Bird's Eye View

Pianomania: An interview with Lilian Franck

Stefan Knüpfer in Pianomania

Lilian Franck has been creating documentary films together with Robert Cibis in the international market for ten years. Their films examine universal themes through the power of unique personal stories. Pianomania is their latest and BEV caught up with Lilian to talk about it.

Your background is in Documentary Filmmaking, how do you find your stories, what gives you your inspiration – and what made you decide to tell this particular one?

When I read newspapers or talk to friends I pay attention to what is evoking feelings in me, what subjects accompany my thoughts through the nights…Then I do research: If it is still intriguing me, when I get deeper into it, I do a film about it.

There are three things you need to do a good documentary: Casting, casting and casting. Stefan Knüpfer is the piano tuner of my co director’s brother, who is a pianist. When I met him for the first time he made everybody burst into laughter. At that moment I had the idea that he should appear in a film. He is not only a great entertainer, but an admirable and passionate artist.

Do you think you can make a film about any subject, as long as the protagonist is likeable/interesting?

Yes, definitely. As long as the subject or protagonist doesn’t promote something I don’t appreciate.

There are some big characters in Pianomania - including the pianos themselves. Were they as eccentric as they appeared?

I like what Knüpfer is saying in the film: “I wouldn’t call them neurotic, but specialised.” Yes, it was not always easy to deal with them… For a shooting with Lang Lang the team had to wait nearly 20 hours. Alfred Brendel was very hard to convince to appear in the film. Pianomania is the last filmed documentary in which he can be seen.

Lilian Franck - Documentary Filmmaker and Co-Director of Pianomania

What are your favourite/most exciting aspects and/or parts of the film?

I love the comedians. And my favourite part is the last third of the film, when the recordings for Bach take place.

Pianomania shows how works of art are created. The search for the perfect sound is ultimately a metaphor for the search for something that is larger than one’s own life.

Pianomania uncovers some insightful and intense emotions, such as patience and perfection. Is there anything we can we learn from this?

I like that for Pianomania it becomes irrelevant how much Stefan Knüpfer earns, if he is married or has hobbies. For our film heroes everything is secondary and subordinate to the search for the perfect sound. It is all about one thing, the creation of art. That doesn’t happen accidentally. One has to expend all one’s energies. That impressed me.

When deciding what scenes to leave in and what scenes to take out, was there a clear idea of the message(s) you wanted to portray?

We filmed a number of scenes of Stefan Knüpfer working with other stars, including Tzimon Barto, David Helfgott, Matthias Goerne and Rudolf Buchbinder, just to name a few. The major challenge in the editing was to take leave of such completely successful scenes. We realized that we had to concentrate on one single story – the upcoming Bach recording – so that the dramatic intensity would remain. Had we included more stars, then it would have become an episodic film with less “drive”. In the choice of pianists, we also liked the idea of juxtaposing three generations as the main protagonists. Lang Lang, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Alfred Brendel. At the end of the day, there are more scenes and more concert footage of them, too, than we were able to use in the film. We had intentionally planned a higher shooting ratio in order to be able to include the absolutely best moments.

From a personal point of view, I don’t have musical bone my body, but it didn’t take away for me any of the enjoyment from the film. Was it important to you to ensure the documentary was accessible and relevant to all audiences, not just musicians?

I have no distinct personal connection to the world of music, too, so for me it was in fact very important to make the film fascinating for all sort of audiences.  Pianomania is not an educational film, but the personal story of our film heroes, for whom there are many obstacles to overcome. The film lives through the plot of the scenes and the emotional moments. It could take place in any other environment, too. And audiences are very thankful if they are made to laugh heartily in the cinema.

Pianomania has won and been nominated for many awards on the International Film Festival circuit. Did you ever think from the initial concept that a documentary about a Piano Tuner would become such a critical success and watched by audiences all over the world? How does this make you feel?

No, I’m very surprised and happy about the success we had so far. When we pitched the project to financiers, it was very difficult to convince them and it took years to find a little bit of money to be able to do the film. But we kept on trying, because were able to feel the intense passion of our principal characters for their work during our research and our filming. Their obsession should touch the film’s audience in exactly the same way it touched us.

What are you planning next?

My next project will be a comedy about the failures of a sex life: She wants the divorce. He answers: Please give me one more night…

Questions by Lucy Aronica and Louise Forbes.

Pianomania is out on Friday. Show your support for Lilian Franck and women filmmakers by going to see it. For more information, visit our First Weekenders Page.