Basement

Synopsis: Two insects kidnap Ava, a young girl, in their basement. An unsuccessful escape attempt sends the insects into a bloody rage.

Home is confinement. Caroline Eliacheff and Nathalie Heinich use the term “platonic incest” to describe toxic maternal relationships in their book “Mères- Filles Une relation à trois”. I want to evoke the feeling of confinement, of invasion, of a personal space stolen, dispossessed from a person. Kafka and his “Metamorphosis” are obviously a reference, but so are the empty, dark and silent atmospheres of Pablo Fleiszman's aquatints.

The universe is chtonian: the subterranean ambience of an old-fashioned interior reminds me of Niemeyer's PCF, or Nola's internment in a clinic in Cronenberg's “The Brood”: dark wood and green carpet, in a dimly-lit basement.

The use of stop-motion allows me to provoke revulsion by working with matter, flesh, the sensation of insect exoskeletons, humidity, slime and hair.