Hotel Silence | A film “faithful to the novel”

Icelandic writer Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir was in Montreal this week to attend the premiere of the film Hotel Silenceadapted from his novel Gold by director and screenwriter Léa Pool. We took the opportunity to talk to him about the film which is released in theaters on Friday – and which made us want to reread the novel.

In the film, the character of Jónas, a man who leaves for a country at war with the idea of ​​ending his life, has become Jean (played by Sébastien Ricard), and he is no longer Icelandic, he is Quebecois . What did you think of this change?

I decided to give Léa Pool carte blanche because an artist must trust another artist 100%. For a long time, it was me, the problem, because I resisted, I didn’t want to give the film rights to anyone. Neither in Iceland nor abroad. And there were requests for several novels [pour Ör et pour d’autres romans également]. I’ve always been this difficult writer [rires], but when I made the decision to let go, I decided not to get involved and to give total freedom to Léa Pool. Actually, I think it made it a little easier, the fact that it was a foreign film and not Icelandic. It’s her film, it’s independent, it’s her work.

This is the first time that you have granted the cinematographic rights for one of your novels. Why did you choose to say yes to Léa Pool?

First, because I really like French-speaking Canadian cinema for its originality. That was the first point. And afterwards, Léa Pool has a lot of maturity. I watched his other films and I really liked his sensitivity, his intelligence, and I decided to give it a try, I had no worries. And the fact that it’s still been a few years since I wrote Gold also helped me a lot to distance myself from the cinematographic work.

Léa Pool a repris de nombreux extraits du livre dans la narration et les dialogues. Qu’avez-vous pensé du film ?

J’étais bien soulagée quand elle m’a envoyé le film, ça fait déjà quelques mois. Je pense qu’elle était stressée, et moi aussi ! Je me souviens que j’ai fait une promenade avant de le regarder. Mais au bout de cinq minutes, j’étais soulagée. Aussi parce que c’est une œuvre indépendante ; ce n’est pas un compromis, tout en restant fidèle au roman. Il faut tout réduire à l’échelle humaine pour que celui qui regarde le film puisse s’identifier à l’histoire. Et on crée ce microcosme de quelqu’un qui souffre. Un personnage qui souffre, c’est toute l’humanité qui souffre. Et la reconstruction qui a souvent lieu dans mes romans, qui en quelque sorte symbolise le voyage initiatique du personnage, la guérison, la réparation, c’est ce qui réunit à la fois mon livre et le film.

Qu’est-ce que vous avez pensé du fait que ce soit Ör qui soit le premier de vos romans à être adapté au grand écran ?

Ça a un sens, d’abord, parce que malheureusement, le sujet est toujours très actuel. Il y a quand même 60 guerres dans le monde, et les problèmes climatiques sont passés à l’arrière-plan dans les pays occidentaux. En même temps, c’est plutôt logique parce que c’est mon roman le plus traduit dans le monde, dans une trentaine de langues – Rosa Candida vient en deuxième. Ör a aussi remporté un prix important, le Grand Prix de littérature du Conseil nordique [en 2018] and has been selected for important awards in Italy and elsewhere.

Do you have a new novel in the works?

I have just released a new novel in Icelandic, it is called DJ Bambi. It’s about a trans woman who is in her sixties and who is a DJ. An Icelandic producer already asked me for the film rights to this novel, but I refused; It had just come out, I wasn’t ready. Éric Boury is translating it into French, but I think it will come out next year instead.

Hotel Silence will be presented in theaters on Friday