Award-winning film director Jethro Massey grew up in Bath, a city that shaped his love of films. He recently returned to host an in-person Q&A session at the Little Theatre on his debut film, Paul & Paulette Take a Bath, which won the Critics’ Week Audience Award at the Venice International Film Festival. Jethro took time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Image above from ‘Paul & Paulette Take a Bath’. Photo credit: Conic Films
You grew up in Bath and attended King Edward’s School; how has the city shaped your creative outlook and the way you tell stories on screen?
Good question! Especially given that my first feature film is about two characters exploring how the stories of a city inform our experience of life within it. Bath is a city where history is so present, and perhaps that’s where some of my fascinations come from. I’m sure I can give a few tangible examples though…
I live in Paris now. I often say that the main reason I live there is that there’s a great café on every corner. I write all my scripts in cafés, it’s a habit I picked up in Café Retro in Bath, a place I loved dearly (and was really sad to discover closed recently). Another Bath ghost that is dear to my heart (and film education) was On The Video Front, when VHS tapes were still a thing. I remember going there a couple of times a week, flicking through their beautifully curated selection, not just blockbusters, but old classics, cult films… delicious.
Thankfully, a few places that had a big impact on me are still standing: The Little Theatre Cinema. When I fell in love with a film, I’d go there and see it again and again. Showing Paul & Paulette Take a Bath there meant a lot to me. It’s always at the little independent cinemas that you can make real discoveries, and see films that aren’t from the Hollywood sausage factory.
And, of course, King Edward’s School. Especially the theatre studies department. Sue Curtis and Jill Ross. Two teachers who really inspired me. I was a terrible actor (I still am), but my gosh, I learned a lot in their classes. Not just about drama, comedy, and performance, but about working with other people, about being fascinated with the world, that curiosity you need in order to become a storyteller.
Can you walk us through your journey from your schooldays in Bath to becoming an award-winning film director?
As a 12-year-old, inspired by Aardman’s Creature Comforts films, I used to spend days on end in my bedroom making stop motion plasticine animations with a Super 8 camera.
On leaving school, I went to Manchester University to do Russian Studies. (Big fights with dad: “If you want to make films, go to film school!”) But I knew that if I wanted to have interesting, original stories to tell, I needed to go out and live a life that was a little different; living in St. Petersburg (in more hopeful times), discovering the worlds of Bulgakov, Dostoevsky, Gogol, and hitchhiking from Moscow to Vladivostok. On the Trans-Siberian, I read Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. New dreams started brewing. When a flat came up in Paris, I hopped on the Eurostar, and I’ve lived there ever since.
Paris is a tough nut to crack, but I found my way, working in a bar as I learnt the language, but always finding a way to get onto film sets, making short films, and eventually I was able to start making a living behind a camera; travel films, little advertising jobs, whatever would pay the rent. While that work grew into bigger productions, I held on to my more creative work: music videos and more ambitious short films. Eventually, I felt ready to take on a feature film.
Were there any pivotal moments, mentors, or films that made you realise film directing and producing was your path?
The first one was watching Les Enfants du Paradis when I was 15 years old. I had always said I wanted to make films, but when I saw that film, I knew it was what I had to do with my life. There have been numerous other films since (Harold and Maud, Dogtooth, Jules et Jim, Brazil, Don’t Look Now, to name a few) that have fired my passion, but that was the first.
I’ve had a few wonderful mentors, the photographer Nitin Vadukul, whose unending creativity has always been an inspiration to me. I miss him. Justin Pentecost, a complete camera geek, an incredibly lovely human being who got me my first film job. Andrew Steggall, another King Edward’s School alumnus, who went on to become a filmmaker, one of the sharpest people I know when it comes to storytelling. And, of course, Sue and Jill.
How would you describe your style of filmmaking, and how has it evolved over your career so far?
I have a love for the poetic and the absurd. I love films that feel light and easy to watch, but that have something to say, that turn over in your mind for weeks afterwards, or provoke a discussion between friends as they leave the cinema after the credits roll.
I have a tendency to delve into the past to try to say things about the world around us today. And I have a love of texture, whether it’s the sound of an old rotary phone, of tape being peeled away from someone’s skin, or finding the right sound to bring out the feeling of brushing one’s hand against a weathered stone statue.
I’ve become more drawn to films that explore our zones of discomfort over the years, but I’d like to think my personality and sensibilities have remained the same.
Can you tell me a bit about Paul & Paulette Take a Bath and what you set out to explore in the film?
I’m fascinated by the way a place changes when we tell a story about it. We might walk past a building, and it’ll do nothing to us. But when we learn that Mary Shelley lived there, it changes the way we see it, and the way we feel inside. If someone tells an aspiring writer that this is the desk where Austen wrote Persuasion, I’m sure their first impulse would be to want to sit in that chair.
I wanted to explore the darker side of that impulse; our fascination with true crime, our conflicting instincts to look, and to look away, when we see a car crash. I didn’t want the film to be heavy, so I wrote it using the structure of a romantic comedy (turning a few of the tropes on their head a little); two young people becoming friends, becoming attracted to each other, building their relationship, whilst exploring these historical sites, and perhaps taking their game a little too far. I thought it would be interesting to juxtapose that feeling of a new romance against those awful histories they are exploring. It’s what we do on a daily basis; we live in a world filled with tragedy, but we have to make the best of our lives within that.
What advice would you give to young people in Bath who dream of a career in film?
Just go out and make films, you don’t need big expensive cameras. Get into the habit of having ideas, of writing them, and then going out and filming them. And always finish what you start, people will always respect that. Your first films don’t have to be perfect, but the more films you make, the more you’ll build a team of people around you that you can work with, and the better your films will become.
What do you love most about the city of Bath?
Coming back to Bath is a wave of nostalgia for me. I could cite so many memories and talk about how beautiful the city is. But really, for me, Bath is the people I grew up with. The old school friends that I’m still in touch with today, who still know me better than anyone else does.
When you come back, what are some of the places you like to visit?
I don’t think it’s accessible, but I’d love to see the inside of the old King Edward’s Junior School on Broad Street. I wonder if that old rubber playground was built over, or if it’s still there, weeds pushing through.
Finally, if you weren’t a film director, what do you think you would be doing instead?
Honestly, I’m not sure I could be a filmmaker if I ever felt there was any other choice for me. But, it’s an interesting exercise to imagine another life. Maybe I’d be setting up my own version of Café Retro, a little place where I’d rally people to write their stories, play chess, hang out with their friend, or just put their phones down and read a book.
Paul & Paulette Take A Bath is in UK & Irish cinemas now. Visit conic.film/bath