"Harvey Weinstein ruined my career"

BarcelonaIt's not easy to find information on Google about Lizzie Borden, the director who revolutionized feminist cinema in the 80s with Borne in llamas (1983) and Working girls (1986), especially since Netflix announced that the fourth season of Monster It will be dedicated to this famous killer with whom the filmmaker has shared a name since she was 12. "My real name is Linda Borden, but when I was little, to tease me, the kids called me Elsie after a cow that appeared on milk bottles, or Lizzie, after the axe killer," explains Borden, who speaks to ARA by phone from [location missing]. "So a father to whom a killer, a killer, that, to me, a killer, that, I love that I told them that a killer, a killer, that, a killer, that, a killer, that, a killer, to whom, a killer, that ... that, a killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, that, a, killer, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that The focus will begin on November 18 at the Filmoteca with a screening of his first feature film, the experimental documentary Regrouping (1976), in a session presented remotely by the director. "As a young woman, I tried to be a painter and wrote for the magazine Artforum, But in the art world, all the power was in the hands of men, she recalls. One day I met four feminist activists who I found very interesting, and it occurred to me to make a documentary with them. Regrouping It was meant to be a collective effort, but the group broke up during filming, and Borden finished the project solo. "For many years I kept it in a drawer; I didn't feel right screening it," he explains.

But the film that put Borden's name on the map was the groundbreaking Borne in llamasa vibrant experimental collage of spirit agit-prop which imagines a United States where, despite the triumph of a socialist and egalitarian revolution, gender, racial, and class inequality remain paramount concerns. Utopian and rich in debates on political action, it is surprising for the relevance of the issues it raised more than four decades ago. "It surprises me too," she admits. "I thought that today all these issues would have been resolved, but they remain relevant in many ways, especially the question of women's access to employment."

One of the actresses of Born in fame It is also the director Kathryn Bigelow, a friend of Borden who in her youth also moved in the artistic and underground scene of New York, although her cinema took a much more commercial turn and in 2010 she became the first woman to win the Oscar for best picture for the thriller warlike In hostile territory“It was incredible to see how her films kept getting bigger and bigger,” says Borden. “We used to be very close, but her life changed a lot when she married James Cameron. However, when Richard Serra died last year We chatted for two hours, because she knew him well too."

Working girls

In the third film, Borden focused on the world of work, but that of sex workers in a New York brothel. "While working in Borne in llamas “I did all sorts of jobs to survive,” she explains. “One day I found out that one of my best friends worked in a brothel. I didn’t think I could do it, but I thought about working just one day and quitting. And then I realized it was a really interesting idea for a film. So I went with a hidden recorder and, when the Madame "I wasn't there, I recorded a lot of material."

Working girls It is, basically, a day in the life of a sex worker and her coworkers: the brothel routine, the downtime, the strange clients, the pressure from the bosses... Prostitution had never been portrayed this way before, without contrived eroticism or sensationalism, with naturalism and empathy. A sculptor friend of Borden's created an exact replica of the real brothel in the director's loft, and she cast theater actresses and a working girl real – as the sex workers called themselves – who, in addition to acting, advised him on the script. "I rehearsed a lot with the actresses and had them go to the brothel to ask for work to do their research," Borden explains. "In fact, one of them got the job right away and asked me if she should accept it, and I told her absolutely not!"

The most fascinating thing about Working girls Beyond the issue of prostitution, it's one of the most incisive and universal films ever made about the world of work and the dynamics of having a shitty job. "Absolutely, it's a film about work, about dealing with a job with a lot of downtime and a boss who squeezes you dry. The best compliment I've ever received about the film came from a man who wasn't a sex worker, and after a screening, he came up to me and said, 'I had the Madame"The men are not the enemy in the film, but she is, because she pushes the female workers beyond their capacity."

Working girls It is, incidentally, one of the titles most cited as a precursor to the Oscar-winning film. Anora in the humane and respectful treatment of sex workers in film. "I like it a lot Anora and the films of Sean BakerBut I think the issue ofAnora "It's more about social class than sex work," Borden points out. "I also like them a lot." Tangerine and The Florida project"...especially how it portrays the sex worker in this film."

The cursed film

Borden only directed one film after that. Working girls, he thriller of 1992 Love crimasBut it's not being shown at L'Alternativa because the director disowns it. "I don't consider it mine. The producer was Harvey Weinstein, and during filming we received notes every day with changes to the original script. Furthermore, they added scenes to the film that weren't mine, like the..." flashbackswhich was shot by another director. I wanted to remove my name from the film because it bore no resemblance to the original script, but Harvey told me it would ruin my career, and I didn't dare. Looking back, I've realized I would have had to screw things up the first week, but I was very naive."

The irony is that, although Borden agreed to sign off on a film she didn't feel was hers, she still ended up being considered a "difficult director," a label behind which was Wei's influence. "Emotionally, it was very hard," notes Borden, who after Love crimas She directed mostly television series—Harvey Weinstein ruined my career, but also the careers of other female directors. When Me Too broke out, I learned about other female directors to whom he had done the same thing. He hounded us. There was nothing sexual with me, but throwing chairs against a wall is also violence.”

In the wake of Me Too, Sean Young, the star of Love crimasShe explained that Weinstein tried to assault her and that he once pulled his penis out of his pants in front of her. "I have nothing bad to say about Sean, but there were other actresses, incredible and powerful actresses, who wanted to play that role, but Harvey Weinstein imposed Sean," she recalls. "And at the time I didn't understand why, but later I realized it was a transaction." However, Borden hopes to shoot a film from a script she has been working on for many years: "It's about a woman who runs an abortion clinic in the basement of a movie theater during the 1950s. I hope to shoot it next summer."