Sofia Coppola has remade the 1971 film, "The Beguiled," which is a Civil War-era story set at a girls' boarding school in the South (starring Nicole Kidman); "Thumbprint" is an opera about a Pakistani woman who sought justice after she was gang raped in her village.
Women's rights activist Mukhtar Mai inspires the opera 'Thumbprint'
Many operas are about issues and challenges people faced in ancient or medieval times — but not "Thumbprint." This contemporary opera, which is making its West Coast debut with the L.A. Opera at REDCAT, is based on the true-life heroic story of Mukhtar Mai.
It deals with the contemporary issue of rape and women’s rights in Pakistan. Still, the three women who created the opera believe the themes of feminism, sexual violence and women’s equality resonate with women everywhere.
In 2002, Mukhtar Mai was gang raped and then paraded naked through her remote Pakistani village as punishment for a crime her younger brother had supposedly committed. Pakistani tradition dictates that women who are raped are expected to commit suicide or hide themselves away forever in shame. But instead Mai chose to stand up for herself and for fight for justice.
“She found the impulse within herself to say this is not right like this is fundamentally not right! I did nothing wrong and I'm being punished, these men should be punished for what they have done to me,” said Thumbprint’s producer Beth Morrison.
Morrison runs a bi-coastal contemporary opera and new music production company called Beth Morrison Projects. She was so inspired by Mai’s story that she commissioned an opera based on it.
What makes this story even more remarkable is that Mai, being from a low caste in Pakistan’s poorest region, was illiterate when the attack happened. Susan Yankowitz, who wrote the libretto, says, “Mukhtar had to sign her charges with her thumbprint, and at that moment she understood how important it was for her to have an education and to be able to sign in a way that was dignified.”
Yankowitz took that fact as the inspiration for the opera's title. She based the libretto on a series of in-person interviews she did with Mukhtar Mai in New York and Washington D.C.
"I don't see theater or opera as just entertainment; I see it as a way to to talk about something," says Yankowitz. "Now it needs to have artistic excellence I hope this does... but it also needs to have content which is often in my view sorely lacking both in contemporary theater and contemporary opera."
Mai won her case in court. Six of the fourteen men accused of her rape were convicted and sentenced to death. It was a landslide victory for women’s rights and sent shock waves through the Pakistani society. Later, a number of them were acquitted on appeal.
Instead of taking the money that Mai got from the court settlement and moving on quietly with her life, she built a school in her village for girls and devoted herself to promoting women’s rights.
The "Thumbprint" creative team used the language of music and opera to add a level of emotional intensity to Mai’s story that Yankowitz says just can’t be achieved with words. Kamala Sankaram composed the score and also plays Mai in the show.
“I used the operatic voice as a musical metaphor for Mukhtar finding her own voice. The first half of the show stays pretty much in the middle range which for a soprano is not the most powerful part of the voice but then as Mukhtar sort of finds herself and makes the decision that she's going to take her case to court it expands upward above the staff and starts to add coloratura which is a lot of fiery fast-moving notes,” said Sankaram.
When "Thumbprint" premiered in New York City in 2014, producer Beth Morrison wanted Mai at the premiere but she didn’t have the resources at the time. Now, with "Thumbprint" making its West Coast premiere in Los Angeles she decided to try again. "It's always been on my mind to have her come," says Morrison, "So about six weeks ago we were like, maybe we should try again and see if we could make this happen now."
But it hasn't been easy. At first they couldn’t find Mukhtar. Then when they did, she didn’t have a passport. Once she got that expedited, she needed to get a visa. That's a process that could take weeks or months– time they did not have. Morrison reached out to contacts who knew people at the Pakistani embassy in Islamabad for help. In the meantime, she had to raise the money to cover Mai’s expenses.
The entire "Thumbprint" creative team felt equally as strong about getting Mukhtar to Los Angeles for the premiere. “There's this beautiful line in the libretto that comes directly from Mukhtar," Beth Morrison says, "which is 'one voice sings and a thousand hear the song.'" For Morrison, this line embodies her belief in opera’s ability to tell stories in a unique way that inspires others.
"I think it’s important that Mukhtar see the piece because I want her to know that her story has touched people and that it also has this epic quality to it," says Kamala Sankaram.
“I would love her to be able to see it...to see that her story has resonance beyond Pakistan, that it has resonance really everywhere,” said Susan Yankowitz.
The creative team's wish came true. They were able to raise the money with help from the LA Opera and a member of Beth Morrison's board of directors. Mai was granted her visa. And she got on a plane just in time for her to arrive in Los Angeles for the premiere of "Thumbprint."
"Thumbprint" runs at REDCAT theatre Thursday, June 15 through Sunday, June 18. Tickets available at LA Opera.com.
The women of Sofia Coppola's 'The Beguiled' are not hysterical — they're human
When Sofia Coppola was working on “The Beguiled,” she got an email from Jeffrey Eugenides, author of the novel, “The Virgin Suicides.” The book was the basis for Coppola’s 1999 feature film of the same name, and carries many similarities with her new feature.
“[Jeff] said, ‘Oh you're making a film of “The Beguiled.” I always remember loving that movie,’” said Coppola in an interview with The Frame. “It sounded like it was in his mind because there are connections.”
Coppola, who with "The Beguiled" became the first American woman to win Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, says the first thing that attracted her to the project was that it reminded her of “The Virgin Suicides.” Both films feature a group of women cut off from the world.
