Rape, revenge and murder

THE CANNES Film Festival, the world’s most important film event, turned 70 this year and celebrated by screening 37 feature films in the official selection and another 27 in the parallel sections like International Critics’ Week and Director’s Fortnight.
While the Asian movies chosen for the festival were mostly directed by such big names as Naomi Kawase or Kiyoshi Kurosawa, there was also an oeuvre by a lesser known filmmaker from this part of the world: new generation Indonesian director Mouly Surya who came with her third feature film “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”. It was a particularly proud moment for Surya, as this marked the first time Indonesia had shown a feature film in Cannes since Garin Nugroho’s “Leaf on a Pillow” in 1998. 

Marsha Timothy plays a widow hellbent on revenge in “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts.

“I’d wanted to be a film director since I was studying for my bachelor’s degree in Australia.” Surya tells XP. “As I child, I wanted to be a writer but when a friend of mine asked me to get involved with an amateur film, I fell in love with the job! I went on to do a master’s degree in film.”
Surya graduated with her master’s in film and television from Bond University in Australia and immediately started working as an assistant director. She started directing her own films in 2008 and her second feature “What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love” became the first Indonesian film to compete at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.
In fact “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” does more than put Indonesia cinema back on the Cannes map. A co-production between Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, it brings Purin Pictures, a new film company founded by Thai female filmmakers Visra Vichit-Vadakan and Anocha Suwichakornpong, into the mix.

Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya

“I was editing the film when Anocha contacted me. She was looking for projects for Purin Pictures. I’ve known her since 2010 when we were both participants in ‘Tokyo Next Masters 2010’, and we’ve bumped into each other at several festivals since. She heard that I was making this film and she wanted to consider it for co-production. She loved it so I put her in touch with my producer,” Surya explains. 
Set in Sumba Island in the east of Indonesia, “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” tells the story of Marlina, a widow who kills the robber who raped her. 
“The idea of the film came from Garin Nugroho”, Mouly says, “Garin and I were on the jury for the Citra Award in Indonesia and he mentioned that he had a story about a woman in Sumba Island. 
“Apparently while Garin was in the island’s market, a man was beheaded right in front of him. He was horrified but later turned it into a story. He wanted a female perspective for the film, and thought it would be right for me. He sent me a five-page treatment the next day, and I forwarded it to Rama Adi, my producer.”

With Marlina carrying the head of the robber who raped her around and riding a horse through the arid Sumba land, the film brings to mind the classic Westerns of old.
“I remember watching Westerns in my film school days. And they weren’t only ‘spaghetti westerns’ or the American wild-west movies. I also remember the Japanese samurai and Chinese martial arts movies. I wanted a mix of that.”
Marsha Timothy, the Indonesian actress who starred in “The Raid 2” portrays widow-turned-murderer Marlina. “I’ve known Marsha since I worked as an assistant director. My producer suggested her and knowing that we needed a strong actress who could hold the film on her shoulders, we approached her and gave her a copy of Garin’s treatment. We chose her because of her aura. I didn’t want someone too strong or too weak. My keyword for Marlina is ‘grief’, and Marsha has that, even though she is very beautiful. I never auditioned her. We just talked about our vision of the film. I wanted to see how serious she was about playing the role.”

With a plot that shows a woman rebelling against men who traditionally regard females as cooks or a maids, “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts’” holds a mirror up to some parts of Asian society where gender equality has yet to arrive. 
“Some women in some parts of Indonesia are very strong and are the breadwinners of the family, while in other parts, there’s another kind of culture that is very patriarchal, especially among the previous generation,” Surya says “As a woman in Indonesia, you are not raised as a second-class citizen. You have some privileges as well, but the problems start when you get married.”
After Cannes, “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” is expected to travel to many film festivals and could be released in its home country this year. 
“We are trying something new. This film is quite new and I am excited to see the feedback from the audience,” Surya says.