Stories about strong women are still underrepresented on the big screen. While more and more find their way to the cinema, it’s a prolonged process. Therefore, it’s a pleasure to see that The End We Start From, the debut feature by Mahalia Belo, is a movie by women and for women. There’s a female director, two great female writers, Jodie Comer in the lead role, and many female crew members behind the cameras. Geek Vibes Nation chatted with Belo during the BFI London Film Festival 2023 about this inspiring movie. We talked about the same-named novel her film is based on, the movie locations, and female friendships.
Geek Vibes Nation: Congratulations on your debut movie, The End We Start From. The film is based on the same-named novel by Megan Hunter. Why did you choose that novel for your first feature?
Director Mahalia Belo: I read the novel just before it was published years ago, and I was still in the haze of my mind when I had my first child. It came back with Alice’s script after I’d had my second child around the time of the COVID lockdown. It resonated differently. I felt emotionally completely connected to the novel before. However, this time, I remembered it. I remembered that first experience. That cocoon of being a new mum and feeling this kind of pressure from outside. I understood the ‘flavour’ of the story. I always speak in taste and flavour. It felt natural. I started to gather lots of images and started to write.
The book is also quite an inspiring, evocative piece. It’s a mixture of poetry and text. I began to write how I would approach it visually and found all these images that connected with it. I knew what it felt like. While Alice Birch wrote the script and Megan wrote the novel, I understood it. It felt personal, even though it’s a different person’s story.
GVN: So Alice brought you the script, and that’s how the collaboration started?
MB: SunnyMarch and BBC gave me Alice and her script. Alice and I had wanted to work with each other for a while. I’d seen her earlier plays, and I loved her form. She’s got a genuine love for language and messing with it. Her script was distinct. That was quite exciting to work with. Alice and I developed the script together, and then Jodie [Comer] came on board.
GVN: How did Jodie join this movie?
MB: We sent her the script, and she said she liked it. It was exciting to meet her as she’s just a phenomenal actress. I’d seen her in her previous works – even from before the play [Prima Facie]– when she hadn’t done a lot of movies yet. I saw her in Help, by director Marc Munden, and she was so good in that feature. I was so excited. She has a perfect sense of humour and an understanding of light and dark. She understood that that character had to exist in both. By the end of the meeting, we felt like she wanted to do it.
GVN: How did Joel [Fry, Comer’s on-screen husband] come on board?
MB: I’d worked with Joel before but didn’t know he’d be perfect for this. I was interested in him because there’s something that he’s got the layers necessary to play this very vulnerable man. Joel’s character is quite different from Jodie’s. Jodie’s character has experienced the bigger things in life already. At the film’s start, we don’t know this about her until later, but she already suffered. Joel’s character is the eternal optimist who doesn’t believe bad things will happen. When the flood hits them, it changes him radically. I was interested in that vulnerable male character because it’s very rare. We don’t see that a lot on the big screen. Men have to be tough, which is interesting. I know a lot of men who’ve struggled with their role in life.
Interestingly, there’s an archetype that fathers only are protectors and can’t show their emotions. However, even men break and show their emotions. It was important that he had those layers and could have that vulnerable and playful side. Also, the humour and connection were needed there, so we did a chemistry test between Jodie and Joel. It was great. I felt so glad we got him, and Jodie felt that too. By the end of the day, we said, “It has to be him.”
GVN: There are many different impressive locations in this movie. The ones that stuck with me the most were the shelter and the landscape. Can you tell us more about where you guys shot the movie?
MB: Oddly, we shot it in and around most of it in and around London because the budget meant that we had to stay close to London. We found places that kind of M25 way; then we shot some of it out in Scotland. That’s when we opened up the world a lot more. As women get more comfortable in their surroundings, we open the world up. What’s challenging about this kind of story is you’re constantly on the move. You’re not in any place for any length of time.
GVN: And how was filming like the birth scene cause when we meet Jodie’s character, she’s about to go into labour?
