Set in a fictional country and told in a made-up language, new film Nude Tuesday follows a couple who head to new-age retreat Ẅønđeulä as a last-ditch effort to rekindle their lacklustre marriage.
The absurdist comedy is based on an original screenplay by Jackie Van Beek, who also stars as the film’s sexually repressed protagonist, Laura.
Damon Herriman and Jackie Van Beek in Nude Tuesday. Photo: Supplied
Director Armağan Ballantyne (The Strength of Water) worked on the story with Van Beek, and the cast’s improvised gibberish was subtitled after filming by British comedian and writer Julia Davis.
Van Beek and Ballantyne hatched the idea for the film a few years back, Van Beek tells Kim Hill.
“We started creating the story about a married couple, a very suburban, repressed, married couple, marriage is on the rocks.
“They've got a couple of kids, they're both in crisis. And as a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage, they go to a new age retreat run by Bjorg Rasmussen played by Jermaine Clement.”
The gibberish idea came later, she says.
“I just had this idea one morning, because we were looking at themes of couples that miscommunicate and misinterpret each other. And how communication can just really fall apart in these relationships.
“And I said, what if we just performed the whole thing in gibberish, so no one can really understand anybody? And then after we finished the film, why don't we invite comedians from around the world to subtitle the film through whichever lens that they want to and interpret the dialogue for this couple.”
Davies, who subtitled the script with such choice lines as; ‘how can I think of sex when my pants are full of yogurt?’ And ‘it's a fish which enjoys eating female fungus’, is a hero of Van Beek’s, she says.
“Julia has been an idol of mine for so many years.
“And so, when we approached her and asked her if she'd like to write a version, and she said, yes, seriously, I nearly died.”
A background in linguistics helped her, she says.
“I did a linguistics BA at Victoria University all those years ago.”
The language evolved to sound slightly Scandinavian, she says. They rehearsed in English with her original script and then flipped to the Scandi-gibberish.
“So, we knew what our intention was as characters, we knew what we were saying. And then Armağan would just kind of shape the scene, we'd rehearse in English on set. And then Armağan would say, okay, flip it into gibberish.
“And so, all of the English would just flip into gibberish and we’d just start improvising, but with the same feelings in the same character relationships.”
It's quite an emotional film, she says.
“There's anger, there's love, there's lust, because we were just able to think less about what we were saying, but more about the feeling behind it. So, it was very, it's very visceral.”
Filming took place up a mountain in the South Island, she says.
“If you look closely, you can see a lot of goosebumps. Yeah, it was freezing. But of course, you know, we had a wonderful costume department and they had those lovely warm cloaks. So, whenever Armağan would call ‘cut’ they'd come running in with the cloaks and we're just like these shivering bodies just huddled in these warm cloaks, but I'm thankful I didn't have to get into the icy lake.”
That task fell to Jermaine Clement, she says.
“He was diagnosed with mild hypothermia. I want to emphasise the mild, but we did lose a day with him. He did need to be in bed that following day.
“So, we shuffled the schedule around and Armağan and I meekly went and knocked on his door to offer our condolences and a few treats, but he was so generous and so courageous. And I remember him saying up the mountain after he came out of the icy pool the first time he even said to Armağan ‘did you get what you need? I could go back in’.”
Van Beek was perfectly comfortable being naked, she says, and the film unit also hired an intimacy coordinator.
“I was quite comfortable, but my job was to kind of make sure everyone else felt comfortable enough to whip their kit off I guess.
“What was lovely though is after we shot those nude days is I did hear a rumour that the actors were just going skinny dipping at night altogether in their free time. And I thought that's so brilliant.
“One of our small agendas in this film was to kind of normalise nudity. So, it's not this kind of crazy kind of sexualized taboo thing. It's just human beings with their clothes off. And so, I felt so happy to hear that people embrace the old skinny dip.”
Nude Tuesday opens in New Zealand cinemas on 16 June.
