01/09/2021 - Cineuropa found out more about the director’s process of adapting Alena Černá and Martin E Kyšperský’s collection of poetry

Two Ships [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Foukal
film profile] is a romance that depicts the relationship between singer-songwriter Martin (Martin E Kyšperský, playing a version of himself) and psychologist Eliška (played by Eliška Křenková). They meet at a concert, where Eliška invites Martin to talk at a reading she has organised. It’s the start of a torrid love affair. We spoke to director Jan Foukal about his Karlovy Vary-screened movie.

Cineuropa: Where and when did you first read the poems by Alena Černá and Martin E Kyšperský that the film is based on?
Jan Foukal: Actually, the producers approached me with the idea because they had read the collection of poems. So, the interest was created on their side.

When you read them, what did you think?
I think the most interesting part of the collection of poems was the epilogue, in which the author describes the creation of the collection. The poems are a memento of a relationship, and it became the basis for the romance depicted in the movie. It was important to me that the poems were composed as a dialogue. I tried to transfer this to the film as a way to create a certain rhythm.

You call it a romance; I was thinking that for these people, being together was a mistake. What do you find is romantic about them?
I would say that being romantic and romance are two different things because romance is a genre where there is an act of love that has a tragic ending. In this respect, this is a romance… That first moment of love is an explosion, and we don't know with whom we are going to be together.

In the first scene, I thought she was going to kill herself on the train tracks, but she didn’t. However, it’s the start of a movie that is always a bit off-kilter. Is the whole feature just a recollection of events put together?
That’s super that that was what you thought. This is what I was thinking all the time: I wanted to create something that would be like a collection of photos, like fragments.

Can you talk about the music in the film and how this supported the feelings of the characters?
There are two lines in terms of the music – the music composed for the movie and Martin’s songwriting. I tried to pick the best songs from Martin's body of work, and then I wanted classical music beside it. The story is very subtle, so I tried to put in an overview of what is happening from above, which is classical music, and which brings a historical perspective. The music is very important.

Martin wrote the poems; why did you choose him to star in the film?
It was a long process. First, the producers didn’t want Martin to act; nor did they want to use his music. For me, the connection with this songwriter who composed his songs during this period when he was in a real relationship like this, and us having the chance to use them, was an authentic element that was exciting. After the audition, I was sure he would be able to do it, but I had to make sure that he would be performing as an actor using elements from his life, and not just doing self-therapy.