Much like his previous short Walls Like Windows, writer/director Werner Vivier’s latest film Fine Dining is a cleverly constructed drama with subtle undertones of something more exploratory. It’s set during a first date where a couple are meeting at a spot to eat, but once the pleasantries are out of the way the subconscious racism at play, regarding the choice of restaurant, comes to the surface. What then transpires is a debate around the Eurocentric nature of food culture, particularly regarding the concept of high-quality dining. It’s a really interesting piece told through a singular wide shot that zooms in and out of the conversation as it unfolds, creating a tense, voyeuristic effect. DN is excited to premiere Fine Dining in conjunction with a conversation with Vivier, where he talks through the precise visual language he wanted the film to have, how his team overcame a scene-altering cinematography issue on the day of the shoot, and the decision to go without a score in favour of a more awkward, tense ambience.
Was there a moment that sparked the idea for Fine Dining?
The idea for the film came about when my girlfriend and I went for lunch at a small market near where I live in London. It’s a gem of a place, filled with independently owned restaurants offering food just as diverse as the local communities they serve. As we sat down, looking around the market at all the restaurants, it struck me just how instant and vast the landscape of food culture has become. Foods such as Kimchi, Okonomiyaki, Jollof Rice, Lahmacun, and Rendang, to name just a few, used to mainly be eaten by people with direct relations to the countries and cultures that invented them. But these days, the palate for them has extended so far beyond those borders.
I wanted to examine these themes of Eurocentrism and racism inherent in food culture.
In so many ways, I thought this was such a beautiful side effect of globalism. But then, for some reason, my mind shifted from that optimistic thought and considered the flip side… So many non-European cuisines are just as infinitely complex, if not more so, than that of their European counterparts, yet they receive little to no recognition in the echelons of fine dining. Why is this? I wanted to examine these themes of Eurocentrism and racism inherent in food culture but in a way that wasn’t didactic or felt like an overwhelming exercise in virtue signalling.
How did you decide on shooting the film the way you did, with that continuous wide shot that captured everything from a distance?
In all honesty, my main point of inspiration was Fonejacker! I loved this idea of shooting the film almost like a prank video but with a slightly more heightened sensibility. I wanted to strip the film to its core, letting the world and performances span a single unbroken take, inviting the audience to witness these two individuals’ mutual interests evolve as the scene unfolds. Through a wandering and voyeuristic lens, the idea was to observe them from a distance, encouraging the audience to understand and empathize with both Fatima and Luke from an objective perspective, whilst interrogating their racial prejudices and preconceived notions regarding fine dining. In the end, Fatima and Luke are forced to juggle this sensitive power-play, whilst the subtle chemistry they share and the fading prospect of a growing relationship hangs in the balance. The goal was to illustrate how Western society often attempts to homogenize non-Western cultures to our own benefit. Bit of a mouthful, but that was the intention. Whether or not we were successful in doing that is up to the audiences, hahah!
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What was it like working with Nahel Tzegai and Alex Arnold on the creation of Fatima and Luke and their dynamic?
We were so lucky with the cast that we got! From our two leads Nahel and Alex, along with Daisy Moore and Merry Tekle-Daniel, right through to the supporting artists, everyone was amazing. Getting to work with Nahel and Alex was an absolute dream. Their professionalism and experience were the reason I felt comfortable even attempting a one-take. But we didn’t want to leave anything up to chance so we had a few rehearsals, which turned out to be instrumental in workshopping and refining the script.
How did the one-shot structure affect production? I imagine those rehearsals were key but was there any other part of the process that became affected by that creative choice?
With it being a one-take, things from a production standpoint were pretty straightforward. Once we found our location and did all our prep work we were good to go. The actual shoot was just about seven hours long, which was the shortest shoot I’ve ever had. The crew were on point and absolutely fantastic. The only snag was that about two takes into the day, the DOP Stefan Yap came over to tell me that the mechanism for the zoom lens had broken, which meant that the only option was for him to free-hand things. This was an issue as our original idea was to have the film start wide, then very slowly zoom to a CU of the two leads, and then back to a full wide.
The goal was to illustrate how Western society often attempts to homogenize non-Western cultures to our own benefit.
Realizing there was no other option, Stefan asked if we could tweak things so that he could just zoom in and move around organically to the flow of the scene. Thinking his idea was far better than my original plan, I told him to do his thing until… we found out that his headphones stopped working as well, so he wasn’t going to be able to hear any of the dialogue from the actors. We didn’t have much of a choice, so we just leaned into it. In the end, I think the fact that Stefan couldn’t hear the dialogue, meant that his eyes had to guide him, which I feel really added to the film’s sense of voyeurism. We gave it a go and five takes later, we had our film!
You mentioned there about the dialogue. Did you tinker with the sound design much during post? How did you create the environment of the restaurant Fatima and Luke are in?
I didn’t want any score on this film. That meant that the sound design was going to do a lot of heavy lifting. We handed the film over to Tim Obzud, who has done the sound design for each of my films. He did such a fabulous job bringing the world of the film to life. Not only that we also tried to find ways to be a bit experimental with things, choosing to focus on one person’s dialogue over another’s in moments, and cutting off the sounds of things around Nahel and Alex as their conversation gets more heated.
Were there any other collaborators you wanted to shout out?
Overseeing everything and helping it all come to life was our Producer and an absolute gem of a human Alex Ayodele-Otele. He managed to ensure that with such a limited budget, and all the constraints of a short film shoot, we were able to shoot the film we set out to make. Object & Animal supported us along the way, so every bit of credit goes to them. It really was a small film that came to be due to the work and effort put in by every single person. Couldn’t have asked for a better team!
Fine Dining is markedly different from the last short we spoke to you about Walls Like Windows, but they do share a similarity in how they’re about the subtle subtext of a situation. Do you see any similarities between the two films? And how do you feel you’ve changed as a filmmaker since making that earlier short?
You’re very right, they’re totally different in so many ways. This was something much more satirical than anything I’ve done. I wanted to have a bit of fun with this film. But one thing that I would say both films share is that it’s about two very different people navigating the potential of a connection. That’s something I’ve been realising is the underlying thread in work I like to make. I love stories about people from drastically different worlds, belief systems, socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, etc. finding a bond of some sort. Or at least trying to. I guess with such a polarised landscape in the world today, I try to combat my pessimism and distrust for people by trying to find a common thread, something that we all share in some way.
I love stories about people from drastically different worlds, belief systems, socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, etc. finding a bond of some sort. Or at least trying to.
What does the future hold for you?
About two years ago, a script of mine was shortlisted at the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Competition. Since then, I’ve been developing and fine-tuning the feature-length script with my close friends, Producer Alex Ayodele-Otele and Actor and Executive Producer Anthony Welsh. In October we started shopping it around town, and are currently in talks with a few different production companies and broadcasters. It’s very early stages and nothing definitive as of yet, but I’m excited to potentially have the opportunity to step into the long-form space.
Other than that, Alex and I wrapped another short film in September and picture-locked things last week. Looking forward to finishing up the last few bits of post and hopefully screening it at some festivals sometime next year. Besides all the narrative work, I’m looking to break more into the commercial space. I am set to shoot a fashion film with a friend of mine who is an amazing fashion designer, Eden Tan. Fingers crossed that that goes through, as the creative is really fun. So yeah, it’s been nice to dig further into filmmaking and getting to make work with friends.
