of the film, calling for an intensely physical lead performance. This limits the pool of eligible actors. As it happens, there was really only one actor for the job in the eyes of director John Skoog.
Skoog is a Swedish photographer-cum-filmmaker in need of a French clown. Indeed, the one man for the one-man show had to be Denis Lavant. Lavant has starred in some of France’s most celebrated films, like Claire Denis’s “Beau Travail” and Leo Carax’s “Holy Motors’ and “The Lovers on the Bridge.” He is also trained in pantomime and circus arts. And he didn’t speak a lick of Swedish before filming.
“The biggest challenge here was to use the tools properly,” said Lavant through a translator. “I wanted to get the right gestures as if I’d done it all my life.” Language, too, was a tool he had to wield. “I was surprised by the influence that a new language can have on your face. So the face you see in the film is somehow the result of the language that [Karl is] speaking.” The francophone actor has made a habit of playing roles in languages he cannot speak, including Portuguese and, notably, English as a Charlie Chaplin impersonator in Harmony Korine’s “Mister Lonely.”
Skoog says Lavant breathes the rarified air of bygone physical performers like Chaplin and Buster Keaton. “I feel like if anyone else did it it’s a completely different film,” said Skoog. “He’s a very singular actor.” Skoog’s conclusion: “Karl is Denis.” Skoog said he cold e-mailed the actor with photographs of the setting and some ideas for the narrative. Skoog said Lavant responded to him with, “Please write to me in French.” So Skoog translated the e-mail to French and Lavant was on board. “I would like to. This sounds like a real adventure,” Skoog says Lavant wrote. Skoog then wrote the script with him in mind.
The film was born out of a series of Skoog’s photography exhibitions and a short film on the real house and community of the film. The initial projects gestated over a decade to become the film. “There are some powerful images in this. Images that talk to our now. Our present. Talks to humanity,” said Skoog. He focused on a specific image of a man, who would become Lavant’s character. Skoog wanted to “complete this character” with a film
In many ways, Skoog’s undertaking of making a film mirrors that of his protagonist’s to make the redoubt. Literally, Skoog and Karl had to make the physical redoubt. The production team created a 360 replica of the redoubt over four or five months of nearly daily work, said Skoog. And how did Skoog secure funding to make the redoubt and make the film? It was a hard sell, as a black and white minimalistic tale of a Swedish farmer. He credits his producers, which includes two-time Palm D’or winning director Ruben Östlund for backing the project.
“Värn” is a deeply personal film for its director. The redoubt and Karl exist as a sort of a childhood fairytale for Skoog and his countrymen. He recreates that feeling with his intimate portrayal of the Swedish countryside, specifically with local child actors. Skoog said he went to local schools for auditions. He said, “The adults don’t understand [Karl], but the kids are really the emotional core. They understand Karl and his convictions and his drive, and there’s a playfulness to that. That’s the emotional heartbeat of the film.”
“Värn” premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival