The Fish Child ( El Niño Pez ) is the latest film from celebrated director Lucia Puenzo. The film stars Inés Efron and Mariela Vitale as a teenager and her maid, respectively, who are caught in a forbidden lesbian romance. The film is based on Puenzo's novel by the same name and the film has been an official selection of the Berlin and Tribeca Film Festivals. It has also been featured in dozens of festivals on the LGBT-festival circuit.
Windy City Times: What was your reaction to the story of The Fish Child?
Inés Efron: As an actress, I felt it was a real challenge. I love teenager's stories, because of their intensity and their passion, and that was the reason why I thought it was a real challenge for me.
I also enjoyed reading an unprejudiced story of love between two women.
WCT: What was the most difficult scene for you?
IE: For me the toughest scene is when Guayi's father tells my character that he abused his daughter. Another scene was where I go to visit Guayi in prison. So many things happened in the script in that moment of the movie, it was hard for me to process everything.
WCT: Did you enjoy working with Lucia Puenzo again for this film?
IE: Of course, we know each other very well and we trust each other which is the best way to work. I love Lucia's stories, her scripts and the way she tells complex stories in a natural way. For me it's always very interesting to be part of her movies and to see how she works.
WCT: Where did the idea for The Fish Child start?
Lucia Puenzo: It was my first novel, El niño pez. I wrote it when I was 23, with the freedom ( I'd dare say impunity ) of not having published anything yet. I sent it to a small publishing house who offered to publish it right away. Five years later, after shooting XXY, I asked myself what was next and knew right away it was the fish child.
WCT: Did you write the book specifically for film production?
LP: I wrote it many years before I even imagined one day I would become a film director. The adaptation was a challenge. I'd heard a thousand times that making an adaptation of your own novel was the most difficult of all and was sure it was a lie. Who could know the story, the tone, and the world of El niño pez better than me? But it came out to be the toughest adaptation I've done.
WCT: Compared to other directors, what makes your style of cinematography unique?
LP: I've always hated how directors and writers go out to explain what must be read or seen in their films. I think the second you publish a book, or release a film, it's not yours anymore. The best you can do is let go of it and start thinking of what's next. I always believe one must trust in the intelligence of the audience: people understand everything. The tiny details many spectators have seen in my films fill me with wonder.
WCT: How did you piece together The Fish Child story through film?
LP: As a reader and spectator, I've always been interested in character tales. In stories that force you to make a journey with its characters, to see the world through their eyes, and not from the outside. I like the emotional ride in which it's difficult to judge if the character is right or wrong. In El niño pez, the plot was originally linear, like in the novel, but I slowly began to rewrite it into a low key film noir in which the crime became the element that triggered the plot.
WCT: Actress Inés Efron has worked with you before in XXY. Was there a reason you chose her for the role in The Fish Child?
LP: When she made the casting for XXY I was amazed to meet a girl that could look 15 being 23, which allowed me to work with a woman, with the head and understanding of a woman, in the body of a girl. Inés has this eyes that look so young and so old at the same time. She can talk and move like a child, but can be sexual and powerful and the same time. She creates combinations which would seem impossible.
I'd been casting for eight months, seen hundreds of girls, before I found her. After that, for El niño pez, I didn�t think originally to work with her again but I did another casting of around six months, and ended making a casting with her and Emme ( Mariela Vitale ) . The second I saw them together I knew they were dynamite.
The Fish Child is now available on DVD for $19.95. Consumers who wish to rent or download the film can also find the movie on platforms including Comcast, Time Warner, Amazon.com, ITunes, Netflix, Vudu and many more.
