Pauline and Paulette : Production Notes


Writer - Director's notes

The story of Pauline and Paulette is based on a childhood memory of mine: Two sisters who owned a shop together. During post - production on " Leonie" (in 1996), I started writing a script taking this as the starting off point. I looked for a reason for them to live together yet. I got the idea of making Pauline a mentally retarded person living with another sister Martha. When Martha dies, is Pauline going to move in with Paulette in the village, or will she go to Brussels to live with the third sister, Cecile?

As I did for "Leonie", I visited various institutions for the mentally handicapped in recent films - the film is fiction, but it has to be credible as well. I also did some volunteer work in these institutions in order to observe the reactions of these people close up. These elements inspired several scenes in the film and allowed me to better understand how Pauline should behave.

To portray Pauline, Dora van der Groen met Denise C, a 64 year old-mentally handicapped woman. Just as it was in "Leonie", Pauline's dementia is a metaphor for communications problems among the characters.

As tragic-realistic as "Pauline and Paulette" is, I tried to incorporate a humorous aspect into the tone. There were scenes in "Leonie" that evoked strong reactions from the audience; the same will be true (I hope) of "Pauline and Paulette"

When you approach mentally handicapped people, you learn an enormous amount; your vision of life is changed. These people surprise us in subtle little ways. Because of this, I am convinced the film will be very affecting.