Rolf de Heer
Bubby, a funny drama

PostED ON 21.10.2015 AT 4:48PM

INVITATION - After the exceptional arrival of great director Rolf de Heer, who maked the trip from Tasmania in order to present the restored print of Bad Boy Bubby during Lumière 2015, theatrical rerelease on November 11, 2015.

Sealed off from the world in a closed room with an abusive mother, Bubby, now 35 years old, has lived a traumatic childhood which he will realize when his father, Pop, suddenly shows up at home. In this unconventional and highly charged film, the director explores themes that are dear to him, like the importance of childhood.

Without a trace of personal morality, without the ability to judge right from wrong, Bubby is propelled into a world of mayhem, music, degenerates, horror, and sublimation- alternating between shame, cruelty and vice. Excerpts from an interview with Rolf de Heer upon the film's release (1993) by Michel Ciment.

How did you come up with the idea of Bad Boy Bubby and its very particular setting, with a claustrophobic first half hour that precedes Bubby's entering the world?

The origin goes far back and is strange. Long ago, I had an actor friend who I believe was in peak form- an exceptional actor, but often not very good, simply because he was badly directed. I had just seen him in the play Buried Child by Sam Shepard, where he played a 70 year-old senior, even though he was only around thirty. It was truly an astounding performance. We then thought of making a very low budget film (about 200,000 Australian dollars) by focusing on this performance. We knew it would be very difficult to make a credible film of an idea that is easier to convey on the stage: a young actor who plays a very old character while remaining himself. Thus, the story of Pop and his return was born. I kept thinking about the project for several years, taking notes and feeling great creative freedom about the subject, owing to the fact that the low budget aspect allowed me to not consider any compromises. My main objective was to make Cinema with a capital "C." Today, the budget has increased to 1 million Australian dollars, which is still very modest. Gradually, my goal became clear to me with the relationship of Bubby and Angel, and especially in writing a character that would go against all the stereotypes of the media's idea of beautiful, imposed on us daily. The same goes for the love between mother and son. When I finally decided to tackle the script, everything happened very quickly, since the project had gradually matured within me.

For the second part to be convincing and to allow me to film interesting situations, at the beginning, Bubby is like a blank page, an innocent. To achieve this, I had to get him away from everything that makes up society: television, radio, books, photos. I wanted him to know nothing, lock him up in a single room, and at the same time explain why he was there and why his mother kept him there. I then imagined the story of a young woman who was impregnated by a fugitive from justice and abandoned by him. She gives birth to the child. Feeling shame, she insulates and isolates herself to the point of losing a sense of reason. It seemed necessary to show this and to devote some time to this situation, so that the contrast would be even stronger when Bubby discovers the outside world. We decided to shoot this first section in 1:33, not in widescreen, and this resulted in such an atmosphere of claustrophobia that we ourselves couldn't stand it!

Thank you to Nour Films

Read Rolf De Heer : "Bad Boy Bubby lives"!