THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER
The Chronology of Water, as seen by Kristen Stewart
After David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future in 2022, Woody Allen’s Cafe Society in 2016 or Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper (2016) and Sils Maria (2014), Kristen Stewart returns to Cannes for the seventh time. But now, as a director! The Chronology of Water, her first feature, is an adaptation of the autobiographical novel by Lidia Yuknavitch and will be presented at the Certain Regard.
What inspired you to make this film?
The memoirs on which the film is based tell of an underbelly experience: the most tender and noxious aspects of being a woman. The book offered me the words to write a scenario in which this “writer” would be every single one of us. The film is about iteration. Getting up and trying again. Repossessing your body, your desires, your ambitions and your dreams. I wanted to create a form that was unruly and, again, hard to pin down.
How did you manage your team on set?
Our shoot was disrupted by things I couldn’t control, but we all stayed. The family we made and the memories we made while making this film have become part of the landscape of our lives. And I can tell you that’s not always the case. It was eight years in the planning. The film is about birth, death and rebirth, and we sort of followed that cycle. I think you can feel it in the result. At the time, it hurt a lot. The biggest wound of my “creative” life so far. And by far my favorite scar.
“That women’s collective consciousness is real”– Kristen Stewart
A word about your actors?
Imogen Poots. When I saw what she was willing to give, what she was capable of and above all who she was, the quality of her soul, the beauty of what she was trying, I said to myself, “We all have to be as good as she is.” Thora Birch. One of my favorite actors of all time. I regret not seeing more of her. In every sense of the word. She’s so special. The “parents” in this film are as if seen through a steamed glass, distant memories, and thanks to Susannah Flood, they are startlingly clear. She’s spread across the walls of the house like emotional wallpaper. Kim Gordon. She’s a mother figure to me. You want to be intimidated, but there’s a dynamic connection in her presence that makes you feel really good. Jim Belushi has a writer’s mind with an actor’s heart. I love this man.
What did making this film teach you?
I learned to listen to myself. Listen to my friends. To personalize my process. It’s okay to fail. Sometimes that’s how you win.
What would you like viewers to take away from your film?
That women’s collective consciousness is real and that pain can’t just be avoided, but can be treated and embraced.
What made you want to become a director?
To be an actress.
