Interview With "The Devil's Bath" Directors/Writers Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala

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[00:01:24] You are listening to the Next Best Picture Podcast and this is my interview with the directors and writers for The Devils Bath, Veronika Franz, and Severin Fiala. Hello, everyone. And welcome to the Next Best Picture Podcast where I'm being joined right

[00:02:07] now by the filmmaking duo, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the directors of the new film The Devils Bath. Hello, the two of you. It's all smiles right now, but your films are anything but. I love the work that the two of you have done over the last couple

[00:02:27] of years. I've been absolutely, completely just my soul ripped from my body each time in different ways too. I was going to ask primarily what is it about the horror genre that keeps having you come back? But The Devils Bath isn't like a typical horror film. It's

[00:02:47] more psychological horror with very disturbing images that horrify us. So can you just tell me a little bit about that approach compared to your previous work? I think for us, it's never about the labels. So we don't start like that. That's weird for us to start a film

[00:03:04] at the end because the label is something a distributor puts on the film. So why would we start with that label? I think we always start with a story or some sort of idea or

[00:03:16] character. And then we try to follow their situation through as honestly as we can. And this leads to different films. And in the case of The Devils Bath, it's based on historical facts. It's based on interrogation protocols of mainly one woman who lived in the 18th century

[00:03:38] in Upper Austria. And we felt we wanted to do her life and her tragedy justice, which meant that doing this whole film as a straightforward horror film with, let's say, twists and jump scares and the structure that horror films need would have felt somehow wrong and like

[00:04:02] betraying this actual person's story. So the goal was to more to show her inner horror, which makes it what you call psychological horror. So we wanted to find scenes and images for what she's experiencing inside. That was the main kind of goal for the script.

[00:04:24] And I think the thing that most disturbs me this time around was how so many of those feelings that your protagonist experiences within this film. Yes, this movie is set in this case in the

[00:04:39] 18th century, but yet so many of those feelings are still felt today in various parts of the world all over. So there's always going to be some form of resonance there one way or another. And that

[00:04:55] that's in and of itself extremely upsetting. That's great that you said it, because like I mean, the trial protocols they sparked are interested in our interest in that phenomenon and on our interest in the character, but still making a film about the past is only interesting

[00:05:16] if it has something to tell about the present and the situation we're living in now. And when we read those interrogations, we felt this woman was a perfectionist who thought she could never be

[00:05:31] good enough. There was like too much pressure of everybody around her and society on her to function, which is something that she couldn't achieve. And that felt very modern to us. That's

[00:05:42] a situation that many people and many women are caught in today. So we could relate to that and wanted to make a film about that. Also the theme of depression is a very kind of modern one,

[00:05:58] and it's still like a taboo in many societies. I mean, they're now talking more about it, but it's still like a stigma or something you better not talk or it's also very difficult for families

[00:06:13] when there is one person who is kind of depressive. And it's a very difficult and very widespread disease. And actually, it's mostly about, interesting enough, men, they kind of... Symptoms of depression, they're like different for men and women. And sometimes

[00:06:34] or mostly for men, you wouldn't recognize them. And that's for a similar reason that many heart attacks are not recognized with women because they have different symptoms. And all the symptoms for the physical diseases, they're mostly based on the male body. So what we

[00:07:01] have, like the cliche of a heart attack is how men experience it and not how women experience it. And with depression, it's the other way around. The most obvious version of depression is a female version. Well, men often get aggressive or auto-aggressive and it's just like it's different

[00:07:22] symptoms, which is why many men don't even know that they're suffering from depression. And as they might even have a harder time to talk about those things, it's not gonna get better. And that's yeah, that's also something I think we need to talk about.

[00:07:40] Do you think we will ever get a light comedy, an uplifting positive film from you guys ever in the future? No, not gonna happen. I mean, comedy, yes, but comedies can be very dark and very grim

[00:07:55] and even sadder. The saddest drama. So like our favorite comedies are darker than horror. But I think we're just not interested in doing light and uplifting films in the sense of just making people feel good. Because I think that's what too many films and too many art

[00:08:22] pieces are trying to do already. And I think art also has one of the reasons to make art, I think, is to confront humans with things that are not going well in society and with

[00:08:38] psychological abysses. And I think that's where we see our task more than make people feel happy. We're working now on an adaptation of A Headful of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. And I mean, that's also quite a dark novel. We are kind of turning into a screenplay right now.

