“Dragonfly”, an interview with director Paul Andrew Williams and actor Jason Watkins

After premiering in Tribeca, where the film owed its main actresses, Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn, the Best Performance Award of the International Narrative Competition, Paul Andrew Williams’ “Dragonfly” is gracing the screens of the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, amongst the Special Screenings.

We met the director and scriptwriter revealed by “London to Brighton” (2006), joined by seasoned stage and screen thespian Jason Watkins (recently seen in the gripping TV series “Coma”), who plays a crucial role in this unconventional ‘love story’/tragedy, for an in-depth conversation unpacking some of the many subtleties and possible readings of the film.

Williams, who has since his debut authored some of the grittiest and yet most compassionate examples of British social realist cinema (also including “Cherry Tree Lane” or, more recently, “Bull”), tells us more about the setting of “Dragonfly”, two cottages located next to each other, the modus operandi adopted during the shoot to observe the relationship between Elsie and her much younger neighbour Colleen, whose pitbull is the only companion she needs, the situation of the elderly and their carers, the choice of having DoP Vanessa Whyte shoot on 16 mm. Watkins and him also discuss the tremendous work done by both Blethyn and Riseborough and the many dimensions of the film.

The pivotal role of Watkins‘ character John, Elsie’s son, described by both he and Williams as ‘materialistic, cynical, childish and very selfish in a very childish, unhappy way,’ and the ensuing shattering of the love that had been slowly building leads to reflections on the various layers of meaning of the film and the many genres “Dragonfly” embraces.

On the beautiful reciprocity of Elsie and Colleen’s relationship

P.A.W: ‘For me, they both provide something for each other: it’s something really important to be wanted and to be needed, and to have a value. What Colleen gets through her relationship with Elsie is a value, because what she is doing is valued by Elsie, very much so, and that’s a really beautiful thing, to feel like you’re necessary for somebody. And Elsie, she’s getting […] companionship. […] So I love watching them. They really value each other’.

On accessing intimacy without being intrusive

P.A.W: ‘The idea was always to try and just observe these characters. We didn’t do loads and loads of cuts and loads and loads of coverage. The idea was to just see them interact, see what their day is like, just to build up a view of their relationship. It was important to observe these two characters just at ease in their life, and to not be trying too hard as a director, and as actors and as the writer… not over-egging it for the audience and let them discover them, take their time to see what they do. And then you get to know them.’

Jason Watkins on the incredible writing of the characters

‘You can see the film on lots of different levels. It’s an incredible character study, in what people called a thriller! If this is a thriller, how many thrillers can you see with characters that are so detailed?!’

Plot