Rosebush Pruning Director on Family Satire With Callum Turner, Elle Fanning

For Karim Aïnouz, making “Rosebush Pruning” was uncharted territory.

The film marks the first foray of the Brazilian auteur — known for his contributions to queer cinema (“Futuro Beach,” “Motel Destino”) and uniquely moving dramas (“The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão,” “Firebrand”) — into the genre of satire. But as the world locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Aïnouz found himself itching to try something new for his 14th film. Especially if there was a chance it could be his last.

“It’s funny, everybody was thinking they were going to die and I was like, ‘I need to make this movie before I go,’” Aïnouz tells Variety over Zoom from his Berlin home in between drags of a cigarette.

Premiering in competition at Berlin Film Festival this weekend, “Rosebush Pruning” follows an American family that has relocated to Spain, where they wallow in isolation, boredom and stupendous wealth. Following the mysterious death of their mother, adult siblings Jack, Ed, Anna and Robert look after their blind father until Jack announces his intention to move in with his girlfriend, Martha. “Blood ties are severed and Ed is forced to uncover the truth surrounding their mother’s death,” the film’s synopsis reads. “Generational lies begin to unravel, and the fabric of this family slowly begins to disintegrate.”

The cast is Aïnouz’s starriest to date: the siblings are played by Jamie Bell (Jack), Callum Turner (Ed), Riley Keough (Anna) and Lukas Gage (Robert). Tracy Letts is phenomenal as the family’s ridiculous patriarch, Pamela Anderson appears as his late wife and the recently Oscar-nominated Elle Fanning is the perfect foil as Martha.

With a script from frequent Yorgos Lanthimos collaborator Efthimis Filippou (“Dogtooth,” “The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “Kinds of Kindness”), “Rosebush Pruning” doesn’t shy away from the absurd and taboo, tackling topics including incest, sexual abuse and murder with a tongue-in-cheek style.

“When we started casting, I have to tell you that I did talk to other actors, and everybody was really excited. And then when they read the script, they were like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure,’” Aïnouz says of the film’s dark themes. “Ultimately, I was really interested in actors who were not judging these characters.”

“Rosebush Pruning” is loosely based on Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 film “Fists in the Pocket,” which follows a young man suffering from epilepsy as he plots the murders of his family members. Watching the film during the lockdown, Aïnouz saw it as “a great blueprint” to discuss the topics of isolation and privilege in the present day.

“I thought it would be really interesting to do something which was quite electric and exciting and fun — and yet critical of the times we’re living in — with a very classic, clear storyline,” he says. “The more time passed, the more the film and the story seemed to relate to the world today … There is this sense of absurdity when one wakes up in the morning, particularly the last couple of years.”

He and Filippou connected over Zoom and it was “love at first sight,” Aïnouz says. “It was such a beautiful encounter. There was a sense of humor and, at the same time, a sense of love in our exchanges — love for the world, but also love for characters … For me, it was really important that these are not caricatures, they’re people.”

Filippou’s finished script was the first Aïnouz had read where he didn’t change a single line and had “so few notes,” the director says. “But it’s tricky, because then how do you inject life?”

Enter the ensemble. The first puzzle piece that fell into place was Tony and Pulitzer winner Letts, who was on Aïnouz’s mind during pre-production as he revisited his 2011 film “Killer Joe,” which Letts adapted from his play of the same name. Aïnouz says Letts was not at all put off by the father’s less-than-favorable personality and decreased moral compass — often a source of the film’s dark humor — which may have been inspired by a certain American politician.

“What he actually told me the first time we met was, ‘Do you mind if I don’t know how to ride a horse?’ That was his first question,” Aïnouz recalls, laughing. “And then I immediately understood that he actually got the character, he got the script and also that he could bring something to that character. It’s so strange because he is hateable, yet there’s something there that is totally palpable.”

Turner’s Ed serves as the film’s narrator, a Holden Caulfield-esque vagabond who refuses to engage with the written word and instead records his thoughts each day. Aïnouz was “really excited” when they first met, but could tell that Turner “wasn’t really sure.”

“Then we had a second meeting and he really brought something to this character which is extraordinary: a sense of danger,” he says. “He’s unpredictable, and I think you cannot have Ed in a different way. And physically, there was something there that was very imposing yet quite awkward.”

Getting Anderson, who is experiencing something of a career renaissance after “The Last Showgirl” and “The Naked Gun,” as the family’s late matriarch was also a coup. “I really wanted to have a woman of that age who is adventurous as an actor, who has nothing to lose,” he says. “Pamela, I think she is a young actor. There’s something really beautiful about that and there’s this freedom. You know, I get the goosebumps.”

But Fanning as Martha, a quiet-natured and sweet music student who takes Jack away from the family, is what made it all come together. “This is a very spoken film, and I think Elle has something which is a masterful way of acting through very specific but very subtle gestures,” Aïnouz says. “There’s a scene where she doesn’t say anything, but what she does is incredible. It’s this sense of eloquence through silence.”

Aïnouz isn’t a stranger to working with Hollywood stars, but he is finding that more and more American and English actors are yearning to work with international directors. “There is a freedom that we can bring to English-spoken cinema that I think is attractive to actors that are working within a format which sometimes is a bit too industrial,” he says. “I think risk-taking is something every actor wants to do. Every actor wants to be challenged, every actor wants to be not in their comfort zone.”

But perhaps the most difficult part of all these bold-faced names was aligning their schedules for a two-week rehearsal period as well as seven-and-a-half weeks of shooting on location in Catalonia. That came with some changes — Kristen Stewart and Josh O’Connor were originally attached to the project, but had to drop out due to conflicts — but for Aïnouz time spent together was key to establishing the family’s dynamic.

“It was a mixture between finding actors that could bring this diversity and these different energies, but yet that were curious,” he says. “There was a huge trust from the cast to understand that yes, they’re great, but they need to be great together.”

When “Rosebush Pruning” premieres at Berlin, it’s almost certain to be divisive — but equally as thought-provoking. Aïnouz is prepared for potential backlash, but thinks it could start conversations that need to be had in the current times.

“Only through absurdity can you perhaps touch certain issues,” he says. “I think it’s important to know and to discuss and to understand that sometimes the biggest amount of violence comes from within the family. The way that patriarchy has been naturalized, it’s really something that we need to deal with. There’s a cycle of violence, and perhaps violence is the only way to break that cycle.”

He adds, “I think laughing is a really interesting way of dealing with this. It’s about being uncomfortable. You can’t just be comfortable about the things we’re reading on the news these days, you know? We need to create a lack of comfort.”

The director, who has often competed at Cannes Film Festival, was also intentional about bringing “Rosebush Pruning” to his home of Berlin. “One of the reasons I live here is that there’s a sense of irreverence and freedom and wildness and humor that I think is so much in tune with the DNA of the film,” he says.

“Let’s see what happens, but I do think it’s a place that has a lot to do with the movie. It’s very free, it’s very open — it’s also looking for an identity that’s not there yet. I do think it speaks to the soul of the city.”