When I originally conceived Besotted, I was interested in exploring our ability to determine our own fate. Do we have control over the direction our lives take? Or are we pawns in some invisibly-driven cosmic orchestration? And, do we even have the ability to perceive that which controls us?

I wrote a story that would paint an intimate picture of the life journeys of different characters in a small New England fishing community. I created a central character called Vicky (Susan Gibney), a lonely woman who runs a lobster boat, and finds herself smitten with a younger man, Damien (Liam Waite).

As we were shooting the film on Cape Cod, I was delighted to watch the actors bringing their characters alive. Gibney wore the wounds from her harsh life with a resilient vigor. Liam Waite brought a bright sensitivity to his role as a youth of the privileged class. The rich, nuanced performances of fellow actors Jim Chiros (Shep) -- with his intriguing mix of pathos and bombastic impulse -- and Amy Wright (Mona), who effortlessly slipped into the onscreen milieu of small-town New England -- added an unexpected heft to the supporting roles that I had originally written. They were offering added consequence to the film that I did not think wise to ignore. I decided to develop their roles further.

As I studied the footage while considering my plan for the evolving ensemble piece, I was struck by the beauty of the discrete images of lightplay that are projected onto the screen, and that are, in fact, the composition of all movies. Film is based on artifice and abstraction. I chose to explore the representational nature of film using the Shep-Vicky-Damien love triangle within the construct of another film realm, the realm of the film’s creator.

I was beginning to explore my role as the writer, and, indeed, to question a writer’s ability to direct the fictive path of his or her characters at whim. I am always aware of the filmmaker’s vision, voice, and presence as I watch a film. In fact, I now had become conscious of my own filmmaker meta-life floating around and within Besotted. I decided to have fun with this notion, and I inserted myself into the film, playing the role of a mischievous sorceress who dabbles in movie magic, manipulating her characters -- her unwitting pawns -- on a mythic gameboard that she sets up on her grand seaside lawn.

To further support the artifice of film, I chose to place the realm of the witch in a vast theatrical zone that borrows from a host of theatrical traditions, from classic to modern. The sorceress is housed in a majestic and remote lighthouse where the everyday goings-on of the fishing village can be overseen, and where she can play her conjurer’s game at a distance from the more earth-bound world of the fishing community. I gave the film a five-act Shakespearean structure, as well as a healthy infusion of Bard-like motifs.

The characters within the theatre also serve as a modern Greek Chorus, hovering over the "mortal" characters in the village and commenting on their dramatic progress. The theatre also allows the characters to playact in Absurdist fashion, as they perform experimental vignettes, often outlandish and ridiculous, that mirror or move the film narrative.

Two different styles of acting are implemented to underscore the division between the two realms. The witch’s circle speak with self-conscious archness in a nod to the knowing, ironic tone of Wilde or Shaw. The characters who are not privy to the world that watches and controls them, the "real" characters in the village, most notably Vicky, Damien, and Shep (who moves effectively back and forth between the two spheres), all perform with a touching naturalness, underscoring the powerful emotional path on which a film can take us as we view with our hearts, sitting rapt and passion-filled, rooting for our heroes.

I do hope that Besotted’s multi-layered film experience encourages its audience to think about the many elements at play before their eyes, and to ponder both the breadth and definition of human perception. In light of our profound desire to make sense of our world, it is the aware mind that lives most fervently, asking questions ceaselessly. And, in the continued asking, in the refusal to cower before the unknown, we join in a valiant search to better understand our shared space in the universe.



Holly Angell Hardman
October 23, 2002

---

The BESOTTED Biographies:


Holly Angell Hardman (Writer/Director/Producer)

While growing up in western Massachusetts, Holly fell unrepentantly in love with film. Living near the Berkshire Museum allowed her to see the works of masterful European auteurs, Bergman and Bunuel. After finishing school and living in Boston, she joyfully discovered the offbeat work of John Waters and Pedro Almodovar. She yearned to work in film, and managed to find work in front of the camera, appearing in roles opposite Rachel Ward (Night School) and Charles Durning (Stand Alone). Having moved to Los Angeles in the 80’s, she introduced writer Aaron Latham to the underground punk scene for a Rolling Stone article, on which she worked as researcher. This association led to a five-year stint working with Latham for various entertainment media (Twentieth Century Fox, Manhattan, Inc., P.B.S.) Simultaneously she continued writing and performing her own staged performance pieces for the New York and Los Angeles art scenes. In the early 90’s she was approached to write and co-direct a 1/2 hour video short, which resulted in the making of the cult hit White Trash at Heart. At last, she was behind the camera, fulfilling her original wish. Holly continued to make short films, including Seaschell Beach with Glenn Fitzgerald. All of her short films have screened in film festivals in the U.S. and Europe. BESOTTED is Holly’s directorial debut in feature film.


