“I wanted to make two films in quick succession, for a change”, Alex van Warmerdam says of the genesis of his ninth feature since his debut, Abel, in 1986. “I actually wrote the script for Schneider vs. Bax before we had even shot Borgman. Usually I finish one film before I even start thinking about the next, but this time I wanted to break my usual routine of film then theatre, film then theatre. I often have ideas while filming and think to myself, ‘I must remember that’ – but by the time I’m ready to make the next one, I’ve forgotten them again.”

In Schneider vs. Bax, selected for Locarno and TIFF, what seems to be a simple assignment for contract killer Schneider turns out to be much more than he expected. “I wanted to make a film with a very simple set-up”, van Warmerdam continues of the film’s pared-to-the-bone style. “It’s an exercise in form. I also wanted all the action to take place within one day – which is an enormous restriction for a filmmaker.” Such restrictions are something van Warmerdam likes to impose on himself in his film work – Abel for example contains no cigarettes, trees or telephones. “I also wanted sunlight throughout Schneider vs. Bax,” he says, “which is pretty difficult with the climate here in the Netherlands.”

Light, in fact, plays a major role in Schneider vs. Bax. “I wanted to use that light from above,” the filmmaker explains. “Like in the old Hollywood films, the old Charlie Chaplins and Buster Keatons. It’s a very difficult thing to do achieve, technically.” To do this – as so often in his films – van Warmerdam had the houses serving as the principal sets specially built. “I had the little house where Bax is built with a transparent roof – the only problem was, they used a different kind of Perspex from what I wanted. It was all right in natural light, but when I had to use artificial light, it broke the light up. Luckily, we were able to fix it in post-production. This was something I really wanted in the film, this light from above. All the locations have it: the house in the woods has no roof at all; even the industrial building has skylights.”

Known for creating or re-arranging even natural settings to his liking, Van Warmerdam added thousands of twigs to the wood in his 1992 film De Noorderlingen (The Northerners), to make it look darker and more natural. This time, the process was reversed: “What I mostly did this time was remove things”, he says. “Trees, farmhouses, electricity pylons… they all got erased, in the post-production. I even made the horizon flatter, more featureless – once you get going, you get more and more rigorous. I did leave one tree near the house, but a lot of trees along the horizon got cut down to size – I didn’t want it ruler-straight, but very plain and simple. I wanted the horizon to be as broad as possible, also to avoid that sense of a recreational area that you can quickly get in the Netherlands. It all got simpler and simpler. Even the dialogues in this film get shorter and shorter. I wanted to tell the story as visually as possible.”

Van Warmerdam is reluctant to see any specific message in all this formal reduction, however. “For me, the film itself is what I want to say”, he explains.

As for future projects, it is now back to the theatre for van Warmerdam after two films in quick succession. “At present, I’m writing a piece for my theatre company, Mexicaanse Hond,” he says. “That’s how I earn my daily bread – I do actually have some plans for a new film, but I can’t say anything about it yet, I’m afraid.”

^{Alex van Warmerdam}

Script: Alex van Warmerdam Production: Graniet Film (NL) Co-production: CZAR TV(BE) Sales: Fortissimo Films