Carmen (Natascha McElhone) has lived a life of servitude, taking care of her brother since he entered the priesthood of their Church. That is, until, her brother passes away, leaving her in tears, praying at a pew. The confession booth door to her left slowly opens and inside sits a pigeon. This intrigues her as she enters.
Thus begins Carmen being mistaken for the priest inside the confession booth. She continues this act from inside the booth and eventually meets and falls in love with Paulo (Steve Love), inspiring a refreshing outlook on life, all while appearing younger and younger as their relationship grows.
"This is a story that not many people are familiar with, the tradition of a sister being nominated to devote her life to the priesthood of her brother. In the real story, she was 13 when she went to look after her brother and devoted her life to his well-being. So I think there's a story in that, that there are many women who live in that way in the world still. There are a lot of these stories that if it's not within your immediate experience, or if it's not practiced in your own culture, you tend to be slightly oblivious to it. But I also like the fact that it's not incredibly heavy-handed," commented McElhone.
Alongside McElhone and Love in the cast of Carmen are Michela Farrugia, Richard Clarkin, Henry Zammit Cordina, and more. It's written and directed by Valerie Buhagiar.
Carmen is Based on Real Traditions
As McElhone mentioned, it's a tradition in Malta (where Carmen is set) for a younger sister to do as the titular character did by serving her older brother as he entered the priesthood.
"People are quite blown away by the tradition itself and didn't know something like that existed," added Buhagiar. "I live in Toronto, a very multicultural city. So you sit down on a bus, and you see people from all over the world, and they all have their story, they've all had to deal with something — and I hope I'm not wrong in saying this — but it's mainly the women who've had to put up with a lot of crap, and it's traditions, rituals, and so forth. So, if this film wakes people up to realize that there's a lot of stuff out beyond their own town, their own homes, then that's great. And many people have been emailing me, messaging me, and saying, 'I learned so much while being entertained. Thank you for not hammering it and being preachy.' Which is great, because that's what my intention was, was to give a good story and have audiences learn something without being preachy."
As for striking that balance between the heavier themes present in Carmen and keeping things light-hearted, Buhagiar explained that it's "basically the way I live my life," and credited a teacher for that perspective. She continued, noting that there are plenty of heavy things in life, "but if you can find humor, grab it."
Natascha McElhone and Steve Love in Carmen
"The whole story and the idea of playing someone who's having this wonderful awakening," said McElhone when asked what it was about this story that attracted her to the role, "and the sort of transformational elements of it, and the big change. All good dramas have a big change, there's a sort of seismic shift of some kind between the characters or the dynamics, or external influences on people's lives... I felt the metabolic rate at which it happened [in Carmen] was terrific. It was a slow sort of unfurling, chrysalis to butterfly moment."
She continued, explaining that it also had to do with having the opportunity to work with Buhagiar. "I could tell she was a creative spirit... I knew I was in good hands."
As for casting Love in the film, he actually wasn't initially booked for the role. The original actor booked to play Paulo encountered scheduling conflicts, according to Buhagiar, forcing her to think quickly.
"Steven was one of the actors in a play reading I was acting in as well in Toronto. He had just come from out west, and he had this lightness and innocence and a great spirit that I really liked and remembered. So, when I was going through actors in that age group, his face came up, and I was like, 'Yes, for sure. Let's reach out to him.' That's how that came about," said Buhagiar.
"We were shooting from the hip, it was very spontaneous, it was energized, it was thinking on your feet, and some of it was even improvised, and he was great," added McElhone, "he was down for all of that and lovely to work with. When we had the time we would try a few different takes in completely different ways, and he would always catch the ball if I was trying different things, and he too would throw it back in different directions. It was just a joy."
Carmen comes to us from Good Deed Entertainment and is available in theaters and VOD on September 23, 2022.