After the catastrophic Somerset floods of 2014, which destroyed hundreds of acres of land and property, prodigal child Clare is returning to a broken home. The damage goes deeper than the house itself: her brother, Harry, is dead. Her estranged father terms his death “a stupid accident”, but the gun to Harry’s head suggests otherwise.
It’s brutal emotional terrain, especially for a director new to feature-length production, but Hope Dickson Leach has managed to keep a smile throughout the process of The Levelling. She puts it down to two factors: hard work, and an incredible team.
“I have been trying to make a feature film for a long time,” she says, fighting off an opportunistic cold in preparation for her journey to Sydney Film Festival. “I haven’t left the industry and come back, I’ve been working away [since 2007]. I’ve had two children during that time, which has helped me develop as a person.
“I’ve been preparing for this for years. [I’m] kinda the Hillary Clinton of debut feature makers – I’ve been writing feature-length scripts and developing feature-length concepts and just having no one push ‘go’ on them. It was a question of, ‘Please just let me make a film and I can show you I can do it,’ so it was great to finally make one!”
In her debut, Dickson Leach has taken on an intimidating task, touching on recent history and a story heavy with emotional weight.
“We go for ‘emotionally powerful’, rather than ‘heavy’,” she says. “People who’ve seen it, of all ages, have responded to the emotional stuff and they’ve found it hard, but they’ve also really enjoyed having that emotional experience. That’s something I think cinema has shied away from recently – that idea of sort of grown-up cinema that’s actually saying things about things that matter. Why shouldn’t there be stories that are emotionally powerful about real people’s lives?”
For an audience, that experience is limited to 83 minutes; the viewer achieves their catharsis and goes to grab an ice cream. For Dickson Leach, the story has been her constant companion for two years, as both writer and director. Naturally, she’s developed working methods for dealing with the weight of her responsibility.
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“I probably won’t make a film this emotionally intense for a while, but you’re not on your own doing it; it’s a team sport. Most of [the cast and crew] come in and do four weeks on this. They don’t mind going to the dark place and saying, ‘How can we create this?’, and the art department’s saying, ‘We need more blood’,” she laughs. “It’s the creative challenge, as long as they understand the creative vision from me – that’s my job, to make them understand exactly what it’s for and why. It’s not just gratuitous misery porn – what’s the heart of the project?”
Given her extensive experience in filmmaking, Dickson Leach has developed a deft touch for working with performers – a skill that has seen her film lauded as “incredibly assured” and “fiercely truthful”. She’s been blessed with uncompromising performers, among whom is Ellie Kendrick (Game Of Thrones) in the role of Clare.
Why shouldn’t there be stories that are emotionally powerful about real people’s lives?
“My actors are so incredible and so generous,” the director says. “I’m not a believer in punishing actors and making them stay in some emotional place to create an authentic performance. I think they have the skills and the talent to do that, and my job is to create the environment that will allow them to do that best, so for me, that was very deliberately an emotionally secure safe space. And that meant having a happy crew and a united crew and having people who would look after them.”
Ultimately, Dickson Leach is conscious that the project rests on her shoulders, and takes the responsibility in her stride – the years of hard work have paid off.
“As an indie filmmaker, [you understand that] you’re not just gonna have to lead the ship, you’re gonna have to start the engine every day.”
The Levelling is playing at Event Cinemas George Street on Thursday June 8 and Dendy Opera Quays on Saturday June 10 as part of Sydney Film Festival‘s Europe! Voices of Women in Film program.
