In the modern era, it feels somewhat impossible to find a romantic partner without the assistance of dating apps. Relationships once began with blind dates, set ups, and meet cutes. Now, they start on screens, forcing users to form opinions on potential partners from just a few pictures.
Of course, there is always a risk someone isn’t who they claim to be. They could look different from their pictures, or there could be a lack of chemistry in person. For many, expectations have already been placed upon their prospects, including fantasies and dreams that are just impossible to live up to in person.
Lisa Forslund’s feature debut “Clementine Orange” navigates this world of contemporary courtship expertly. After becoming pen-pals with prison inmate John, Angelica finds herself falling for him and the dangerous fantasies he inspires before she’s even met him.
When John is granted 24-hour release, they agree to met in person, and Angelica realizes she’s been catfished. John isn’t who he said he was, and her fantasies about him are crushed instantly. John convinces Angelica to give him a chance despite his lies, she agrees and the two begin to form a delicate new connection while walking around Stockholm.
Ingeniously exploring the fragile line between fantasy and reality, the film is truly a romance movie for the modern age. Clever, sharp and somewhat uncomfortable, “Clementine Orange” captures what it’s like to attempt to find a partner in the modern era, and if connections can really be formed before the first meeting.
Cinema Femme sat down with writer and director Lisa Forslund to talk about “Clementine Orange” and what her experience has been like sharing this film with the world.
First, I’d love to hear about your career journey so far, and how you got involved in the film industry.
I have been to film school for, I think 8 years in total, but like over a period of like maybe 10 or 12 years. So I’ve been in school a lot, I would say. So I only graduated from my master’s 3 years ago. And I got this grant from the Swedish Film Institute that you could only get if you just recently finished either a bachelor’s or a master’s. So I started with this film sort of directly after my master’s. I made short films before, but in like a school environment. I feel like I’ve been studying all the time, but I think I’ve been working, you know, like a year and then continue studying. Yeah, so I feel like I’ve really just finished school.
Where did your idea “Clementine Orange” first come from?
When I started my master’s, I studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. I had an interest, like an artistic interest in love, relationships, and destructive patterns in love and relationships. I made a short film about that, and I wrote a lot about it and I did conceptual things that surrounded that theme. And I think it started— the idea, the whole idea started with having a destructive type, or maybe not even being aware of your type being self-destructive or self-harming.
I started to write a text about it. Like a long text, not a script. Almost like a book, but I wasn’t gonna like give it out or anything. It was just like something to get out of my system. And that was about a woman who was writing to someone in prison. Because that’s like the most obvious example of choosing danger or choosing something impossible. So it started with that text. When I wanted to make it into a film, I think it got a lot more light. I think the text was very— it’s very focused on investigating the main character just in her life or her personal psychological approach to men.
The film parallels the traditional online dating world in so many ways, with catfishing and fake profiles. How did you incorporate those modern, real world ideas into the film?
I think the most obvious thing is that, that nowadays you— it’s common that you catch feelings before meeting someone. In these reality shows like “Married at First Sight” or “Love Is Blind,” and also just dating on the apps, you encounter that difference between, or like the gap between the feelings you have before you meet and the feelings you have when you have met. And what happens with the feelings you had when you meet? Were they not real, or were they for someone else, or someone that doesn’t exist? Or like, what do you do with these feelings when they don’t match? Even if you meet someone, you could get disappointed after a while. I think it’s more extreme when you just write to someone or just talk on the phone, and then there’s this like almost like a vacuum where these feelings might exist or not.
The film also focuses on the women’s wants and desires. How did you develop that theme within the script and in shooting?
I think I’m just a woman that has desires and it’s my perspective, so I wasn’t very focused on like making like an example of female desire. Just like, yeah, I think it just happened naturally.
What was the filming process like? How did you develop the chemistry and connection between these two actors?
I think it was very obvious from the first time we had an audition with both of them. It was very clear from the first moment I saw them together that they would have chemistry with each other. And they’re also very, very talented actors, so I saw that they sort of gave each other what the other one needed or wanted to be as professionally great as they could be.
We had 23 days to shoot. It’s very low budget film. It’s a part of the talent program called Moving Sweden, which is for first time directors. We just applied for that, and then when we got it, and so we said “Okay, let’s do this.” We didn’t apply for more budget or anything. So we had a really low budget but a lot of energy.
We shot a lot of it outside because they’re out walking which was— I thought it was gonna be not so complicated because it’s not like you rent a location. But it was extremely complicated. Even if you shoot like 15 meters to the left, next scene, then it’s just like, “Okay, but we have to do a company move and we have to move the cars and we have to move blah blah blah.” So we had a lot of locations even though it was very close.
What is something you learned from directing your debut that you’ll take with you into your next project?
It’s so much. Like script, shooting, casting, editing. To go through all these phases for the first time and not knowing like how long— like when you get stuck, you don’t know how long you’re gonna be stuck. I think knowing what my process is and what I think is hard and what I think is easy, or what I feel like I’m good at and what I feel like I’m not good at, and where I need help. I’ll never do that for the first time again. So I learned so much. Yeah, it’s hard to trust myself, I guess.
What has been the most exciting part of the festival run? What was it like sharing your film at CIFF?
It was great. I’ve shown it twice in my life. So I’m just so shocked that people come to the screening. I mean, like, nobody knows who I am or what this film is, and still they, you know, reserve tickets, come, listen, they stay and they ask questions. I’m shocked. It’s just art in action.
To compare the two, like, Rome was very…wow. It was a world premiere. It was a big red carpet and everyone was really dressed up. They didn’t have like a Q&A or anything. It’s focused on like the glamour of the film industry. And here, in Chicago, it was so special because I got to speak to the audience, I got to meet them, and afterwards they came up and asked questions or said what they liked.
I’m a Letterboxd fan, so I was like going in, like looking at the reviews. I would remember that person at the screening, and it’s so amazing that they put their time and effort into, like, responding to the film. It really feels like it’s important to make films.
What do you hope audiences take away from this film?
I always think it’s important to try to make something relatable with the tone and the sort of feeling you have when you see it. And I think I tried to make something that felt like this awkward first date. And trying to relate with that feeling in me when I wrote the script, but also like the possibilities of the first date, or like the disappointment you can feel, or trying to be safe with someone that you never met that you hope so much could make you feel safe at some point. It’s just a very awkward sort of embarrassingness that I felt in writing it, I felt like, “Oh, I need to get that out of my system too.” So I hope people maybe feel less alone in that sort of struggle.
What has your journey been like as a female creative in the industry?
I actually started studying documentary filmmaking, and I’ve thought about that a lot because I feel like the hardest part being a woman in the industry is not like the hard facts. Even though they exist, like this percentage of women comparing to men, like there are a lot less women in the industry directing at least. I feel like the fact that you have to take so much space being a director, and especially being like a writer and director. I feel is less appreciated as a female. I think I said it at the Q&A, but like walking into a room and being like, “I have this stupid idea and you’re gonna work for it,” is like, it’s not natural. It’s not natural for me as a female. I don’t know if it’s natural as a male either. But I think you get raised like in a way into a gender that has more rights to that space as a man. It’s very subtle. You have to really think about it to see these small, like, maybe looks from someone that, like, maybe you should be quiet. I think that’s the hardest part for me, is to be able to see that space and to feel like it’s mine.
This film was screened as a part of the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival.
