Sacha Polak on the battered but strong woman in Dirty God, opening film 48th IFFR. Emotion is the motto this year

Pain? Strength? Determination? Hope? Concern? Longing? What do we all read on Jade's scarred face in Sacha Polak's new film Dirty God, with which the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will take off.

Festival director Bero Beyer argues that our way of looking at the world is strongly driven by emotion. Hence the new motto: Feel IFFR. After IFFR as a film planet (2017) and meeting its residents (2018), it is now about the emotion behind the image and the feeling a film can evoke.

Dirty God is a case in point. Jade is a young mother who is severely scarred after an acid attack by a jealous ex. According to Polak, a film about that fact has not been made before. So we want to know more about that.

Earlier, she made a formidable appearance with Sky and Zurich, also already films with challenging female roles. Now she immerses us in the intensely filmed experience of Jade, played passionately by debutant Vicky Knight. Doctors can heal Jade's wounds, but the scars on her face and body are permanent. 'Now you can move on with your life,' someone says after the perpetrator's trial. But how should she do that?

Polak does not get much time to experience the Rotterdam festival herself. Immediately after the world premiere in Rotterdam, she flies to America where Dirty God will be screened at the equally important Sundance Festival. There, it is the first ever Dutch film in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Exciting, and double celebration for the proud director who wrote the screenplay himself for the first time (together with Susie Farrell).

Looking Away

The seed for this adventure also lies in an emotion. It is the feeling Sacha Polak caught herself in when she saw a woman with severe burn scars on her face at the Lowlands festival about six years ago.

"I looked at her and immediately wanted to look away again," Polak recalls. "I also saw that everyone around me was doing the same thing and I thought, 'That woman has to deal with that every day all her life.' It stuck with me and at some point I decided I wanted to make a film about it."

Scars

At Dirty God incidentally, Jade's scars were not caused by burns, but by an acid attack, a horrific phenomenon that is booming in London. In 2017, no fewer than 465 attacks.

"I discovered that when I was in England for another project. It seemed super dramatic to me, also because it often happens in relationships. If you are not beautiful to me, you may not be beautiful to anyone. That's the idea behind it."

As part of the research, Polak spoke to women affected by burns or acid attacks.

"For me, those conversations were mostly about what their expectations were and how they were in life. Were they angry, sad or scared? Often they had a pretty pessimistic view of love, but many also felt that they had grown as people."

In the film, Jade becomes furious when she sees a video of herself back on YouTube entitled Ugly Girl Thinks She's Hot. This is based on things the girls Polak spoke to had experienced.

Vicky and Jade

Actress Vicky Knight herself suffered such scars when she was severely burnt as a child. To what extent does Vicky resemble Jade?

"I really wanted someone who had scars herself. I could have taken a well-known actress and then worked with make-up. Then everyone would say 'Oh, how cleverly played!', but I wanted to make a rawer film. Because that's just what I like more," she laughs.

"When I found Vicky, I immediately loved her and her energy, zest for life and humour. I think she is a very special person. In a way, she does melt together with Jade. For example, Vicky has a tattoo of a smiley face on her middle finger that she made herself. I found that so funny, I wanted to do that in the film too."

"Besides, I also think she is a very good actress. She's not necessarily Jade, she could play a hundred other things too."

Are those scars in the film really all hers?

"No, we extended it in her face a bit. For film, you always have to exaggerate a bit to make it immediately palpable to everyone. But Vicky herself has to explain what is going on with her at least 10 times a day. She works in a hospital where she meets a lot of people. She deals with it every day."

No victim film

"I wanted it to be a powerful film, not a film about a victim. Self-acceptance is an important theme. Especially nowadays, because on Facebook, Instagram, Tinder and the like, it's very much about looks."

With Jade, we see a woman trying to hold her own with a lot of energy. She struggles with the fear that her daughter will not accept her, the fear that her mother does not love her. Sometimes she lashes out hard, is often rebellious but also looks for fun and doesn't let herself off the hook when things she tries fail. For example, when she briefly wraps herself in a nikab.

"Such a scene comes purely from Jade's character. She tries something and while it ends in disappointment, it also has a dreamy vibe. It's nice for her that she manages to escape for a moment and touch that boy she is actually so in love with."

Internet sex

"Also, that internet sex she has is something where she feels safe. It helps her grow. Because of what happened to her, at that point she is afraid to really have anything with a man. Plus, as a single mother, she cannot easily bring men home. Then this is a way she can control herself. Internet sex is often seen as a bit of a dirty, grim idea, but I just wanted it to help her."

Unafraid of stares, Jade dives into London's sweltering nightlife with her best friend. In another moment, she roams the city's nocturnal streets with her child. Dirty God often works strongly with atmosphere and the feeling a situation evokes. It looks very spontaneous and authentic.

"I don't think Vicky ever memorised a sentence. I told her what a scene was about and beyond that she was free to add things. I also like improvising a lot, rebuilding things on the spot or doing things completely differently and thus making everyone's life miserable."

"For example, that scene with the face mask, through which she smokes and puts stickers on, and the clothes they start frolicking. There is only one sentence about that in the script. This is then how it plays out."

Tender opening

Something that was also not in the script beforehand is the extraordinary opening image. At first glance, it is a kind of abstract painting full of warm-coloured folds and hills. It turns out to be an extreme close-up of a skin full of scars that the camera slides along almost tenderly.

"We were still looking for a way to open the film. At one point I was in my hotel room at night Most Epic Opening Scenes watching. These were mainly landscapes, but also, for example, Scarlett Johansson's buttocks, filmed as a kind of landscape. Based on that, I contacted the cameraman Ruben Impens and came up with the idea of doing shots of scars in a similar way. The idea behind it had to do with the scarred women I had met. I noticed: the longer you look at them, the more you see the person and less and less the scars. So if you've seen the scars before, you've seen them. Then after that you can look at the person."