Disgrace
Synopsis
ONE LINER
A South African professor of romantic poetry is disgraced when he has an affair with a student, and confronts a violent reality on his daughter’s remote farm.
ONE PARAGRAPH SYNOPSIS
David Lurie, twice-divorced and dissatisfied with his job as an English professor in post-apartheid South Africa, finds his life falling apart. When he seduces one of his students, and in doing nothing to protect himself from the consequences, he is dismissed from his teaching position, and takes refuge on his daughter's farm in the Eastern Cape. For a time, his daughter's influence and natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. In the aftermath of a vicious attack on the farm, he is forced to come to terms with more than his disgrace alone.
LONGER SYNOPSIS
David Lurie, a divorced Professor of romantic poetry, visits Soraya, a Malay call girl in post-apartheid South Africa. He leaves her a present, and talks about the safety of his lesbian daughter Lucy, who lives on a remote farm. Soraya is disturbed by this personal approach, and makes excuses not to see him again.
A privileged man, who fancies himself the owner of a mad heart, David believes in the power of impulse. Lonely and bored, he abuses his academic position to force his attentions on “coloured” student, Melanie Isaacs. He teaches: “In the heat of the act there are no regrets”. He watches Melanie rehearse a play, has dinner and sleeps with her, finally forging a pass mark for the test she misses. Melanie’s boyfriend, and her father, Mr Isaacs, complain to the University. Following a witch-hunt inquiry, where he does not defend himself, David is forced to resign. His stand comes from a sense of superiority. He tells a student journalist he is enriched by the whole experience.
David retreats to Lucy’s farm. He meets Petrus, a black farm hand, who looks after the dogs at her boarding kennel. Petrus reassures David that Lucy is safe “out here”. Lucy tells David Petrus recently received a land grant, and bought some of her land. David helps Lucy and Petrus harvest and sell the flowers at the local market. He meets Lucy’s friend Bev, and agrees to volunteer at her rural animal welfare clinic.
Lucy and David walk the dogs when Petrus is absent. They return to see three black strangers. One accompanies Lucy into the house, on the pretext of making a call. David is unable to stop the second from following, and is knocked out cold. David comes to in the toilet, where terrified, he hears the men shoot the dogs outside, certain he will be next. Instead he is set alight with methylated spirits. To quench the flames, the humiliated David uses water in the toilet bowl. It is Lucy, who has been raped, who sets David free.
David and Lucy stay with Bev while they recover. Lucy wants to return to her land, and claims her rape is “a private matter”, partly justified by the guilt they share, as whites in South Africa. David does not understand. He finds solace as he buries dead dogs at the farm, and helps Bev at the animal welfare clinic.
Petrus returns to the farm with his pregnant new wife. He tells David “everything is alright now”. At a party Petrus holds to celebrate his land grant, Lucy sees one of the men who raped her. It is Pollux, the young, mentally disturbed brother of Petrus’ wife. Lucy will not let David call the police as it will ruin Petrus’ night.
At the animal welfare clinic, when David complains about Lucy’s attitude to the attack, Bev admonishes him for not really being there to help Lucy. David has a brief affair with Bev, who is more his equal in maturity than Soraya or Melanie. Lucy refuses to talk to David about her rape. She thinks “sex for men must be a bit like killing”. In a gesture of redemption, David visits the Isaacs home and apologises to the family of his former student Melanie.
David visits his ransacked house in Cape Town. Worried about Lucy, David finds an excuse to return to the farm. Lucy tells David she is pregnant from the rape, and will keep the baby. David agrees to stand by her, regardless of her choice. Alone, he cries at his inept inability to protect her.
Petrus receives a second grant and builds a house. As Pollux is too young to marry the pregnant Lucy (a tribal law solution), Petrus offers himself. David is horrified as Lucy counter-offers Petrus her land, in return for his protection, if she retains the house.
