Azul Lombardia’s DOBERMAN rotates around a world of male absence
Screening at this week’s Women Texas Film Festival, DOBERMAN is an assured adaptation of Argentinian writer and actor, Azul Lombardia’s stage play for the screen. Lombardia was able to capture on screen the evolution of a conversation in a way usually reserved for intimate two person plays. Quirky and relatable, the film moves from casual chatter between two women to utter mayhem in 72 minutes. Along with the rising tension, the film seems in its core a feminist exploration where men are merely mentioned plot points, things to be missed, and the women move the story embracing their aloneness in vibrant, diverse ways. As Lombardia says in her interview here “Like planets in the solar system, these seeming divergent characters’ worlds rotate around the same type of male absence.”
Is it true that this was based on a stage play you had written? What was the writing process like transitioning from stage to screen? Did the stage play feature the same two actresses as the film and how did their performances differ from one medium to another?
Yes, exactly. The film is an adaptation of a stage play I had previously written and performed, and the actresses in both cases are the same. Throughout the writing process, I focused on emphasizing how vertiginous and overwhelming the actual tempo of the story is. Besides, transitioning into the screen gave me the chance to add many more elements of both characters’ worlds.
There’s such a vast difference in the speaking patterns between the two leads. One extremely slow while the other fast. Were these key characteristics you always had in mind or was it something discovered once you started filming?
The speaking patterns are intrinsic to their personalities, and this was in my mind since I was writing the stage play. Certainly, it evolved quite well by the actresses’ interpretation power.
What starts out as a seemingly harmless conversation transforms into a suspenseful thriller. What was your goal for the massive shift in tone that you wanted to convey in the message of the story?
I’m always interested in exploring the power of words. Even the most casual conversations have a lot of meaning. Either consciously or not, the speaker’s speech reflects a lot of unspoken rules, and this feeds right into the plot.
These two characters come from such different worlds. What did each character represent, and what is it about their conflict that’s so important for people to walk away with?
Like planets in the solar system, these seeming divergent characters’ worlds rotate around the same type of male absence. They represent two different ways of dealing with loneliness.
The character Claudio is spoken of multiple times in the film but never seen. Was it intentional to have male characters often spoken of but never shown?
Yes, it was intentional. His presence, and by extension any male figure’s presence, is constructed from the dialogue. Therefore, and maybe unintentionally, Claudio’s absence ended up being more potent that his presence, because his absence encompasses everything.
Most people at some point or another have likely experienced a version of the conversation between the two leads. One person listening, likely while multitasking, eagerly waiting for the speaker to get to the point and the other, talking in circles and beating around the bush. I’m curious about the inspiration for this story? Did it start as an initial riff on getting stuck in convos with long winded speakers?
A scene of everyday life inspired the story. It was a moment I witnessed in a family gathering, where the owner of the house, who is a relative of mine, answered the door to a neighbor, a woman named Mirna, who showed up on a bicycle. My relative asked in a contrived polite manner: “How are you?”; the neighbor answered: “Better.” That exchange of words was the key that opened the door for me to the worlds of these two characters. Their voices flooded my mind. The dialogue is the foundation of the story. It is their speeches, based on so many voices heard, that propelled the story forward.
What is something you’ve always wanted to be asked about DOBERMAN?
Every question about the film makes me rethink the story. The broad spectrum of reflections that a domestic scene with relatable dialogues may trigger genuinely amazes me to this day. I remember a screening of the movie in a film festival with gender perspective where someone made an observation about the visibility that is given in the film to the use of care time in women. I hadn’t thought about it before. I really like questions that allow me to think of the story in new ways.
