Mullen pushes herself with erotic new film
When it comes to sultry romance movies promising plenty of steam this Valentine’s weekend, Fifty Shades Darker appears to have the market cornered.
Not so fast, says Niagara Falls director April Mullen.
More than a year after it was filmed, her erotic drama Below Her Mouth — about two Toronto women who plunge into a passionate affair over the course of a weekend — opened Friday in 29 theatres across Canada.
Opening against the Fifty Shades juggernaut was by design, she says on the line from Calgary.
“It was done on purpose. We wanted to give audiences an alternative. Fifty Shades is directed by a man, written by a man, it’s everything to do from a male’s perspective.
“We wanted to give audiences a female perspective and an alternative to that this Valentine’s Day. It was definitely a choice and it’s what we targeted.”
Mullen’s film, her sixth as director, earned buzz before it even started filming: Mullen and producer Melissa Coghlan chose an all-female crew to make it. It ensured the emotion on screen was depicted through a woman’s perspective.
“The story behind the film is just as important as the film itself,” says Mullen. “It wasn’t easy finding an allfemale crew, it was really difficult to be honest — (female) percentages are really low in film.
“We didn’t want to drag our heels and feel sorry about that, we were like ‘Okay, let’s make sure we can make this happen…where can we find a boom-op? If we have to bring them in from Montreal, let’s do that.’”
The female-only work crew continued all through post-production, making Below Her Mouth a true rarity in Canadian cinema. Even the handful of male characters in the film are seen briefly. The focus is almost entirely on the affair between an engaged fashion editor (Natalie Krill) and a promiscuous roofer (Erika Linder).
“It was really worth it,” says Mullen. “We really feel proud we were able to put that stamp on the film.”
While she braced for criticism, Mullen instead found “overwhelming support” within the industry for sticking to the all-female mandate.
“It’s been so heavily dominated that men are actually just kind of applauding it,” she says. “There’s no threat there. It’s been encouraged and people have been really supportive of it.
“The big thing is, it doesn’t make sense to do this for every film. This film in particular, because of the subject matter and the intimacy and how bold the performances had to be — it was a closed set — and what was required by the two main actresses, it made sense to have an all-female crew. Will I do that again, I have no idea.
“It was a creative decision before a political one.”
It was certainly a bold decision for Mullen, whose previous films include the comedies Gravy Train and Dead Before Dawn. While she has taken a serious turn of late (Farhope Tower, 88), nothing hinted at the explicit, intense subject matter of Below Her Mouth. It’s her first movie to contain nudity and feature an R rating.
“I love doing material that either scares me or challenges me in a new direction,” she says. “It couldn’t be further removed from my work in the past.
“It only has two main characters. There are large moments of silence in this film. There were physical challenges, like what kind of sex we were about to portray. All of those things were so different for me that I really loved the challenge.
“When I first read the script, it really rung true to me. I loved the intimacy. I was like ‘I have no idea how I’m going to depict this in 90 minutes.’ This rush of emotion…once in a lifetime you meet somebody that you just can’t take your hands off of.”
After watching so many cinematic sex scenes filmed by men, Mullen had to “look inwardly” to find a new approach. It produced intimacy between the characters that gradually builds throughout the film, avoiding the sort of graphic sex people may expect from an R-rated film.
“It’s a beautiful love story. The pictures might depict one thing, but it’s kind of like a ‘journey’ film in that you’re taken away on a journey with these two people where you get to be a part of them falling in love.
“When people see it, everything else doesn’t matter. The preconceptions from the trailer and posters goes away.”
Mullen’s next film, the gang-related thriller Badsville, is in post-production. She’s currently filming episodes of the SyFy supernatural series Wynonna Earp in Calgary.
She hasn’t chosen her next film yet, but says the experience of Below Her Mouth – and the responsibility of being a female director in Canada – will constantly push her.
“I never realized how important that role would be, and I’m just sort of realizing it now as it’s being presented to me,” she says.
Mullen’s only disappointment is the film isn’t opening in Niagara this weekend: “I don’t know how they forget us, because to me Niagara Falls is the most important!”
It’s showing at three theatres in Toronto and the SilverCity Hamilton Mountain Cinemas (795 Paramount Drive, Stoney Creek).