Jadviga's pillow

After two other feature films (Estherbook, 1989 and Mist, 1994), and several television films, Krisztina Deák is getting prepared for her third feature film based on the novel Jadviga's pillow by Pál Závada, which appeared on the 1997 week of books and which became a real smash hit of the year.

How did you meet the book and how did you come to decide the adaptation of this book?

I was about to adapt The Stork Caliph by Mihály Babits. I've got money form the Board, and preparations were underway; we made test shots. It was then that I read Závada's book and I knew clearly at once that I have been waiting for this very novel for years. You know, there are such clear moments in your life. Indeed I have been waiting, because I had to write my scripts myself except for one, these were based on documents, diaries and real events (Csinszka, Estherbook). When I see something important in a story, I know exactly on what level I am able to write it. Therefore I read passionately, alas, not only as a simple reader any more, but systematically, I am looking for the story which sticks to my mind.

Thus I read Jadviga and knew instantly, this shall be my next film. However, as I was preparing to another film, I thought it was just a flare. I read it once more with utmost care. And then I read it for a third time. All this happened very quickly. Then I had no more doubt and knew the know-how of this film as well, what interests me in this. I instantly called the manager of the Magvető Publishing House, Géza Morcsányi to learn who's got the film rights. It turned out that they do. Then called Pál Závada and told him how I liked his book and that I want to make a film of it. It was not clear at that time how successful the book will be, since then it was reprinted several times and became a hit of the year, Závada received József Attila Award for it and a cultural circle has arisen in the city which holds it in a high esteem as a basic piece of art, the members of this circle greet each other with the word “Macisajt” (approximately: Teddy bear cheese), which is namely the last word of the novel. These are the “Jadvigas”. I don't want to praise myself by saying this, I just want to mention this as a fact.

The novel itself is a serialised family diary. “Me, András Osztatní I start keeping this notebook on the fifth of February in 1915, before the day of my marriage” - this is being the first note. In time sequence, but not in the structure of the novel, it is Jadviga to continue the diary after the death of Ondris. Also historically, but not in the time sequence in the novel, the second son, Miso, the love son of Jadviga goes on writing, what is more, he also provides it with footnotes. Thus the novel contains footnotes to the diary and to what was written by Jadviga. All at once you realise that these are not merely footnotes, much rather the writing of someone who edits and comments this diary. And it is also him who completes it. Miso says that there are still empty pages and he will write the diary as long as he lives. It is beautiful in this volume, I don't know whether it was the idea of the author or the editor, but the novel or the diary rather is finished with a page containing a few lines followed by empty pages. This informs us that Miso has died before having ever finished writing.

I have been thinking a lot how you could keep this structure. The story of this relationship, of Jadviga's marriage and all that follows, the fate of the children, etc. is unfolded in a way that each of them tells a part of the story from their own points of view. Not necessarily the same part, but sometime the same, after all. First I tried to keep the structure and to find the equivalent of it in images. And when I did this killing tremendous efforts in it I realised although I will be able to prove how skilful I am, still it will only interest a very narrow audience. Yet the story, which has taken me most, will be lost. There is an incredibly good story embedded in it. So I wrote a treatment for the first tender on one hand and also because I thought it would be worthwhile to meet Závoda only when I can show him what kind of film I want to make. I also realised that I have to approach this topic with humility. It is difficult to say but I think the novel is a masterpiece. For at least ten years never has such a novel been written. Such an impact was made on me for the last time by the Füst Milán novel The Death of my Wife. The two pieces resemble each other; for example both protagonists - a peasant boy here, a sea captain there - depict subtle views in their diaries, which do not follow from either their education or their occupations. I realised I have to make a linear story. This good story must be filmed which tells about a relationship with extreme sensitivity. There are so many incredibly well written, good dramatic scenes in these diary excerpts, that even if I didn't do anything else but put them in a row, it would result in a very long and complicated film. I felt for sure that this is the right way to do, you don't have to make it too strong and interesting, for it is strong, strange and interesting as it is. I had an easy job to do then: I only had to put those scenes in time sequence which I wanted to use and this was the basis for the first version of the treatment. It was not too simple though, since the novel itself consists of 444 intertwined pages. I showed this treatment to Závoda. By the way, when we first met I told him that I remembered The death of my wife when I read his novel. He replied that he started the novel by re-reading Füst Milán's piece, closed the book and put down the first line. He read my treatment and later told me how reassuring it was because he could see that I want to make a linear, realistic, simply story of it. Závoda commented the treatment and we changed it a little bit.

