Fairground Attraction
JUMBO I Noémie Merlant falls in love with a mechanical ride in a wind-in-your-hair romance…
In 2007, Erika LaBrie, an American Olympic archer, married the Eiffel Tower. She changed her named to Erika Eiffel and promptly became the most famous advocate for object sexuality, a form of sexual or romantic attraction focused on inanimate objects or structures.
“I was like, ‘What?! The world is so crazy,’” says French writer/director Zoé Wittock, whose debut film Jumbo focuses on shy Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) falling in love with a fairground ride. “Then I read further. I remember debating about it with friends. We had conversations about the roles of men and women in society, the growing relationship we have with machines, what is acceptable and not acceptable. It was bringing so many different themes to the table.”
Wittock met with Erika Eiffel and was struck by just how “normal” she is. It was a realisation that informed the script, which makes us care for Jeanne and yearn for her acceptance and happiness. So while it’s tempting to compare Jumbo to David Cronenberg’s Crash – especially given Jeanne has sex with the Tilt-A-Whirl – the tones couldn’t be more different. Jumbo is not about fetishisation but companionship.
“Absolutely,” nods Wittock. “I really love Cronenberg’s work, but he comes in as a director who is a little bit above his subjects, watching them like a scientist. I wanted to take a very different approach and get the empathy instead of seeing them as fascinating objects of desire. I looked at them as the person next door, or yourself, who could be going through that.”
Of course, getting Merlant, a star, to play Jeanne, is a coup, and Wittock explains it was partly a matter of timing: when Merlant first auditioned for the part, she’d not yet won a Cesar for Most Promising Actress for Heaven Can Wait (2016), and Jumbo was the film she shot directly before Céline Sciamma’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019). But timing wasn’t all – Merlant fell head over heels for the role. Such commitment was necessary to play a love scene in which flesh and metal become one. Sensual and surreal, the closest thing to it is perhaps the black pool that consumes men in Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin.
Wittock smiles. “That sex scene is something that was there from the very first draft in 2012. I first thought about putting it in a rusty, underground place that was much darker, but it wasn’t the right feeling for me. Then quickly the idea of the infinite white came in. It’s such an interesting contrast between the oil and the white, but also because white, for me, represents purity, and the sense of orgasm – the flash of light.”
You might say that Jumbo is a satisfying experience. JG
ETA | 9 JULY / JUMBO OPENS NEXT MONTH.