When David next visits his daughter, he parks his van a distance away, observing the two houses side by side, under the new arrangement. Pregnant Lucy plants seedlings. David greets her, finally accepting her commitment to the land, and a new South Africa.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
We wanted our film to be faithful to Mr Coetzee’s great novel. Portraying South Africa, as a complex society wrestling with the aftermath of Apartheid. These arguments are played out throughout the narrative but are particularly focused in the intense relationship between David and his daughter, Lucy. The intimacies of their personal drama reflect the often conflicting reactions to the horrific event that is central to the film. Set amidst a dramatic backdrop of mountains and valleys, our characters struggle with the turmoil of continuing. The spectacular landscape becomes integral to their personal journey. A journey that is both modern and old South Africa.
The moral arguments in the film are shades of grey and the actors were asked to reflect these nuances in the many dilemmas they face, leading the audience into the unexpected via layers and subtexts.
Yet despite this, this is still Africa and the physicalness of Africa dominates the film, particularly the epic location of Lucy’s farm. Portraying the power and beauty of this natural world is, I believe, essential if we are to understand why, despite everything, Lucy decides to stay. South Africans every day have to make similar choices, we wanted to show in ‘DISGRACE’ why they sometimes remain not just why they go.
BACKGROUND
Adapted by Anna-Maria Monticelli from the Booker Prize Winning novel by Nobel Laureate JM Coetzee, DISGRACE features Academy Award nominee John Malkovich as Professor David Lurie. The ensemble cast includes Jessica Haines (Lucy), Eriq Ebouaney (Petrus), Fiona Press (Bev Shaw), and Antoinette Engel (Melanie).
The film is directed by Steve Jacobs (La Spagnola) and is produced by Anna-Maria Monticelli (La Spagnola), Emile Sherman (Candy) and Steve Jacobs.
The film was financed by the Film Finance Corporation Australia, Newbridge Film Capital, Whitest Pouring Films, the New South Wales Film and Television Office and the South Australian Film Corporation.
Julio DePietro, Michael J Werner and Wouter Barendrecht served as executive producers.
Behind the scenes, DISGRACE features an internationally acclaimed, South African and Australian production team that includes: director of photography Steve Arnold (La Spagnola, Terra Nova, Manthing); production designers Mike Berg (Consequence, Promised Land, Boy Called Twist) and Annie Beauchamp (Strange Planet); and the editing talents of Alexandre De Franceschi (Little Fish, In the Cut).
Shooting commenced in February 2007, located in Cape Town, South Africa for two weeks, before moving to Cedarburg for three weeks, and back to Cape Town for two more weeks, with a final week then in Sydney, Australia. The film was shot entirely in South Africa and Australia, with a South African and Australian cast and crew.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
In 1999, DISGRACE won the second Booker Prize for Nobel laureate JM Coetzee. The novel, set in post-apartheid South Africa, struck a chord around the world as a powerful work, dealing with complex characters, emotions and sexual encounters.
Writer-Producer Anna-Maria Monticelli sees the novel as “extraordinary, brave and real”. Having been born in Morocco herself, Anna-Maria always wanted to make a film in Africa, and read widely among African writers. Her response to DISGRACE was “organic and immediate”. Director Steve Jacobs enthuses “Anna-Maria felt this would make a powerful film, and I agreed it was a fantastic novel, so we set about securing the option and rights”.
Anna-Maria then gave herself the challenge of adapting DISGRACE into a script, no small task, given the calibre of the original material. “Obviously Mr Coetzee had to approve the script. I was fortunate in that he liked the adaptation”.
DISGRACE is Anna-Maria’s second film with Steve Jacobs as director, the two having previously made La Spagnola. She feels comfortable, following the writing of a script to “hand the material over to him, I trust him, and we make the same film. I am amazed at what he brings to it”.
The two then became involved with South African born, Australian producer Emile Sherman (Candy, Opal Dream, Oyster Farmer, Rabbit Proof Fence, The Night We Called It A Day), a fan of the novel. “DISGRACE is a most complex novel: everyone has different take on it.”