All this happened very quickly. I read the book in July and August, met Závoda in September and in October we submitted our treatment to the Hungarian Moving Picture Foundation. We won the possibility to submit the entire script.

I thought it would be useful to write the script together. Závada was very reluctant first, since he never before wrote a script. Also, I think, he was reluctant to take the responsibility of getting involved in the script making, since in this case it is more difficult for an author to say subsequently, "why, that bloody director blew it all up". Beyond a certain point the responsibility can only be born by the director, yet there are many common decisions to be made. Finally he accepted and we set out to work. After a while I lost all my inhibitions and put down everything which hit my mind. Because you become inevitably full of inhibitions when you co-operate with an author who knows the Hungarian language so well. What is more, it is his wonderfully perfect sentences what we spoil to become spoken language and his story is being translated into a different genre with totally different rules of course. Once I even wrote a whole scene which did not exist in the original novel, for in the novel Mamovka, Jadviga's mother in law and Jadviga have no common scenes. On film however, it is impossible that they live in the same house and during Ondris' sojourn on the front they are left between them, yet we don't see them together. Závada accepted many things and he felt it was necessary because of the change in genre. We proceeded by 20-40 pages, exchanged the material every now and then. We worked separately, he gave me what he added and I made my comments in turn. For me, it was an ideal script-writing exercise, although you might want to ask him as well. I tried many authors to make a script with, and many times I was left alone by the end. I have several good experiences, but it also happened that I did not like what the author wrote and he took it as an offence. He even took the issue to court. You need a great soul, humility and the an infinite love of filming for this work. Why, the script is just one stage, not the end product. But it also might have played a role that in my former jobs the story had to be made up as well, despite the fact that it was based on documents, you were able to create the story more freely. While here there was this excellent novel as the basis: the work was essentially a lot more easy but a lot more difficult, too. Easier, for you only had to rake out the story and what you captured made the film. It was also more difficult, for it is ramifying quite extensively and each details have their own places. The novel spans over the entire century, it starts at the beginning of it and ends in 1989. It is also a particular feature that the political and historical events are linked to the story just as much as they affect the common man. And this is beautiful. But this is also very difficult to transplant into the script. Závada had 444 pages to tell his story in the novel from different aspects. On the film you have 120 minutes the best case.

After all, and I knew this when I read the novel for the first time, I was really interested in the relationship, the history of Ondris' Jadviga's marriage, therefore the script starts with the marriage and ends by the death of Ondris.

Many say this novel is impossible to film. I think a great novel like this can only be filmed if you have enough self-discipline and you don't want to make everything but you know what you are interested in from the whole. The idea also emerged – we received requests from two places even – that we make a 5-6 part television serial, which would by the way perfectly suit to Jadviga's pillow, for it is a family novel, including the entire history of the 20th century, and it is at the same time the history of a marriage and a love triangle. We considered the possibility because in this case we could make a grand tableau.

So you want a tv series instead of a film?

We also considered both. I thought it over if ever a good television series made a good feature film. I think the two are entirely different.

I know of one. Ingmar Bergman: Scenes from a marriage.

