The newest project from Greta Bellamacina and Jaclyn Bethany, Tell that to The Winter Sea, follows the journey of two women who reconnect after years apart, reminiscing about their past relationship together. The film weaves between ideas of romantic and platonic bonds and dives into how relationships can evolve, reflecting on the ways we grow and change with those we hold dear. Their story is one of memory, love, and the enduring power of female friendship.
FILMHOUNDS caught up with the pair, who share insights into creative inspirations and how moments on set can change a script, all before Tell that to the Winter Sea hits selected Cinemas on May 31st.
It's great to see the underexplored themes of female friendships, something that you both like to explore a lot, in your previous works as well. On that note, I wondered what are some of the essential Female-led films or female friendship-based films that you two would recommend to anyone who hasn't explored them enough?
Jaclyn Bethany: My Summer of Love, which is, Pawel Pawlikowski, with Emily Blunt and Natalie Press, and they were jus cast. And the whole thing was from a treatment, and it was mostly improvised. So, it feels very natural. Another film is Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled, which is a little bit more intense, but, just aesthetic-wise. And when we're thinking of a setting of how we could get women together, and the bachelorette party setting came up, I also think of Amanda Kramer's Lady World. Then there's plenty more…
Greta Bellamacina: Greta Gerwig's Little Women as well definitely.
Does that help when you come to writing the script together as well, having written together before and knowing what each other's inspirations are?
JB: Yeah. I mean, you also have to throw out any sort of ideas or preconceived notions of what the film might be when you start writing. I think Greta and I have similar tastes and gravitate towards the same filmmakers or writers or, you know, and I think that informs, our writing process. But I do think our different backgrounds, and different locations, even in history, sort of inform what we bring to a story.
GB: And I guess we've been friends; I'd say for over a decade. So, over that time, we've kind of shared so many stories and we've evolved and become different people. And I guess we're always drawing on those shared experiences, together. And I think the fact that this film was set over 12 years, so there's parallels with us, as two friends, but also the time of the film. And a lot of it was us thinking about ourselves a decade ago and the big dreams we have and the people you are and how you evolve and you kind of hold onto the ghosts of those people, but you move on and there are always reminders of who you once were, naturally with old friends. So, I think a lot of our dynamic of the scriptwriting came from that.
Leading on from that, did anything then change in the script when you went to set and got to filming?
JB: Jaclyn: Yeah. I mean it always changes because it's just the two of us when we're writing the script. And then obviously we put it out into the world. And you're working with a cast and crew, and people are going to bring different things and ideas, and we wanted to make sure that we remained, you know, collaborative and open to because there's a small cast.
And, it was pretty true to the script, I would say. But like, there were moments, that we expanded on or found while we were shooting. For example, the dances as well. I think you guys [Greta and her co-star Amber Andersen] had been rehearsing them for a while. And then once you put them in the context of the setting in the film, it sort of changes the feeling. So I think having the freedom to work with the actors, if something didn't work, we were open to their approach or experience as well. And I think putting the group of women together in this environment was fun and will bring out certain, feelings and things that, weren't as fluid just between two writers. I think that's why you make it. You write a film to bring it to more people.
On the dance scenes themselves, which are almost like a character of their own in a way, were they completely choreographed?
JB: Yeah, so we sort of supplemented with the music by Tess Parks, who worked on our score and soundtrack. And so, we replaced those. I think there were only one or two that Greta and Amber were dancing to, then we went in, in post and we found the right songs for those moments. So, I think it was a pretty organic process because, during your rehearsals, the cinematographer would come in as well and was sending me what they were doing so we could get a feel of it. And it was so fun to watch.
Also, both Greta and Amber helped the dances develop and grow because It's also important they bring their own energy to the physical aspects of the piece too.
GB: Yeah, I think a lot of the dance rehearsals helped build a physical intimacy with me and Amber, which kind of helped the flashback versions of our characters because we were able to have almost this shared physical history that when we were acting in real-time, of course, time then passed, and we built more of a wall around ourselves.
And it's also the innocence, you know when you were younger, you would make up dance routines, and it was fun and playful, and a lot of it was going back to those teenage selves and just letting go and being free and being a bit naughty, and just listening to songs.
Touching on the teenage point, was it always the idea to have yourself Greta, and Amber play the younger versions of the characters?
GB: Well, when we were writing there were a lot of times where me and Jac talked about our teenage selves, and so we would have been thinking esthetically and looking at pictures of ourselves and kind of being quite sort of ashamed by what we saw.
And there's a surreal sense to where the dances come in, where you see them at the hen party, real-time dancing, and then you go back to them as teenagers. So, we wanted to keep the crossover scene quite kind of scattered and I guess keeping myself and Amber there was a way to keep that kind of continuity line.
Just touching on the overarching theme of female friendship, I wondered if you could touch on the scene where the group is in the circle and a few of the women are sharing their stories about sexual harassment in such a low-key way, mirroring just how common those experience sadly is for women. Did you have a certain approach to that scene from the writing to the shooting phase, etc?
JB: I mean the story that Bebe's character tells, did happen to someone I know. And I think when you are surrounded in a room of women where no one is at each other's throats and where no one is against each other, I feel like we were sort of creating by that point in a film, an open environment where the characters did feel comfortable with each other to share those experiences, and I don't think it's the overarching thing of the film at all, but it it's just, you know, a moment she wanted to express that felt comfortable with the women in the room, which I think is powerful.
GB: I think when women do naturally come together, they're able to talk about things and traumatic things in a real way. I've got three sisters, and we jump between talking about something very casual to something, you know, quite traumatic. And I guess we wanted to keep that realism. And in it, women's stories and that kind of friendship, because when women come together It's a real mix.
Tell That to the Winter Sea is in UK Cinemas now
