Sigourney Weaver in Master Gardener: The Interview

dIt is thrilling to see that in the world there is still someone who cares little about pleasing others. Paul Schrader – the screenwriter of Taxi Driverthe director of American Gigolo and, more recently, a trilogy (started with First reformed and with The card collector) who, coming from a rigid Calvinist family, could be defined as “of redemption” – perhaps even a little pleased with displeasure.

By extension, the disregard for ecumenical applause overflows, in master gardenerwhich is the last chapter of the trilogyuntil it touches the first actress, Sigourney Weaver, nimbly slipped into clothes of a wealthy Southern lady – well-groomed hairstyle, tight-waisted dresses, a sweater over her shoulders, a cocktail almost always in the frame. It looks like something out of a 1950s movie. But time is instead ours, the here and now.

Sigourney Weaver as Norma

And if Norma Haverhill-Sigourney seems to have come from another era, it’s because that past, which the actress assumes so magnificently in the slight and terrifying movement of her lip when it issues sentences without appeal (“obscene”, “impertinent”), it has the specific weight of lead.

Norma is the owner of a sumptuous and cold mansion with a lush garden attached. To take care of it is the mysterious Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton), whose quiet botanical routine is compromised by the arrival of Norma’s niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell)an orphaned “mudblood” whose aunt – who has no qualms about reminding her how much she disapproved of her mother’s choices – offers a job opportunity among the flower beds.

Alone a poetic and curious thought about the world and the future can make Narvel and Maya two soul mates, for reasons that those who see the film will have to find out (and we highly recommend it), a thought of which Paul Schrader is undoubtedly a champion. On Norma’s reaction, Sigourney’s reaction makes sense in the following lines.

It will not have been a walk to embody a woman who the director himself defines “goddess of evil”, goddess of evil…
But I don’t think Norma is evil! She shocked me that Paul called it that, a statement of pure ageism and sexism! Does a strong and powerful woman have to be a bad woman? Pretty old-fashioned, don’t you think? Norma reacts badly to the news that her nephew is sleeping with the man who until then was in her life, of course! But which woman would respond well? Where is the wickedness? Norma tries to survive. Whether it’s an allegory or not, it’s my duty as an actress to make the character realistic, alive, and believable. Closing Norma into the evil woman cliché doesn’t do her justice. Paul is the director and he can say what he wants, but from the actor’s point of view, his vision is short-sighted.

A human being, not a stereotype

Even if we are perhaps in a fairy tale, we are still in the south of the United States, the atmosphere is steeped in racism and it cannot be said that his character escapes…
master gardener it could take place in Maryland or Delaware, setting it on a southern US plantation emphasizes the racial issue, all right. Not even the time is clearly defined, at least as long as we stay inside the estate. There, in her bubble, Norma certainly represents a period in the history of that land in which class privilege coincided with racism. People like her were at the top of the world, everyone else was below. Norma is dismissive, she loves the feeling that her condition gives her and she is afraid of slipping down. But at the same time she is an incredible woman, she takes Narvel under her wing, entrusts her garden to him and tries to change her worldview. She takes a risk. I see her as a human being, not a stereotype. And in the end I think she’s heartbroken to lose this man that she really liked about her, who she had a 9 year relationship with. She relied on him, he had become a friend to her, as well as her lover. Sure, Norma is a racist, but the world she lives in is that of Tennessee Williams dramas, not mine or hers.

master gardener is, among Paul Schrader’s films, a little more reassuring than average. It presents an unthinkable possibility of forgiveness and redemption. But maybe that’s not what America is talking about today. Schrader, when your previous film came out, The Card Counter, whose protagonist was a soldier at Abu Ghraib, said it would anger Barack Obama. Who will be angry seeing this?
Paul is amazing, what other director in America would have covered Abu Ghraib like he did? He is an author who breaks taboos, in total artistic freedom, even with the limited means at his disposal. And he does it again this time, he’s a beacon and it’s an honor to work with him. Italy has honored him (the Venice Film Festival in 2022 gave him the Golden Lion for his career, on the occasion of the presentation of master gardener out of competition, ed). Should we have waited for you to do it? America definitely doesn’t like to display its dirty laundry in public.

Luckily artists do. For example, she is part of a film, Call Janereleased in America a few months ago, available in streaming from us, set in Chicago in the 60s, starring a woman who seeks help for an abortion.
It’s a matter of life and death in America today. It is so ridiculous and unrealistic what is happening. Elizabeth Banks and I chose to be in this important story without imagining that “Roe versus Wade” (historic Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion in all states, since 1973, ed) would soon be revoked. So now this film has become even more important. Women need to know today, at a time when they are once again considered second-class citizens, what life was like for them when the right to abortion was not guaranteed and female solidarity was the only way out.

Ripley, the fighter

Do you want to turn back the clock in America, and perhaps not only there, on women’s rights?
Yes, 50 years old. But we have moved forward, we have gained ground in awareness and authority. They can’t take away what we have conquered, those rights are part of our life now. It was predictable that they would try, we can’t give up. We will prevail in the end, but it will take time and in that time many women will suffer irreparable damage.

Her career began, and was marked, by the figure of a fighter, Ripley di Aliens. Can you imagine what it would have been like without her?
My career has been defined by working with people who loved and respected women. I was ready for the challenge, but I didn’t imagine that after Aliens I would have continued to make films, I thought they would send me back to the theatre.

Was she too tall for the cinema? (Weaver is 1.80 m)
For a long time they classified me according to height. I couldn’t play the classic girlfriend, but this allowed me to play more original roles. Now they classify me by age. Sigourney Weaver, 73… Maggie Smith is still working and she’s amazing. Jessica Tandy made it to the end. Acting is a long-term job, she’s not retiring.

In Avatars, of which we are waiting for chapter 3, has been rejuvenated up to adolescence. Have you experienced intoxication?
James (Cameron, the director, ed) found the right way to convince me: «You can do it, after all you are a decidedly immature person».

iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED