“Manas”, interview with director Marianna Brennand

At 81th Venice Film Festival FRED Film Radio interviewed director Marianna Brennand to talk about “Manas”, screening in competition at Giornate degli Autori 2024.

A punch in the stomach

When Tielle tells her secret to a woman who runs a little business in the village she replies: “It will pass”. A sequence of “Manas” that describes perfectly what these women have to face from generations. But, at the same time, it’s very hard to hear. Why Marianna Brennand choose to put that scene in your movie? “To show how hard it is for women to break a cycle of abuse. Sometimes when we have the courage to tell someone, we do not find someone willing to help us. Marcielle tries many times, she tries to ask for help from her mother, she probably has tried at school, at the church, and then finally she comes to Jaci, which is someone that she knows and she trusts, and she tries to seek her help as someone who could help her break the cycle. And what that woman says is that it happens to mostly every girl, which is also a sign that how abuse and sexual exploitation is spread out and happens so often, and sometimes normalized depending on the region where you live in. So that scene for me was – and it’s also really hard for a woman to acknowledge what’s going on with her, especially with a girl – to have the courage because she couldn’t help it anymore, she couldn’t help going through all that violence, so she goes for that woman. It was supposed to be a punch in the stomach”.

A responsibility towards women

Thanks to Me Too in the last few years women have become more brave and the exposed their abuser. But there is still so much work to do. And this is because many women have no voice. Does Marianna Brennand feel a responsibility towards them? “Yes, I do. Since I heard the first story of abuse I feel a responsibility. But also by doing this film and premiering it and showing it to the world, I pass on the responsibility to the public and whoever watches it, because you don’t have to be a woman or to have suffered abuse or sexual exploitation to fight against it. So this should be a fight for everyone, and it happens everywhere. Sexual abuse inside our homes is so common, it could be happening really next to us, and that’s really important for us to talk about and to fight, because it keeps happening, because men are not held accountable for it, and that has to stop”.

Do not impose more violence

“Manas” never shows the abuse. This is because the direct thought that the audience’s imagination could have fill that void? Or because, at least Marianna Brennad, wanted to respect theme? “Both. As a filmmaker, it was poignant for me to tell a story that is violent without imposing even more violence, and I never wanted to expose the body of a child, so I think by having a woman doing that, we can show our stories with delicacy and with care and with ethics. So since the first draft of the script, it was a decision very well made that we would not show the abuse or any sexual scenes and it would really use the ellipsis so that the public would imply that it’s abuse. It’s about violence and silence. And the film shows all layers of silences that happen when you’re going through this. I think the silence and the ellipsis in the film allows you, as a spectator, to also fill the voids with your own experiences and reflect while you experience the story”.

Feeling what the protagonist feels

What does Marianne Brennad hope the audience will take from “Manas”? “Well, I hope Manas will help break the taboo surrounding abuse, sexual violences and all kind of abuses that we go through. I hope that it was very important to me to make a film that the audience could watch it.I would not want to make a film that you would not be able to see, because otherwise I would be just perpetrating, the dynamics of abuse, more silence and not seeing what you have to see. For me was really important the sensorial and psychological connection with the main character, that you really could feel what this girl is feeling. And I hope that you got out of the film wanting to break the silence, having courage to speak out”.

Plot