I wrote I watch over you in order to demonstrate the solitude of an old man who considers his life behind him, and his future without interest. Although his situation seems bleak, he does not allow himself to succumb to despair. Instead, he creates a fictional universe to live in; one that encompasses what he loves and the way things used to be, but one that is sadly, nothing but an illusion. This theme allows me to shine light on the everyday madness brought upon by loneliness (talking to yourself and believing that you are conversing with loved ones you miss…). On the other hand, this allows me to metaphorically evoke the position of an artist—in this case, that of a film director. The old man’s painted glass actually alludes to the magic lanterns, the early stages of cinema.

If the addressed themes seem rather serious—the solitude of a man who no longer sees his family—it is a classic example of what I try to treat comically and light-heartedly up until when the final scene is revealed (the painted glass). The old man, Jacques, is an amusing character, as childish as his two small neighbors. Jacques is like a bored, only child who turns everything into a game: his slippers are circus animals, his drill a toy, the sounds of the neighborhood kids an indication that they suspect he is a spy, and fetching the newspaper from the mailbox only one floor below him becomes a grand expedition… However, Jacques never seems ridiculous, since he is aware that he is living in an illusion. It is his way of being happy and continuing to live. Rufus is the actor I dreamt of to play Jacques’ character. He is the incarnation of Jacques’ clown-like lunacy and gentle folly.

I worked to create a contrasting image in I watch over you: Jacques, constantly between the dark and the light, accumulates shadows as the film progresses. As this happens, he rejoins the shadows that he has created; his own world. I also worked with the depth of field in order to isolate the character. Several times during the film, Jacques appears in the image, stark and alone, in front of a blurred background. By using this technique, I was able to show the confinement of this character in his world of illusion, lost in the hazy memories on which he dwells.

In directing I watch over you, I completed the second part of my trilogy on memories: three films in which each central character remembers an important moment in their lives through art, which is presented as a fight against the ephemeral. In the first film of the trilogy, Esquisse, the main character remembers a past love by means of a drawing. In I watch over you, the character attaches himself to a banal period of happiness with his family thanks to an image and sound installation, in short, thanks to cinema.