Susanne Biers new movie is out, and she is giving promotional interviews. Just saw her on TV saying that producers edited and cut the movie Serena beyond recognition and that it was destructive towards her creative way of working.
I knew it...
I went to this film back in october at the lff. You could see the inconsistancies. It had been hacked to pieces...but dare I say it, I enjoyed it in a weird sense of the word. If they'd only left her to it!!!
shareI don't really understand the complaints about editing. I wasn't a big fan of the film but the editing seemed fine for me. I can accept the director was not happy with it.
shareThe editing is definitely off. No rhythm in its pacing. The overall feel of editing is disjointed and inconsistent (a lot of dissolve at start, a lot of quick double cuts in the middle, and long cuts toward the end). It feels as if there were six people involved with the editing. It's similar to hearing the inconsistency in a music album with each track produced by a different person.
shareEditing is not just how you cut a film together - technically. That is clearly competent. Bier was complaining about how her version of the film was a different beast to the one the producers cobbled together. Because if you have seen any Bier films you will know how good she is at creating emotional drama - this is clearly not a film of that ilk.
The pacing is off and many of the subplots feel forced and the overall arc of the characters comes across as empty and unfounded. With the right editing you can completely alter a film to hit beats and linger on moments that make or break the power of scenes. I doubt Bier wanted their relationship to be edited as a series of sex scenes which had no bearing on their emotional journey. I also assume there were scenes that foreshadowed Serena's descent into madness that did not solely hinge on a miscarriage. Where you cut a scene and what part of the next scene you chose to come thereafter is crucial in the feel of a film.
The choice of letting a scene continue for two seconds longer can completely change the pacing and the emotional effect. If she gets a director's cut one day then maybe we can see what she wanted but until then we have to put up with this numb mess. Was looking forward to her working with some Hollywood's finest. Too bad she wasn't given the freedom to do her thing.
It really had the potential to be a good movie, but it seemed like the producers edited it badly enough to impact the story. Jennifer Lawrence looked incredible in the film though.
share