All right, one was made in 101 years... I don't say, Jadviga is a little like the Scenes. But Bergman is a genius. Well, we considered the issue with Závada and finally we decided not to. We also would have had to wait, it would have been longer and besides, I knew perfectly well, the story of this marriage which interest me most and I want to make this. As much material is left so that when the film will be a hit we can make a second or even third film from the novel. A trilogy. Jadviga's story is just as interesting as it is Miso's. In order however to be able to shoot a series and a film simultaneously, to shoot a take to here, another to there, one on 35 mm film, the other on video, no, I don't dare to do this. In addition, the emphasis would fall on the technique here.

The Jadviga script won the Sundance proposal, so you could participate on the script writer course. What was your experience? Did it provide any assistance to the script?

I felt at Sundance, like in America when the completed film is subjected to a demo presentation. I could listen to the opinion of an American, a Polish, a Hungarian, people with different tastes and thinking... It was interesting to speak about this script through a whole week in the mornings, in the afternoons, each time with different people. I don't know how I felt if all this happened at a time when changes could be made easily and when – we believe – shooting is near. If the shooting is far away or I think the script is complete, if I am not open so much, if I am not interested whether the American scenarist would understand what is typically Slovakian in it... It was also very interesting for me to talk to such people for the first time who did not know the novel first. They identified the problematic passages incredibly unanimously.. It means that something is wrong with that, you still have to work on it. It was good to have Závada there as well, otherwise he could have told me 'of course, those Americans stuffed your head with rubbish'.

At the end, we had a discussion about "re-write", which had a mixed reception. Some think a script has to be written and that's it. Others find it worthwhile to re-write it. I think there is no rule. If the script is the first appearance of the topic, certainly it is good not to re-write it every now and then. But even this depends on the personality of the scenarist. We now do re-write. A bit of changes, learning the lessons. I can clearly roll this film in my mind, this is why I said it was like a demo presentation for me.

It is not enough, however, to have a completed script. The big issue today is how and where from you can get the necessary money. What are the costs in this case?

Compared to Hungarian film budgets it is too much, at least the double of an average Hungarian film. Otherwise, wherever we applied throughout Europe, they found it ridiculously low. I find that if you have a strong will, a strong motivation and if you have decided something, if you really insist, stick to the script, and you know, what is the minimum amount below which you would not start shooting, you will manage. And there is one more important thing – you don't want to be impatient. We apply. We were ready with the script by the 30th of January ever since we are just waiting and keep on submitting application. If you get money from the Hungarian Moving Picture Foundation as we did, you will get it from the Telefilm as well, e.g. from the public Television. In the meantime, we paid a visit to any imaginable sponsors; we systematically analysed the possibilities who potentially might be interested in this novel, who might want to offer some funds as well. We acquired the sponsorship of New Dialogue Studio and Mafilm Rt. The producer will be Mafilm Rt.; money was ensured so far by MMA, MTV Rt. and Mafilm Rt. You also can submit proposals to ORTT, which recently began to help Hungarian films. We also submitted an application to Eurimages. Endre Flórián, co-production producer of Jadviga has extensive experiences and contacts. Flórián participated in many successful co-production, he knows very sensitively, who might be interested in a special topic in Europe.

Have you got any definite foreign partner yet?

We submitted the proposal to Eurimages as a Hungarian–Slovakian–Italian co-production. I find the Slovakian participation very important, as Jadviga takes place in a Slovakian Hungarian village during the Monarchy, where Hungarians, Slovakians and Jews live in complete harmony. The population Slovakian speaking, yet the formal language of communication is Hungarian, therefore they use a very interesting mixed language. They in fact speak Hungarian, yet when they are angry, when they love, hate, curse, they begin to speak Slovakian. This is a very important linguistic aspect of the novel, which we kept in the script as well. Thus the film is bilingual as well. If someone says something in Slovakian, we try to comprehend it through metacommunication or by asking back... Though it goes about a small European community, after all this could be any ethnic minority group in Europe. Závada knows very well this environment, he was born in Tótkomlós, lived there just as his whole family for generations, he knows the lingual habits, wrote sociographic assays on them. We thought from the beginning that this ought to be made with the Slovakians. However, everybody said it was impossible. Our first contact was László Szigeti, managing director of the Kalligram Publishing House. We will be the publisher of the Slovakian edition. We asked him what he thought. We told us that when he launched Hungarian book publishing, everybody told him he was making an impossible thing. Today he has a flourishing Hungarian language publishing house in Pozsony (Bratislava). He is not the man who gives it up easily, and he was of great help in the creation of the co-production. Hungarian, Slovakian and Italian actors will play in it and scenes will be shot in both Hungarian and Slovakian settings.

