Italian director Andrea Paloro returns to Lido with the English-language drama “Monica,” starring transgender actor Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) as a woman who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother, played by Patricia Clarkson. His sophomore film, Hanna, premiered in Venice with star Charlotte Rampling who won the Copa Volpi for Best Actress in 2017.
Talk to Balauro, who lives in Los Angeles diverse About making a movie is not about “the transition per se,” he says, but about the title character’s relationship to the world long after the transition has occurred.
What drew you to the topic?
The initial fire behind “Monica” was the need to come to terms, understand, try to better understand, or resolve the complexities of letting go.
How did Trace Lysette cast the title role?
I’ve auditioned over 30 people for this role, and not just in the States, so I cast a very, very wide net. It was a process that took more than a year. When I met Trace, it was actually after that first meeting, I felt she was the one who had the emotional depth to express what I needed. Also because of her own story and what she experienced herself, she not only understood the character and the project as a whole, but had that unwavering commitment to telling that story.
I am curious about choosing Ohio as the location for the film.
Well, I have to mention that Trace herself comes from Ohio. And that was just a coincidence. It’s one of those beautiful things that happen. But I thought of a number of Midwest states. I felt that the Midwest was important to create the contrast between a city like Los Angeles or New York, where Monica lives, and instead where she came from and where [her] family is. Since there is a very strong division and a very strong difference between these two worlds, I live myself in the United States
What is the gist of this story?
For me, it has always been important for Monica to be an expression of a woman who comes home and really connects. She forgives, and finds a connection to the world she left behind for a number of reasons. And the transgender experience explored in the film is not in the context of the transition per se, but in the context of the character’s relationship to the rest of the world. It’s not a transitional story, as it usually is, I have to say, with most movies and stories I’ve lived with with transgender characters at their center. There’s a danger in that, because I think the mainstream audience is then brought in to understand and experience these characters only within those parameters.
So with Monica, I wanted to open the range as much as possible and not focus on that single element. It’s a film that I hope will allow viewers to use Monica as a way to see themselves reflected on this character, on the story, and on these dynamics. We hope that they understand themselves better through it. Because that’s the real catharsis I’m looking for in film and looking for in art in general, and I hope I’ll be able to give the audience.
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