TIFF 2015 Interview | Julie Delpy on ‘Lolo’ and Bad Seeds

American audiences know Julie Delpy best as the co-star and Oscar-nominated co-writer of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight. But French audiences also know Delpy well as a prolific director in her own right. Some of her films have crossed the pond, some have not, but her latest black comedy Lolo seems likely to make the trek to American theaters sooner than later, thanks in large part to a premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Lolo stars Delpy and Dany Boon (MicMacs) as Violette and Jean-René, whose new love affair is threatened by Violette’s clingy, manipulative son Lolo, played by Vincent Lacoste (Skylab). Lolo convinces his mother that Jean-René has a sexually transmitted disease, roofies Jean-René at a fancy party and it just gets worse and worse for the poor schlub, who only committed the perfectly understandable crime of finding Julie Delpy irresistible.

I talked to Julie Delpy over the phone in the days leading up to TIFF 2015, where we talked about the film’s mix of levity and creepiness, what makes good kids turn bad, the importance of colorful underwear and the questions Delpy asks herself to make her a better artist. Enjoy.

Crave: I’m watching Lolo, and I’m laughing, and I’m disturbed, and I’m not sure which emotion should be more powerful. What are your thoughts on that?

Julie Delpy: You’re disturbed? You’re laughing but you’re disturbed?

Lolo seems to be a very unwell person and he’s putting a character I like in some very difficult situations. I’m worried about him.

Yes, well you know we’re dealing with a character… I mean, the film could be a horror film maybe, like that film from the ‘50s, what is it, Bad Seed? [The] film with the little girl that does all sorts of evil things, you know. And I show a film within [Lolo] which is called The Village of the Damned. There’s a whole culture of films where the children are the demons and all that stuff, which I kind of like. As a kid seeing those films was kind of terrifying. 

“I made all these little Freudian references in the film…”

Basically here the son is the troublemaker and he’s definitely what’s called a narcissist, more than an Oedipus Complex… [although] I think he has that as well. Basically he still hangs on to his mom’s breast, literally. [Laughs.] He still needs some of her breast. It can be eggs; I made all these little Freudian references in the film. 

But basically he has these issues. He’s unable to accept that his mom could be taken away at any level, to help his social status, to help his well being, he doesn’t want anything taken out. Like, he’s the emperor kid. The kid that the mom never said no to because she was too busy working and sheltered her kid, so he basically stepped over her all his life. He doesn’t expect it to be any other way. 

It’s the thing in any relationship, I would say. You could have this relationship with an ex-husband or someone that is used to treating someone a certain way, having a certain status in this person’s life, and that person not accepting that status being challenged, ever.

Where did this idea come from? I hope it’s not a true story. Why did you want to focus on this particular relationship?

No, thank god it’s not based on a true story. Even though I have witnessed… I mean, I’m not in this situation at all. I have a tiny kid who is very sweet and very loving and not a bit of a sociopath. He’s full of empathy and everything. For now! [Laughs.] I’m joking obviously. He’s a sweetheart. 

I’ve seen parents having really difficult times with their kids, you know? Not being able to free themselves to get out of the house, and that can last a long time. That can last till they’re 30. And sometimes I see women like that, often it is women that were working a lot, single mothers that were working a lot, and basically they had a hard time letting go of their kid and their kid had a hard time letting go of them. The kid is not the one responsible. The mother is obviously responsible. 

[Lolo] says it at one point, “You told me I was the love of your life,” and she’s like, “Yes, but that’s what mothers say to their kids.” He took literally what the mother was saying to him and made it his life. Like he is the only love of her life and he doesn’t want anyone else to be. But obviously I’ve seen it mostly in single moms that have struggled, and it’s usually the kind of situation where the kid has a hard time leaving and the mom has a hard time letting go. 

But obviously this is a comedy so I made it over the top and he’s doing all those Machiavellian things to get rid of a guy, which are Machiavellian and at the same completely childish. I wanted to keep it a comedy so obviously he’s not trying to kill him, he’s putting itchy powder in his clothes. You know what I mean? He knows that his mom is paranoid about VDs so he knows there will be repercussions. He’s planting terrible seeds in her head about things, like saying that the southwest of France is where people fuck around the most, when in fact it’s not even true. [Laughs.]

I was wondering about that! I know very little about the southwest of France. I didn’t know if it was a swingers community or not.