So you shoot in Slovakia, then?

Well, yes, both in Pöstyén and Pozsony. I cannot tell the names of the actors yet, as we haven't got contracts. Slovaks in the film will be played by Slovakian actors. I think it will be interesting. The priest for example, an important character in the film speaks literary Slovakian, which as a matter of fact, even village folks do not really understand. And he will speak Hungarian with a strong accent. While Ondris, the protagonists of the story, is reluctant and unwilling to speak Slovakian any more.

Thus Ondris will be impersonated by a Hungarian actor?

Yes. We made up how this will work, and we even put it down in the script this way.

Then we looked for further partners. We think this is an international story, because beyond going about minorities it also goes about lovers. A love story. I hoped to be able to find partners to this. Almost immediately we received feedback, regardless where we sent materials in. The "material" consists of a one page and a three page synopsis, a fifteen pages treatment, description of the characters and a concept of the director. You have to learn how to compile such a material. So far it was not necessary. people read the script and accepted or rejected it. Then you could go to another studio and begin with another script. The preparation of such a "material" is the joint task and responsibility of the scenarist and director. The one page synopsis contains the story, the three pages one describes the environment, the location, the history. The fifteen pages are a sequence of scenes. The description of the characters is a very useful thing for the future as well. If you write with difficulties, you will find it extremely hard, but by no means superfluous work. It was easy for me for whatever I put down, Závada provided the perfect from for. He writes easily and well. I think it was a good material. We translated it into several European languages, made photos, collected an archive, contemporary faces, sites, ambience. Interest came from Italy first. This Italian producer has been working in several Hungarian productions, he knew well where he came and knows the Hungarian film trade well. In this moment it seems it will be a Hungarian-Slovakian-Italian co-production.

How much money is available and how much is still missing? In other words, when can you begin shooting?

We made a plan for the minimal version budget. Since this is a four seasons film, it would have been good to catch the summer, but we failed.

So you have to wait for the next summer and even fall...

While at Sundance, it also hit my mind, are four seasons so important indeed? Because the shooting will become much more difficult and expensive, the staff will disperse, etc. It costs a lot more if you cannot work continuously. I thought the four seasons are very important, but I am not so sure any more. Besides, compared to the fact that I read the novel merely a year ago, we are quite all right. We've got all the locations, costume designs, we are close to the final cast. You need long time or enthusiastic colleagues for all this, of course. Because today nobody has a fixed salary any more, and no guarantee that the work invested will get any return. Only, when the film is ever made... But everything can be realised and as I said if there is a driving force who trusts in the film and who is in a favourable case the director herself. If she doesn't give up, everything is possible.

Who are the long time or enthusiastic colleagues whom you have been working with for almost a year or so?

Those, whom I have been working with for I don't know how many years are: József Romvári scenery, Györgyi Szakács costume designer, Gábor Balog cameraman and László Timár producer. With me, this is the narrower staff. None of us has ever got a penny and we don't know for sure if we ever will... Yet I know, this will be my next film and that's it.

And what is and what will be the fate of The Stork Caliph, of which - as you said - the preparatory works were ongoing?

If a work engages me too much, I begin to dream about it. I can work best early in the morning, my best ideas come during bathing and brushing my teeth. now I can only think of Jadviga.