[00:09:04] But it's still more entertaining than our previous movies. It's like, like the fourth day of shooting, we shot chronologically, that was after the wedding scene, when he blindfolded her and they walked to the house that he bought, where they're going

[00:09:27] to move in. And there was sunlight and they were both so happy. And when we filmed it, we felt, okay, this is gonna be a huge hit. Everybody's gonna love it. They're so nice. They're so

[00:09:38] relatable. And we're even starting to get afraid that it was like too nice of a movie. So I think we're afraid that we're making too nice films on every film. But so far, it doesn't worry.

[00:09:54] Well, I will say this. I think there's always a space for your type of storytelling. And I love that you guys are not departing from that. But getting into the aesthetic of the film, especially,

[00:10:07] you shot this over the course of a month on location. And it looks gorgeous. I mean, like the cinematography of this movie is extremely captivating. But can you tell me just some of the logistical challenges that you experienced having to shoot in these locations?

[00:10:25] Because also, too, this was the first time you guys had also done a period film for a feature length as well. So I imagine there had to be a lot of new obstacles for you to face on this.

[00:10:40] The first of it was like two months, actually, it was like, for the shooting days, it was a good amount of time, which we also needed because we shot chronologically. So it's not maximum efficiency when it comes to organization and production.

[00:10:56] But I think maximum help for the actors and actresses to grow into the story and really experience something. I think that was the main goal, to get as many things as real as possible,

[00:11:12] because like period pieces, they easily look like a cliche or they look fake. So we needed to show that those actual places and we also wanted the actors to live there for some time to also live

[00:11:26] in their costumes, to cook in those houses, to do the work like in the fields, like those fishermen, that's actually their job. So they just do what they're doing. So we wanted to have as many things

[00:11:40] real as possible. And I think the main challenge, I mean, we were mostly in one area, so logistically it wasn't difficult. What was very difficult is that we shot on 35 millimeters and we wanted to

[00:11:55] have a dark movie without wherever possible additional light. So it was available light and fire for let's say most of the scenes. And that was very difficult because when we first scouted the house where we ended up shooting the film, everybody like when we entered,

[00:12:16] they got their cell phones out and put their flashlights on because it was just too dark to walk there. And RTP was like, okay, and here I'm going to shoot without any additional light. So

[00:12:30] the light meter said like error from the first day of shooting to the last, because it was like too dark to shoot every single day. And we still did. And film stock is great because there is

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[00:13:50] you get your podcasts. I hope to see you soon. Absolutely. I need to talk about your lead actress in this movie. Forgive me, I do not know how to pronounce her name. Is it Agnieszka? Got it. Remarkable performance. Her monologue in particular where she is begging for forgiveness,

[00:14:24] I don't even know how to describe it. I was utterly speechless during that entire scene. You know, throughout the entire movie, I really, really felt for her throughout this. I just want to know first and foremost, is she okay after such a grueling,

[00:14:43] heartbreaking performance? Yeah, I think actually, yes. So is all the other actors in the film. Nobody actually died. I mean, Anja was like, I think you can only do such a performance and we can only like do such a film with her

[00:15:03] if we trust each other. And that was actually why we could have shot the film nearly one year earlier, but we decided to push it in order to really get to know her well and form this bond of trust.

[00:15:19] And without that, it would have never worked. Because like Anja, she's really giving like, it's all like, of course, the emotions she hates, things are fake. So she really tries to experience

[00:15:34] everything. But you can only do that if you know that there are people around who are gonna help you like come out of this afterwards, which is what we tried. And with the monologue that you

[00:15:49] mentioned, this confession scene, as we shot chronologically, this was basically one of the very last shooting days. And we told her like she had lived through the whole film up to that point

[00:16:03] of the whole story. She had read all the original interrogation protocols. We talked to her about it. But then we said, okay, this is like not, we're not gonna shoot 10 takes of you confessing

[00:16:18] this is just the confession. So you go in there and you confess and that's it. And it's just this one take that you see. I mean, it has been slightly cut then, but that's basically just

[00:16:30] the confession. And we felt this is, that's how it should like what would feel right. I mean, you cannot confess 10 times, especially if it's your last confession before your execution. It's just this very big moment that you need to experience and get right. The first time you do

[00:16:51] it, there is no other, there is no take two for that. And we felt it was similar with that. Like that's why we decided to shoot it in a similar way. It's just like this one confession. There was no take two.

