While their mother is absent, three sisters are delirious with the prospect of total freedom. However, eldest sister Laura (Bianca Delbravo) soon receives a call that threatens to place them in foster care, leading her to desperately search for a substitute mother.
It's a beautifully written coming-of-age drama, and we've got Mika Gustafson and Alexander Öhrstrand to thank for the vision. FILMHOUNDS sat down with the pair to find out more about what makes the Swedish teenage dream a slow-burning nightmare.
When you set out to write Paradise Is Burning, was this the story that you had expected to write, or did things develop and change a lot as you were going?
Mika Gustafson: I think it's a really interesting question, actually, because that's totally how we work as a process. Of course, sometimes, from the beginning, you have a theme, or you have some goals or something you want to explore, or a world or a tone that you're looking for or something. Then you have to go blind in some kind of way. And then sometimes you have to be lost. I think we really work in a controlled, not-knowing process. So yes, on your question, it changed, and it's developed a lot.
Alexander Öhrstrand: The core in the beginning was just two sisters. The third one came to be later. But the core was always these sisters living alone.
MG: That started with me having this idea about these girls that I haven't seen on the screen. It's a homage to girls I know but haven't seen on the screen. That was really something that I aimed to do. And of course, I have seen some projects that portray them but that's not enough. I think we need more of these complex female characters. But they're not just female characters, they're human beings. I think that's very important. There was something that we started to talk about. And then, of course, [Alex] came in with [his] point of view and we talked about like, what do we do? What kind of film do we want to do? And how do you want to write it? What kind of rules do we want to break?
AO: That's also part of why they don't have parents. [Mika] said, I want to explore how you would become as a person, as a woman, if you didn't have, you know, set boundaries and rules for you, if there was no like, no rules for how to behave. How would you behave? Then, if you were free from a context, because nobody can be free, but, you know, in the biggest way possible.
MG: And I think our writing is, of course, rewriting. But also I think our writing is talking. We talk a lot. We walk through the scenes and we walk. It's a lot of walking, talking.
AO: We build kind of the neighbourhood, almost like, you know, in a computer game, yeah? Like you walk around, you know what's in each corner. You know who the shop owner is, and you know who the neighbour is.
MG: And what kind of music is played in this world. So we create this gigantic world. What kind of tone, what kind of beings and what kind of people? And then they walk around.
Am I right in thinking that actually the title wasn't even originally Paradise Is Burning either? How did you land on that?
AO: It's like, yeah, this paradise is burning! It's two opposites. A clash. And it's the same thing we said we wanted with the film. We wanted to have this euphoric freedom and have this total despair, kind of laying cheek to cheek. We have punk and poetry kind of mixing. And we want that to be reflected in the title. And that's why Paradise Is Burning.
I think it's so interesting the way that you speak about the sisters, because I saw them as very primal beings. There are so many moments that feel beautiful even though they're kind of brutish and jarring. Do you think that perhaps teenage girls are inherently primal beings and is our collective societal lens too harsh on them?
AO: Aren't we all primal beings? But I think it goes back to what [Mika] said. [Mika] said at first women were only victims in films, and then they became like the superheroes where not even kryptonite could kill them. And either one of those is not a person, it's a thing. And [Mika] said they need to be both a primal person and somebody who wants to put on some makeup, to look nice and to be fragile and to be, you know, all of these things.
MG: There was an aim to make characters that we as an audience don't look down on, feel sorry for or pity. And I wanted them, even if life is hard, I wanted them to be free from inside. Of course, the world will hit you, but still, they have these strong bonds. And, I don't, pity them. So that was something we aimed for while creating these girls.
I love the way this film explores sisterhood and the connections women and girls form with each other. A lot of that translates really universally whether you're from Sweden or elsewhere but something that really intrigued me is the ceremony after Mira gets her first period. Is that a Swedish tradition and why was it important for you to include that in the film?
AO: It's not, it's totally made up! But I'm hoping that this now is something that will be created in other countries.
MG: It's emotionally true. It was a scene that was really important for me when showing the bonds between the girls and the pride. And the dignity of being girls. I wanted to make it fun, you know? It's made up but I was looking for a truth, you know? I was looking for something that was symbolic of something that is true and that I have felt. It's a homage to the girls and kind of my tribe.
I explained this to Alex and he was like “What? I don't know.”
I think sometimes we actually work a lot, like a director and actor. I'll have this sort of “I'm looking for this” and, you know, trying to find something to work with. And Alex is really good at coming up with different ideas, like an actor. That's actually how [Alex] works on set. A little bit like a director and an actor as you have to be easy in this process. And I think [Alex] really is as a writer. Anyway, then [Alex] came up with something, and I was like “Ah! No!” Then I rewrote it, and [Alex] was like “No.” Then we found the way together.
AO: At first, I said let's have a ceremony, but let's have something different than that. You know, they don't drink tea and have biscuits, it's more like a gang ritual where they hit each other and Mika's like, “That's too much show. No, no, it should be like witches burning sage.” And I was like, that's too corny. Eventually,[Mika] wrote the final kind of version of it.
MG: I think that it could be a little bit symbolic of how we work with every scene and moment in the film a lot before it's ready.
How would you describe Paradise Is Burning in three words?
MG: Freedom!
AO: Despair and hilarious.
MG: Yes, humor maybe. I think it's heartbreaking and humorous at the same time.
AO: Heartbreaking, hilarious?
MG: I think it's quite fun sometimes.
AO: Hilarious has to be there because I think people read the description, and think “oh they live alone?” but they don't realize how fun the movie is. People always laugh in the cinema. It doesn't matter if it's in Italy or it's in Germany. They always laugh at the same things. Basically, you know, Steffi with the blood, the screaming, everyone laughs.
Paradise Is Burning is in UK & Irish cinemas from 30th August.
