Merde : Behind The Film

A young woman frantically obsesses over the words: “I hope that wasn’t valuable.”...What has she done?

In high school, I was enrolled in theater classes that exposed me to a number of acting warm-ups. The majority of the activities were intended to get us out of our comfort zone and more comfortable with our body and voice. In some way, these exercises offered a glimpse into our raw human nature by encouraging us to temporarily let go of our self-awareness and fear of judgement. While a number of these exercises are common practice in the theater world, I imagined their absurdity when removed from a theatrical context.

Through “Merde”, I wanted to plunge into this absurdity by starting the short film deprived of context. The initial narrative of a frantic and potentially manic protagonist is only broken once a second character is introduced, offering an outsider perspective and sense of self-awareness. Soon after, the idea of stage fright and scene preparation becomes apparent.

For the film’s title, I wanted to dabble with the double meaning of “merde.” In french, “merde” means both “shit” and “break a leg” (in the context of theater). In the beginning of the short, the actor is supposedly upset about something and the film’s title takes on the first meaning. When the scene's context is revealed, the title's significance morphs from implying “shit” to “break a leg.”