[00:17:05] I can't imagine. And you know, I definitely get a sense of that, that she was willing to go to the ends of the earth for anything that you guys asked of her that that definitely comes through in her

[00:17:15] performance here. You know, and everything too, that really stood out to me when I was watching this was well other than the physical sickness that it gave my stomach, I felt very, very queasy

[00:17:27] this movie at times. I wanted to talk a bit about some of the makeup work really quick. There's a lot of very, very interesting displays here, particularly, and I imagine it's got to be

[00:17:41] a very simple prosthetic add on. I want to talk about the red. Oh my God, that just literally made my stomach turn. I would love to say it was done for real. But unfortunately,

[00:17:55] this is a prosthetic. And the woman who did all of those things for us is really good. And there was very little to none. No, BSA, the effects help necessary in order to hide some of the

[00:18:12] prosthetics. So I think, yeah, it's simple, but effective, very effective, I would say for sure. And then it all kind of culminates to in this like final scene, this ritualistic public execution that there's a conflict of feelings at play here. Because on one hand, you know that what

[00:18:35] you're watching is absolutely horrible. But also at the same time, you want this woman to be free of her pain that she's experiencing. How dare you? The two of you seriously? It could because

[00:18:49] I think it makes for really good storytelling, right? To get your audience to a point where they're pushed so far into uncomfortability that they're confronting such truly horrific things with a different perspective all of a sudden. But I guess my main question I want to ask regarding

[00:19:04] that final scene was how much blood did you have on set? And what was the blood because everyone was drinking it. Yeah, it was like some unfortunately the boring answer some artificially

[00:19:20] covered I guess water which was safe to drink I suppose. And the other one just said before that's actually very well put and 100% what we hope this film would do because like this whole phenomenon

[00:19:38] is complicated and it's very hard to tell how to feel about all of it because like other than let's say the witch trials which were like in the 60s when feminism started to tell a story of like

[00:19:53] female history. They were interested in the witch trials because it's very easy to tell a story of women being victims of society and that phenomenon that one of suicide by proxy is also mainly predominantly female phenomenon. But still those women of course they were victims but they also

[00:20:16] were murderers and that makes it much more difficult to comprehend and to be sure how to feel about it. And I think that's what the whole ending of the film is also about. I mean it's like

[00:20:28] our editor always said like after the like after she's executed there is music starting to play and it's a party. And what our editor set out to do was like that after some time involuntarily although

[00:20:43] you hate what you're seeing and you hate those people having fun that you start to basically like while sitting start also like a bit to dance because you just cannot resist. And I think this

[00:20:55] is like what the film does. It's like very different emotions and emotions that are hard to comprehend but I think this is what interests us as filmmakers. It's those complicated moments.

[00:21:08] And when it comes to the blood shrinking and also the hair you mentioned in her neck all those kind of horrible things or details in a movie is all rooted actually in historical research.

[00:21:23] So it's all we didn't come up with it. We just did a lot of research. Yeah no it was very very detailed down to the production design to the costuming. I could see

[00:21:37] it up on the screen like how much work you all put into making this as historically accurate as possible and I think that in and of itself is only heightening the horror that we feel as an

[00:21:49] audience knowing oh my god none of this is made up. This is not supernatural. This is of our world. This is of our time. This really took place. That's also very like that's a very good point

[00:22:03] and that's like I think what we meant by like in the very beginning this not being a straightforward horror film and I think exactly for those reasons I think it wouldn't be as efficient as a horror

[00:22:15] film because then it's easier to forget it. I think now that it feels unusual it asks questions that you cannot easily answer. It makes you feel like in contradictory ways that you have a hard

[00:22:29] time to interpret and I think that's all the reason why the film is actually maybe more horrifying than our previous films and we hope that it yeah that it makes the film stay with its audience.

[00:22:42] I think it will and I cannot wait to see what you all unleash upon us in the future. Thank you both for your time here today. I really really appreciate your work.

[00:22:52] Thank you for your great questions. Thank you. Best of luck to both of you. Yeah thank you. Bye. Hey everyone, thank you so much for listening to my interview with the directors for The Devil's

[00:23:03] Bath, Veronica Franz, and Severin Fiala here on the Max Best Picture podcast. The Devil's Bath is now available to be streamed on Shudder. You have been listening to The Next Best Picture

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[00:23:33] podcast content from us. Thank you all so much for listening as always and we will see you all next time. Hello, this is Gary Chahot welcoming you to check out the French History Podcast.

[00:24:27] Our main show covers the history of France from the first humans until present. If you like Mike Duncan's The History of Rome and wanted a similar program covering the land of beauty, culture, and love, we are exactly that. We also host world-renowned scholars who have delivered guest

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