Youna Kwak (Editor)

Youna believes that her love of editing grew from a passion for collage-making that she enjoyed as a child. Before stepping into the world of television, and after completing her work on BESOTTED, Youna worked as Editor on Brian Bain’s Southern-made feature documentary Shalom Y’all. It was director Todd Phillips ( Road Trip) who pointed out Youna’s editing skill to Holly after Youna had worked as associate editor on Phillips’ most recent documentary film, Bittersweet Motel. A graduate of Brown University, Youna is now working for the Oxygen Network.

Amy Jelenko (Co-Producer)

Amy studied Media Arts at SUNY at New Paltz. Upon graduation, she found work as a production assistant on the independent film The Sticky Fingers of Time. Since then, she has worked her way up in the production departments of a number of independent feature films, including The Bumblebee Flies Away and Advice from a Caterpillar. Amy is currently head of Post-Production at Urbanworld Films.

Isen Robbins (Co-Producer)

Isen received a Master’s degree in Cinema Studies from CUNY. After working
as Production Designer on several independent features, he moved from the art department into producing. With partner Amy Shoop, he formed the production company Intrinsic Value. Intrinsic Value’s Beyond the Ocean and XX/XY, with Marc Ruffalo, screened in competition at Sundance Film Festival 2000 and 2002 respectively. Robbins also produced Strand Releasing’s Sticky Fingers of Time in collaboration with Good Machine.


Stephen Treadway (Cinematographer)

For many years Stephen was as an IATSE camera assistant. If a studio film shot it in New York, it is a safe bet that Stephen worked on it. A couple of years ago, Stephen
decided to combine his natural talent with a camera with his professional on-set know-how. He has since completed a documentary on dance for P.B.S., as well as the short film Go Kinky. BESOTTED is Stephen’s first fiction feature effort.

Howard Krupa (Cinematographer)

Known for his docu-narrative style of shooting, Howard shot Holly’s last film Seaschell Beach. He has collaborated with filmmaker Matthew Harrison on short and feature films, including Harrison’s Rhythm Thief (Sundance Film Festival) and Kicked in the Head starring Kevin Corrigan and Linda Fiorentino executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Howard’s additional credits include the features 1999 and Young Teamsters.

The BESOTTED Cast:


Jim Chiros (Shep)

Art critic Eugene Narrett describes Jim Chiros as "a poet of loss who demonstrates an acute appreciation of vulnerability’s many faces." Chiros approaches his acting work with the same sensibility that he uses as a painter. He played a memorable role in Polygram’s The Proposition with Kenneth Branagh and Madeline Stowe. He was also the subject of the P.B.S. documentary So You Want to Be an Artist. Jim has been the recipient of grants from NEA and the Massachusetts Council for Arts and Humanities, as well as fellowships to YADDO and The MacDowell Colony. It was fellow YADDO member, writer Carolyn Chute, who suggested that Jim play a cameo role in the film adaptation of her novel, The Beans of Egypt, Maine, some years ago. Thus, the acting seed was sown.

Susan Gibney (Vicky)

Since receiving an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, Gibney has worked consistently in film, theatre and television (reaching cult icon status as Dr. Leah Brahms in Star Trek: The Next Generation). Susan was also an ACE Award Best Actress- nominee for her starring role in the Showtime series Bedtime. She performed Off-Broadway in her own one-woman show called "Noble Rot," and recently worked opposite Judd Nelson in the independent feature Cabin by the Lake. Gibney also appeared in The Waterdance and in The Great White Hype opposite Jeff Goldblum.

Liam Waite (Damien)

Liam enjoys the reputation of being a talented fresh face in film, he co-stared in Simpático, playing Jeff Bridges as a young man. He also stars in Caesar Cavaricci’s feature film The Day October Died, and had a co-starring role in John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, playing opposite actress and fiancée Natasha Henstridge.

Holly Angell Hardman (Holly, The Sorceress)

(Please see Biography on Page 1.)

Amy Wright (Mona)

The ever-engaging Amy Wright has been an actress of note since her debut in John Huston’s film gem Wise Blood. Over the years, audiences have enjoyed
her work in a roster of critically-acclaimed feature films including Breaking Away, The Accidental Tourist, co-starring opposite William Hurt, The Scarlet Letter and actor/director Frank Whaley’s Joe the King.