How to make a film about loneliness (and aliens) with your actual life partner
Directors Philippe Lupien and Marie-Hélène Viens on their movie, You Are Not Alone
Cutaways is a personal essay series where Canadian filmmakers tell the story of how their film was made. This TIFF 2024 edition by directors Philippe Lupien and Marie-Hélène Viens focuses on their film You Are Not Alone.
The irony of making a film about loneliness with your life partner…
We are a filmmaking duo. We met in our teenage years, bonding over a shared fascination with movies. Titles such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977) and Contact (Robert Zemeckis, 1997) made a significant impression on both of us.
Back then, the theories and stories about extraterrestrials opened our young minds and stimulated our imaginations. Later, we realized that what truly interested us was the parallel between the loneliness of an individual on Earth and the loneliness of the human race in the universe. The more we thought about this, the more we felt like two tiny ants adrift in a boundless ocean of darkness and unimaginable void.
We knew this feeling would be at the core of the main character — Léo (Pier-Luc Funk), a solitary twentysomething pizza delivery guy working night shifts — in our first feature film. What we didn't expect was that this initial spark would lead us to make an introspective romance.
But how to transform this feeling of an abyss into a compelling story? We made it personal. We brought the story as close to us as possible. We focused on the sense of alienation that made us feel alone, even though we were together. We channelled all our energy into the characters and only them. And we decided to use extraterrestrial lore as a metaphor for Léo's introspective struggle.
Then, the character John (François Papineau) came up. The mysterious cab driver embodies Léo's darker aspects: fear, loneliness and, most of all, an unconscious desire to disappear. John preys on Léo, threatening to abduct him.
But what saves Léo is another encounter. He meets Rita (Marianne Fortier), an empathetic and mesmerizing young woman who, despite being surrounded by people, also feels deeply alone. They fall for each other, and from that point on, everything changes for Léo.
We wanted the dynamic between our three main characters to resemble a strange love triangle, and this influenced our approach to directing in every way.
The film's esthetic is built on contrasts: cold and hot, blue and red, John and Rita. The rhythm is constantly shifting to reflect Léo's push and pull between fear and love. Our crew — especially our cinematographer, Ariel Méthot, and our production designer, Éric Barbeau — elevated these ideas, pushing our vision to new heights despite our limited budget.
The film takes place mostly at night. We were shooting around Montreal in November, so days were short, and the nights were long and cold. However, shooting at night has its advantages, such as the mood it creates on set. Everybody is a little sleepy. People tend to whisper so they don't disturb the neighbours. Everything feels quieter. And because your brain is thrown off by the fact that you are supposed to be in bed, you must listen to your instincts — there is no place for overthinking. It was the perfect mood for the strange romance story we were trying to tell.
We won't lie: co-directing has its challenges. But years of working as a duo has synchronized the creative parts of our brains. Before shooting, we prepare meticulously, discussing everything for days and even months. This helps us establish mutual trust so we can rely on each other completely when on set. We also allow ourselves the freedom to abandon all the preparation and be open to what comes to us. Once on set, surrounded by the cast and crew, our individual instincts take over, and we can count on the fact that we know each other very well.
It took us over 10 years to make this film. It has become an important part of us. Now, just a few days before our world premiere at TIFF, it's time to let it go and share it with others. The feeling is bittersweet — it's strange to part with it, yet also a relief.
Two ants stand still somewhere in the vastness of the universe. They are frightened by their smallness, which makes them nearly invisible. Yet they see each other. To them, they are not small. Could this mutual visibility be a soothing remedy for their fear? Could this be called love?
With our first feature film, we wanted to write a letter to our younger selves that said, "Guys, just chill out and breathe. You might be scared, but you are not alone."
You Are Not Alone screens at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which runs September 5-15.
Philippe Lupien and Marie-Hélène Viens