MB: To me, it was essential that there was a real truth to it and that Jodie felt comfortable portraying the animalistic element of birth. At the same time, we have the other element, this flood, seeping around her. We talked a lot about that, and we were watching loads of YouTube videos together about seeing women give birth on film. When you give birth, you feel the surges of emotions. It felt right that the flood and her experience that became one. The flood can be seen as a metaphor for the first year of motherhood. When you have your first child, it feels like everything changes overnight.
GVN: The story is also about strong female friendships. Did filming this movie make you think about your own friendships?
MB: Yes, I wanted to pay tribute to my female friendships. I think Alice probably felt the same when she was writing the script. It feels like romance when you meet a new friend and connect with someone. You want to see that person again and hang out. For a certain time in the story, Katherine’s [Waterston] character and Jodie’s are a family and a unit. They’re looking after their children together. There’s something quite brilliant about it to see that on the screen. There’s also the end of the relationship, which is heartbreaking. Katherine is just such a brilliant actress. She brought this whole new energy to the part. I loved it. She plays the one character who is pleased that the flood has come. In some ways, she’s comfortable in this new world. She still keeps that positivity despite not having an easy-going life. She’s got a fight in her.
GVN: How was it to shoot a movie with babies on set?
MB: It was hard but brilliant because the babies bring new energy to every scene. There’s something unpredictable and immediate and exciting about seeing the actors have to respond to a real baby and hold a real baby. Also, just looking through a real baby’s eyes is something special. Some of my favourite moments in the film aren’t scripted, where Jodie has to cradle the baby to sleep because we wanted it to be asleep or the baby just looking out over the top of the carrier, looking at the world. The world is an exciting place for a baby. It was tough in terms of time. You only have a certain amount of time with a baby. It’s hard because they don’t do what you want. I wish they did, but they don’t. They have their ideas. However, the spontaneity that comes from it. It is amazing.
GVN: When reading the script and the novel, what was the scene you looked forward to the most, and how was it to shoot it?
MB: Oh wow, that’s such a good question. It feels like such a long time ago. I was interested in the birth and the flood, that relationship I mentioned before. Part of me was also looking forward to Catherine’s singing and the women’s. This is from the script rather than the book. That’s what I was excited to do. There were so many other different moments. Seeing the island in the distance was quite clear in my head. Another image was the women with the waterfall, which I liked. That wasn’t in the original script. I put that in the script. It was based on the idea of “small women, big water body” and feeling more empowered by it instead of oppressed by it.
GVN: Was a lot added to the script that wasn’t in the novel?
MB: They’re blurry, so I can’t talk about it because the whole thing has evolved. I saw Megan recently, and we were talking about it, and she said it was interesting that there are moments that she thought of but didn’t include in her book. I was like, “Oh, what?” She was talking about the moment on the beach and the commune. She said, “That’s exactly how I saw the commune.” I’m pleased that she likes it and feels it. I haven’t read the book since shooting. I’ve read it before shooting but haven’t revisited it since then.
GVN: Will you look at it differently now that you’ve made a film about it?
MB: The novel will always exist on its own. It’s such a beautiful novella, and what I do remember from it is the poetry of it and how rich it was. I remember the feeling it evoked in me, and I hope that feeling has translated onto the screen. It’s just a very human and emotional movie.
GVN: Apart from the BFI London Film Festival 2023, are there any other film festivals this movie is going to before its general release?
MB: It’s going to Rome next week and then to the AFI in LA. It’s also going elsewhere, but that has yet to be announced.
GVN: Are you already working on something else that you can share?
MB: I’m so in the flow of this movie. I’m going from festival to festival and press to press. I haven’t thought about the future. A few things were brewing before this, anyway. After this, it will be more about reconnecting with that work. This time, with no babies, though.
Thank you for this interview, and good luck with the release of The End We Start From!
The End We Start From will be released in the US on the 8th of December, courtesy of Paramount’s Republic Pictures. Read our review of the movie here.