The Interpreter

With the interpreter, I want to touch a subject that has a huge stigma. So many people are afraid to talk about mental health issues. The film is dedicated to my mother who was suffering from schizophrenia. Yasmine, the writer/producer, had some incredible stories that she experienced in the past while she was working as an interpreter in some mental health Hospitals and had to translate for some people affected by these conditions. So we thought why not make a film about it all?
When she came back with the script, asking me to direct “The Interpreter” I was ecstatic, as it’s a bilingual film and I cherished and accepted the challenge. My mother had just passed away and thought this could have been the right tribute to her and all the people affected by her condition, during my years in Italy I spent much time in mental health hospitals while visiting my mom, so I had a clear idea about the situation inside these institutions and how patients and doctors are usually affected by the condition and sometimes the lack of support by institutions. I also have a few friends who are nurses in mental health institutions in the UK and usually tell me about their daily routine and how challenging it can be. “The Interpreter” puts all these issues under the spotlight.
The Interpreter tells the story of Belma, a freelance interpreter whose love life is collapsing but she still has to face a tough shift at work where she will understand the meaning of real love.
The story presents another health condition which is Alzheimer's, something I experienced with my auntie who died from this, after spending her last 5 days with her in palliative care in Rome. The reason why when I was thinking about the vision for the film I decided to divide the film into two parts color-wise and in terms of shots, the first part had to be more greenish and the second part more bluish.
Regarding the shots, I wanted to create a contrast between the two scenes with the two patients, where with the first patient the Dutch angle and the medium two shots are used to highlight the difference between Kamelya’s world and Belma and Doctor Aashvi’s world, that’s why when Kamelya is telling her truth we go on a dutch angle, as her reality can appear distorted to Belma and Dr. Aashvi.
For the second part, I wanted to give a more claustrophobic sense to the audience, to show that Alzheimer's is something that slowly reduces and deteriorates the patient's life and all his or her closest, This is the reason why the close-up is often used when Belma gives the news to Ahmet, same close up when he received the news about her condition and same for Dr. Kofi as he is also experiencing Ahmet’s pain, even if in another form. Going between close-up and wide shows the audience how dealing with someone you love who has Alzheimer's can be a roller coaster of emotions.
In the end, the message I want to raise with “The Interpreter” film is love in all forms, and Belma’s journey from the breakup to empathizing more with Kamelya’s loneliness and idea of love to facing the eternal love showed by Ahmet who is still taking care of Melahat, and her love for him that despite her sickness she still loves his face.
Some shots in the film explain Belma’s journey from the pull-in before entering the palliative care room to the pull-out when after translating for him she has to leave Ahmet to his destiny.
In “The Interpreter”, each character has their past and the way these conditions have affected or changed them, every emotion or reaction is shown on screen by the talented cast. The slow pace of the film is needed for the audience to stop and experience every detail and mood of every character.
The Interpreter shows the viewer how experiencing our fragility and other people’s fragility can help us understand others more and make us evolve as better human beings.
For me, “The Interpreter” is also a dedication to all the Turkish people, a country that I always found fascinating and full of culture, and as a Sicilian director, my background and the culture of my hometown are very similar to our shared past.
The experience on set has been thrilling, challenging, and emotional, where all the crew and I have felt the emotions lived by the characters of the film. The huge work from everyone has allowed us to film this unique and emotional drama in only 1 day, and I’m pretty sure we reached the goal of giving something meaningful to the audience.