No, no, no! It’s not at all!

Okay, good to know…

If you look into it… you know how it is, it’s the same thing on the net with any form of disease or things. If you type in the right thing, it will come up with the thing you want to come up with. Of course there are swingers clubs in the south of France, like everywhere else in the world, but if you focus on that you will find it. So by planting that seed in her head he knows she’s going to find something about it.

“Children, no matter how sweet they are, are extremely manipulative because they know their parents and they know what triggers certain things in them.”

I found Violette to be such a wonderfully rich character, and I loved seeing her indulge in all of her anxieties. Her obsessive-compulsive fear of diseases. It doesn’t build into a big climax, but it’s a wonderful nuance.

Because she’s kind of an insecure person. Diseases are part of her anxiety and her knows it. He knows her by heart. He knows what triggers her anxiety so he uses it. I mean, without making it a point, children, no matter how sweet they are, are extremely manipulative because they know their parents and they know what triggers certain things in them. So children can be extremely manipulative. They know what to do to get the present they want. They know how to make you melt. It’s part of the survival mechanism. We all know how to manipulate people a little bit. It’s just Lolo is a master at it.

Lolo has very vibrant underwear.

Yes.

I’m wondering why you thought that was important?

I just thought it was funny that it’s a little bit like a cartoon character, Lolo. You know? I imagined him always in underwear for the film, also because by staying in your underwear while you have your mom’s boyfriend at home, it’s basically saying, “It’s my home. I’m at home. This is my place.” 

So basically he’s always walking around in his underwear, and seeing him in his bright underwear is kind of a way to say, “Here, this is me, this my home, I’m comfortable, I don’t give a shit that you’re here.” Basically I made all those little details for fun. Like he pees on the seat. He’s marking his territory basically. “This is my toilet. You’re using it, but if you’re using it you’re going to have pee on your hands.”

I see Lolo creating a lot of art throughout the film. We get to see his art installation. I don’t know a lot about conceptual art. Do you think Lolo actually has talent? Is he really going somewhere?

As an artist?

Yeah.

I’m always intrigued with conceptual artists. There are some really great people […], some stuff is amazing, but then you go to some art show and you’re looking at conceptual art. The kind of art that is a note from an ex-husband or an ex-wife or something, as a way to make a whole show about it, or using a piece of crumbled paper as a piece of art. Those have a little bit of bullshit or indulgence, I find, so he’s obviously an overindulging kind of artist. 

It’s funny but also she’s responsible for it. She probably put him on a pedestal. Anything he would do was brilliant. I think it’s good to give children confidence but I think also you have to understand that it’s also important to tell them when they need to push themselves further. I think it’s obvious. She’s putting up his first painting as a kid. A funny painting with a lot of little characters and she thinks it’s brilliant. Probably ever since he made his very first drawing, she sad it was [brilliant]. Which is good, because it gives children confidence, but probably she also indulged a side to him that probably didn’t make him push himself harder. 

I think for artists the best thing is to question yourself, so she probably didn’t make him question much. She’s responsible for it in a way. And is he going to be a great artist? Maybe he will be a great artist, eventually, but first he needs to grow up. [Laughs.]

You say great artists need to question themselves, so I’m curious: what do you question about yourself and your art and your process while you’re making a film like Lolo? What questions go through your mind?

You know, I question everything. For me, making Lolo was different than other films because it’s more of a mainstream film, at least for a French audience. I question everything all the time. Is it a perfect film? No, and I know. Can you make a perfect film? Everyone can make better films. I’m always trying to make a film that’s true to what I want to say, even if it’s not very important. 

Like, okay, I make Two Days in Paris, I want to talk about being a fish out of water and how fragile a relationship can be just by suddenly changing environments. It’s that simple, you know? When I make Lolo I want to talk about how you raise children without turning them into something that is not good for them, or for anyone. How do you raise children well? I have no idea. Probably some people do, but I probably question that as well. How do you make good films? I don’t know. 

I’m just trying to make films that are… you know, for this film, what I was trying to do… and I haven’t seen the film with many international audiences, mostly with French audiences… yes, I’m getting a laugh every minute. It’s successful in a sense that it’s a comedy and people are laughing, which is what the goal was with that film. Then you can look into the more psychological effects of the film but the truth is, it’s really a comedy.

Images via Mars Distribution

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

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