Balle August delorates on the dark side of Karen Blixen, the baroness of ‘Memories of Africa’

Farms ended in Africa, the Ngong hills, the Somali servants.To the husband who cheated her, and that infected her syphilis, she had already kicked the six years of her stay in that the continent.But the aviator lover killed himself in accident with his gypsy moth biplane.And also the ruin arrived, when the coffee plantation did not give more of itself.With the economic breakdown to Karen Blixen - who lived in Kenia in December 1913 (at that time part of the British Africa of the East) as August 1931 - he had no other way out to return to Denmark.I would never step on the continent that I so longed for.In return Blixen (Rungsted, 1885-1962) became a world celebrity thanks to his literary work signed with the pseudonym of Isak Dineen.So vilified in his country as idolized in the rest of the world, Blixen became a loneTerrible Mephistophelic game with young poets.To his life in those fifties, not so known to the general public, and to his almost vampiric relations, he has dedicated Balle August the Pact, which premieres in Spain on January 28.

That pact is the one that first reaches "with the devil", according to Blixen himself, to become "inspiration and support for others" and for herself, and is the one that closes - almost imposes - to the poet Thorkild Bjørnvig, an author an authorthat at the beginning of the fifties he was stuck with his work.And to which Blixen Amadrina with a condition: that he does the best of himself, that he concentrates on writing, to forget his wife and son and lock himself in Blixen's house, rungstedlund, “where theMore excellent poets, ”he says on screen.Like Knud w.Jensen, another pawn in Blixen's game, or his wife, Benedict Jensen, the wedge that Blixen will use to try to burst the marriage of Bjørnvig.

"Manipulation is the capital force in the film.But what fascinated me about history is that between Bjørnvig and Blixen there was a relationship of mutual dependence, ”explains August.“Bjørnvig wants to be a better writer and she promises that he will achieve it if he follows his rules.And at the same time you feel that she falls in love with him ".In the Blixen Pact he tells him: "If I had 25 years less, we would not be here, but of honeymoon in the Venice Carnival".

With all Blixen "it is not a witch".August starts: “It is obvious that the image of the writer is marked by memories of Africa, which was great, although very Hollywoodiense.Syphilis disrupted her, especially in her head.It was not a demon, but someone very calculating, so much that the game was escaped.Through these manipulations, to warn other sentimental relationships, he could satisfy his own sensuality ”.And remember that the work of all her guests improved, while she suffered terrible pain and a lonely life."In the end, everything lost it".

Blixen is concerned about the legacy, his work, which will endure her;Instead, August has little interest in him.And he is not any: he won two golden palms when he achieved it seemed a homic challenge, and in just five years: in 1988 with pelle the conqueror and in 1992 with the best intentions.He has the Oscar, and headed great adaptations of Best-Sellers to the cinema like the miserable, Smila: mystery in the snow or the house of the spirits.Many considered the son of Ingmar Bergman for his style and because he directed the best intentions, the best Bergman movie without the Swedish genius in the direction...although in the script.

In that path it was lost, until it was reunited in 2015 with silent heart.“I am only interested in the moment of creation, of filming, when you feel that intense actions are joined, great decoration and costume work, photography...Those seconds of magic are the only thing that matters.And of course, then the public enjoy, feel inspired by those moments of magic.I will not be by his side in the armchair, it is obvious;However, I hope they communicate with my self in the movie, ”he says.Did you never want to improve some of those blockbusters of blockbusters?"Yes, but don't ask me to concrete, it's my secret".However, August has walked through another dangerous cliff: he sent the script to Meryl Streep, who replied that this trip had already done it.And the film was shot in Danish, with Danish actors, and not in English (as he did with the House of Spirits).

Colleague of a genius

August has not had a best friend in his life than Bergman: “In life you are facing elections in which you need someone to contribute a different look, and that someone must be of your most absolute confidence.Ingmar was that person to whom I phone, and I was always available.We were colleagues.Not the same, because he was a genius ".So he does not expect the public to make a perverse parallelism among the Blixen-Bjørnvig couple with Bergman-August."No my God.I have never made cinema for comparison, but because I felt an extreme need to roll that script in my hands, ”he smiles.

The pact also reflects a dark side of the creative act.While the artist feels inspiration, who takes care of domestic work, who raises children?“That effort used to do the wives, which subject their wishes to the husband's career.Of course it was in the fifties, and wanted to show it through its strong women, which brings different colors to the movie of the film, ”he says.But how has he done it, with eight children?"Among films I have been a great father.When I was going to roll, it effectively disappeared.I have had them with different women, and all my children have been very desired.But...”, Ends with a certain melancholy.

In summer, Balle August will return to the Blixen world, because he will adapt for Netflix Ehrengard, a posthumous novel by the writer.And August will have a very special collaborator: Queen Margarita will be the scene and costume designer.The filmmaker smiles: “She is a passionate about art, what a very interesting person makes her.We have built a great employment relationship.And we will film in summer, during his vacation, because he wants to be very present in the filming.I am a lucky filmmaker "