Today I was a guest at the celebratory screening of 'The Moon and the Sledgehammer', a Cinema Nation event at the Curzon Soho cinema, London. Every seat in the cinema was taken.
After the screening Vertigo magazine editor Gareth Evans hosted a Question and Answer session with the film's director, Philip Trevelyan. The following are my notes of Philip's answers. They are scribbled notes, not a transcript.
How did you come across the family?
PT Lived close by and was introduced by a friend who’d been to an auction with them. Film team used a Commer van with a fridge and cooker. Filming took a month on and off in the woods.
Was the film crew accepted?
PT Whereas the old man was a performer by nature, the siblings were at first suspicious. However, Philip was sincere in loving it all and admiring them, and ‘didn’t have any reason for apologising for being there.’
Mr Page?
PT Known locally as ‘Oily’ Page, he was much loved in the district. He had worked in aircraft engineering; as a threshing contractor and as a clown in a local circus. He was a natural performer, a very strong character. ‘Perhaps a touch “autistic”, but I don’t know that.’
The Pages’ world
PT Their world was one of quiet, where they had time to think and use their imaginations (which they did brilliantly). Contrast this with our ‘normal’ world. ‘There are people in the country with an awful lot to teach us. People in towns haven’t got time to reflect.’
The elephant scene?
PT Mr Page was genuinely interested in showing how an elephant walks.
The absent mother
PT She had died three years earlier. Mr Page’s view was that his wife had let the children run wild so that he had been unsuccessful in disciplining them.
Conflict in the family
PT This was real and not contrived, but it didn’t really feature as an element of the film until producer Jimmy Vaughan insisted that there had to be a ‘story’. The conflicts became the story. Mr Page did say nice things about Pete, but not on camera. A third brother, Ron, lived nearby. He was on the steam engine with his son during the run through Horsham at the end of the film.
Partners?
PT The elder daughter had been away from the wood, and had had an affair. However, ‘there may have been love affairs inside the wood.’ In the rose scene, ‘we knew what we were doing’ when the team was recording ‘a relationship that was very close.’
The family seeing the finished film
PT They saw it on video and on television. They all liked the attention, though were upset at what they saw as a nasty bit about their Dad.
Local response
Floor Someone in the audience who comes from Chiddingly, the village close to the wood, said that the local viewings were warmly applauded. They felt that the laughter was with the family, not at them.
Did Philip Trevelyan stay in touch with the family?
PT To a certain extent. But Mr Page was 75 or more at the time and died shortly afterwards. PT exchanged Xmas cards with the daughters but gradually lost touch. He thinks that after Mr Page’s death the estate was sold and the proceeds divided between the children.
Style of filming
PT The film was made of the family, so deliberately excluded the film-maker from being part of the programme. The way forward these days is probably to include the film-maker. There’s no narration, and PT believes that that would still be acceptable to broadcasters. He (and the editor) paced the film intuitively, using sounds to run before images as a link. He aimed to give the characters space to show their pride and triumph.
Englishness
Floor A view that the film reflected the ‘fabric of England.’ Also had links with documentary maker Humphrey Jennings and surrealism. PT accepted the links: ‘My father [painter Julian Trevelyan] was a great friend of both Humphrey Jennings and the Surrealists. … I think of Mr Page as an artist of some sort, as a surrealist one, even, like Max Ernst, Humphrey Jennings or my father.’
Would Philip Trevelyan make a similar film now?
PT Lives in Yorkshire and knows country people well. But wouldn’t want to make a film up there: ‘If you make a film too close to your own patch you might get into trouble.’
How did Philip Trevelyan develop after the filming?
PT Had always liked to do things with his hands. After the film this gradually seemed more important, so he changed direction.
Advice to a prime minister
PT ‘I’d advise the Prime Minister to legislate so that everyone takes a day off work … works on the land and prepares for the transition to a different way of life.’
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