“There [were] definitely some commonalities,” Coppola said. “And then I thought, Oh, I’d be interested to kind of go back into that world and then explore it in a different way.”
Starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Colin Farrell, “The Beguiled” is about what happens at a Southern girls’ boarding school when they take in a wounded Civil War soldier, who also happens to be a Yankee.
It’s actually the second time Thomas Cullinan’s novel has been made into a movie: Don Siegel directed a 1971 version starring Clint Eastwood.
But unlike the book and Coppola’s film, the first version of “The Beguiled” was told from the point of view of the soldier. And it was about how his presence generates so much lust and passion that the women can’t control themselves.
At first, Coppola was hesitant about remaking a film, but after seeing the original, she knew she could reimagine the story through the womens’ lens:
It’s such a great premise to talk about male and female mystery and power shifts. That intrigued me. But [in the 1971 Don Siegel film], the women are depicted as so deranged and crazy and it's hard to relate to them. So I just thought it was just an interesting story to look at from their point of view and what it was like for them. And of course they have desire, 'cause that's part of the human experience, and not make that something kind of perverted and crazy.
The fact that it's a story about a group of women and it was told from a man's point of view, I just thought it was material that I could really get into. And to have girls and women from age 12-to-40, there was such a range of women at different stages, which interested me.
Coppola acknowledges the power dynamics among women are common themes in her films:
When I was doing the scene [in “The Beguiled”], when all the girls were on the table encountering a man — there's a scene in "Virgin Suicides" where a boy comes and has a similar feeling, so it did remind me of that. Yeah, I'm always interested in the stories about the dynamics between girls and women.
My first short film [“Lick the Star”] — which I forgot about, but Quentin Tarantino found a print to show at the New Beverly — it's about power shifts with the kind of queen bee in a group of girls in middle school ... I wrote from that experience and I guess I've always been interested in the dynamics between a group of girls.
Coppola’s mother, Eleanor, spoke on The Frame last month about directing her first film “Paris Can Wait,” a surprise project to many – including Sofia – because she had often worked on art projects and helped with films by her father, legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. Sofia was surprised that her mother wanted to make a feature.
She's always done interesting art projects but I was surprised that she was doing [a] narrative film in that way. But, yeah, it was cool. She was so into it and worked a long time to get it made. But, no, I never [expected it] — I don't think she ever planned to do something like that.
Coppola’s parents were supporters of her directing career early on. Her mother, in particular, was constantly encouraging her from a young age:
She always encouraged me. There's ... an audio clip of my dad interviewing me as a five-year-old and he's asking me to talk to my grown-up self. And my mom walks through the room and says, “You're Wonder Woman!" And I just feel like that that says so much about how she always encouraged me and my brother.
Art was always so important. [She] took us to museums and always encouraged us to be creative and always loved what we made … It’s always nice that she's so encouraging to be an artist — not to be successful, but to be an artist.
Her father’s influence was equally important on her work as director:
I learned about filmmaking from my dad, but also about his love of why he does it … He always had such integrity and passion about what he was doing and always talked about being an artist and the excitement of the medium, so I feel lucky to have grown up around that.
Coppola, who grew up around the sets of her father’s films, including “The Godfather,” encourages her two young children to learn about art and filmmaking in the same way her parents did with her and her siblings:
I think my dad was always talking about filmmaking, and I don't think I do as much with my daughters. But I think what was cool about my parents was they always brought the kids to their world. They always brought us to film sets and they would bring us … [to] dinner with all these interesting grown-ups. The kids’ world wasn't separate and I think I try to do that too.
Coppola's children visited the set of “The Beguiled,” which she hopes has a good impact on them:
It’s cute to see them, you know, sitting on apple boxes the way I did when I was little. And my first grader was really interested in looking through the viewfinder and saying, Action! It was sweet to have them visiting. And I think to see their mom working and in charge of a crew, it must have some kind of impact, I hope.
Despite the film’s adult themes, Coppola is glad she can share her movies with her children:
I brought my 10-year-old to the crew screening and she's very into gore and special effects so she was into it. But I said she had to close her eyes during the sex scene, and then afterward she said, “That wasn't a sex scene!”
And Sofia Coppola wasn't the only mom on set.
Anne Ross, the production designer, she has a daughter, a first grader, the same age as my younger one. And so she asked if [editor Sarah Flack] could cut a kid's version. So Sarah has made a 30- or 40-minute cut of “The Beguiled,” which we haven't watched yet, so that they could see what we were working on when they were visiting the set. Sarah made the story work somehow, but in an appropriate way for first graders.
Coppola’s sets, which are known for their calm atmosphere, include many women — from the actors to the crew. Coppola acknowledges she loves working with women, but doesn't make an intentional point of hiring them.
When I met editors, I just really connected with Sarah. We've worked together since “Lost in Translation.” And I didn't think, like, Oh I want to hire a woman editor. But we just click. And she has just an intuitive way ... we're on the same page about our sense of humor and what we like and everything. And then Anne Ross is an old friend that we met when we were in our 20s.
I guess I never thought about it, but I love working with women. And I know Anne made a big effort to hire as many women as she could for the art department. So our set had more women than usual, but we had guys too.
To hear John Horn's conversation with Sofia Coppola, click on the player above.