Jessica Barr’s dramedy short Tight couldn’t have come online at a better time as this year saw a cinematic celebration female filmmakers offering us impactful and interrogatory body horror received with open arms. After a casual conversation with friends, filmmaker Barr learned of a highly questionable medical procedure which inspired her latest short and tied together recent experiences of being pushed aside by medical practitioners. Tight not only speaks to the countless women ignored and who find it difficult to advocate for themselves, but also to having the door to an essential part of who you are closed off in favour of misogynistic agendas. Barr, who injects a welcome dose of dark comedy into her short, has also built a weird and jarring world where fetishes and bad habits flourish under the mental strain and struggle suffered by a young first time mother. As Tight lands on the pages of DN, we speak to Barr about bringing in wider audiences with comedy, the advantages of not relying on a monitor during the shoot and embracing the art in social issue filmmaking.
Why and when did the idea of obsessively wrapping cling film come into play in your scriptwriting?
I knew I wanted the title, Tight, to be a centralized theme and not only an element in the husband’s stitch reveal. I thought about the suffocating feeling of having sex and not enjoying it, and even the lengths I have gone to dissociate myself from sex. An obsession with saran wrap, or cling film, seemed like a way for the wife to dissociate but also give herself a feeling of control which she lacks in her personal life. By wrapping up furniture, house goods, using it to get off and ultimately suffocating her husband with it – cling film just seemed too good of an opportunity to pass haha. Growing up, I watched a lot of TLC’s My Strange Addiction and so the idea that this woman is sexually aroused by saran wrap and uses it as a coping mechanism worked for me.
By making this a genre piece, something I hadn’t done before, I knew that the film could reach many audiences which was my goal.
The scene which cuts back and forth from the close up of a couple passionately kissing, and the running hosepipe is one of the little nuggets of dark comedy you throw at us. Why did you want to script to have these more playful moments?
I thought it was important to add comedy to a topic that was so disturbing to get people interested and be able to digest the information. By making this a genre piece, something I hadn’t done before, I knew that the film could reach many audiences which was my goal – to spread awareness of the husband stitch and create a dialogue around the importance of getting a second (or third) opinion from a healthcare provider.
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Our leading lady is so strong but in such a vulnerable position. How did you walk that line in the writing and directing of Fabianne Therese Gstottenmayr?
There have been many times I visited a doctor and they have given me incorrect information but I believed them and although there is an alarm bell going off in my head, I tried to push my feelings aside. It’s hard to advocate for pain, especially when people tell you it isn’t there or tell you something false. The lack of dialogue around these feelings pushed a lot onto Fabi. She is such a present and natural actress. We had two to three takes per shot with shooting on film. I was lucky because she fully committed to the circumstances.
It was important to me to include these rules in the film that would allow the audience to accept the other aspects of the film that seem off but are ultimately based in reality.
Tight has a beautiful soft vintage feel that harkens back to an earlier time yet the film also feels very much situated in the here and now.
I wanted to build a world that would welcome the more bizarre aspects of the script. I did wardrobe and early on I decided that every mother would wear white. In the hospital when a woman is crying in the hallway we see she is wearing a white shirt, but not fully dressed in white. When we see the kissing couple outside we see that the woman is wearing colorful clothing, she still has control in her life to make her own decisions. It was important to me to include these rules in the film that would allow the audience to accept the other aspects of the film that seem off but are ultimately based in reality. Shooting on film also helped us to create a timeless world.
I read you didn’t have a monitor during filming, how did that affect your approach on set during the shoot?
Sarah Whelden, my wonderful DP, really pushed for me to shoot on film. Coming from a background in acting I had always been focused on character and story (how we presented the footage was largely secondary), but shooting on film forced me to think about visual language in a completely different way. We were lucky to have access to the locations before the shoot and we mapped out each shot with a reference frame so I knew what we would be looking at. By removing the barrier of a monitor, I found myself completely present – watching my actors like I would in a play. I think it was easy to keep on track because we had very little room for more than two takes and with film, everyone just gets their shit together! There is much less messing around, especially when you’re dealing with very vulnerable asks from the actors.
By removing the barrier of a monitor, I found myself completely present – watching my actors like I would in a play.
Tight is largely dialogue free so we hone in on those disquieting bells and the other small but hyperfocused sound design elements. I want to know all about building the score and working with Mel Guérison.
Mel is someone I have been working with for over five years. I feel so lucky because now we just have the shorthand and if I send her an idea of what I want with a temp score in the edit (I also edit my films) she can pump it out in a week. With this short I genuinely gave her like one note on one cue and everything else was perfect. This film is very sound heavy. The sounds of the saran wrap, babies crying, creaking beds. I have no idea why I was drawn to the bell sounds for the score other than I often look to Brian Eno for temp inspiration and he had a whole bell series. Sometimes music just fits perfectly into a story and I don’t know why! Stephen Saito of Moveable Fest made the connection of the bells being the sound of alarms in the wife’s head that something isn’t right. I really liked that interpretation.
I am always scared that social cause films, or ones with a certain message, can take away from the actual art of it all, but that isn’t true.
You’ve had a well deserved successful and now a Vimeo Staff Pick. Were you at all concerned about how Tight would be received given its core as a ‘message film’?
I think this film has only cemented my goal – to make art that means something. I am always scared that social cause films, or ones with a certain message, can take away from the actual art of it all, but that isn’t true. I think there are ways to highlight important information in films that people wouldn’t otherwise get and to make it entertaining as well.
So what can we expect next?
I am in pre-production for a feature I am directing this summer. I am scared but also very excited. I have a couple of shorts that will be playing the festival circuit for the next two years in the meantime. All deal with womanhood, bodies and grief!