Emile had independently gone to South Australia, where Mr Coetzee now lives, to option the material, but the rights had already gone to an Australian team - Anna Maria and Steve. “I contacted them and asked if we could work together on the project. Their original plan, of working out of South Africa, had not worked out, and I was a fan of Steve’s work in La Spagnola.”
Director Steve Jacobs found the book realistic, rather than bleak, “but realist cinema is not so popular at the moment, it’s basically escapist.” This response explains his approach to the style of the film, “not what I would call a modern interactive style. I want the audience to make judgements themselves, so the camera stands back”. Steve feels the film, like the book, will create a degree of controversy “in a productive way, not sensationalist. It will press some buttons that are deep in all of us”.
Cinematographer Steve Arnold, who had worked on La Spagnola agreed to shoot DISGRACE for Steve Jacobs. “It’s an intimate drama, but Steve wanted a sense of scale, and the African landscape became a main character with that. Keeping things symmetrical and keeping tableaux, like Ryans Daughter, also an epic backdrop to a very intimate story”. He also mentioned that “a number of specific shots were quite difficult in terms of deep focus.”
Director Steve Jacobs approached the project from a design point of view. “I went to South Africa, found the location, we built the farm. Some of the music was thought of before we started shooting. With a tight schedule you have to be prepared. You have to organise yourselves, so where there are problems there are solutions”.
Both Anna-Maria and Steve Jacobs had previously been award-winning actors, so the casting was particularly important to them. Anna-Maria felt “If you cast the film right, there is very little you have to do to your actor. Choosing the right elements for the film makes all the difference”. And this train of thought led them to approach John Malkovich, to star as Professor David Lurie. Anna-Maria felt “John Malkovich is such an intelligent, intense actor, with extraordinary range. He had the right age, look and scope. So few actors are capable of such a complex, subtle role”.
John was enthusiastic about the challenges presented by the lead role in DISGRACE. He had been an admirer of Mr Coetzee’s work for many years. “Coeztee is a terrific writer, with challenging characters. And this is an adaptation of a complex story.” John gives a fine tuned performance as the intriguing central character, Professor Lurie. He feels that if Lurie finds redemption, “this film ends before that happens”.
An extensive search was undertaken in South Africa, Sydney, London and Los Angeles for a young actress to play the part of Lucy Lurie. There was pressure to cast an actress of note. Director Steve Jacobs kept coming back to a luminous young South African actress, the relatively inexperienced Jessica Haines. He eventually cast Jessica as Lucy Lurie, and first-timer Antoinette Engel as Melanie Isaacs. A dramaturg was brought from Australia, Bogdan Koca, to work with the actors for two weeks in pre-production.
Steve had discussed with John Malkovich how the project would deal with less experienced actors. The reality was “some are better on first take, some better on the fifth take. There is no right or wrong way”. John agreed that “Everyone that Steve cast was excellent”.
Jessica Haines, who read several times for the role of Lucy, was excited to hear a year later that she had been cast in the part. “Its about conflict between her own struggle in her head and her heart. When David invades her space, she’s attacked and her perfect world has been tarnished. She takes on a lot of responsibility and starts to change. She makes forward-thinking choices that are so radical.”
French film star Eriq Ebouaney, was cast after the director raved about his exceptional performance in David Gleeson’s Frontline, at a South African film festival. Happily Eriq was there too, promoting the film. “He was so handsome”, said Anna-Maria, “that Steve had to give him glasses and blacken his teeth, to make him the right look for Petrus”. Eriq described working with John Malkovich. “When you are a tennis player and you are working with the best tennis player in the world, you do your best to return the service”.
Antoinette Engel was writing two essays on DISGRACE in the computer lab at university, when her agent first told her about the role. In her first part, Antoinette appreciated working with Steve Jacobs the director. “He gave me a lot of support, because it was quite a difficult role. I took as much out of the film as I could. This was a great story, important to South Africa”.
Steve Jacobs reflects that his experience as an actor may have impacted his style of direction. “I found it unusual that actors meet on set, shoot and say goodbye. I think actors should read, talk about it and get to know each other”. The resulting film reveals the rehearsal time spent in consideration of themes and performance.