My Love Affair with Marriage explained

Director:Signe Baumane
Music:Kristian Sensini
Layout Artist:Signe Baumane
Runtime:108 minutes
Language:English

My Love Affair with Marriage is a 2022 semi-autobiographical adult animated musical comedy-drama film animated, written and directed by Signe Baumane, her second feature following Rocks in My Pockets (2014). The story follows a young woman, Zelma, on her 23-year quest for perfect love and lasting marriage, set against a backdrop of historic events in Eastern Europe. Pressured by Mythology Sirens to be the ideal woman and is unable to free herself from the biology of her own brain, Zelma finds love and loses it multiple times before discovering who she really is. Told from a female point of view, this is a coming-of-age story of love, gender, marriage, abuse, hopes, fantasies, and ultimately, finding a better place for women in society.

An international co-production of companies in Latvia, the United States and Luxembourg, the film took seven years to complete. Kristian Sensini of Italy composed 24 songs and wrote the score. Yajun Shi of China animated the Biology sections. Dagmara Dominczyk voices Zelma, with executive producer Matthew Modineas being one of Zelma's husbands.[1]

My Love Affair with Marriage had its world premiere at Tribeca Festival on June 11, 2022 and went on to screen at many other international festivals. It won a Jury Distinction for a Feature Film award at Annecy International Animation Film Festival,[2] an Excellence in Narrative Directing award at Woodstock Film Festival,[3] Best Feature Film awards at both Viborg Animation Festival[4] and Fredrikstad Animation Festival[5] and was nominated for a European Film Academy Award,[6] the first Latvian film to do so. Huffington Post named it as "one of the best movies of 2022."[7]

Plot

Hungry for love and acceptance, young Zelma feels incomplete. Hounded by three singing Mythology Sirens, she sets out on a 23-year quest for perfect love and lasting marriage. She is unaware, however, that her own Biology is a powerful force to be reckoned with.

More than anything, 8-year-old Zelma wants love. Only love will make her complete, the Mythology Sirens insist. But love is elusive when you are an outcast at school and a loner at home. Guided by the Mythology Siren's hypnotic songs, Zelma tries to change herself into the kind of girl that boys like – cute, weak, demure.

But there are consequences, counters Biology. Zelma has DNA, millions of neural pathways, and a vast array of chemical reactions inside her brain that make up her personality. Zelma has no choice but to be a battleground of conflicts between the Mythology Sirens and Biology as she struggles to find her own ground.

Coming of age brings blood and creepy compliments. Her early sexual encounters confound her, and, tragically, her best friend Darya dies in childbirth. Zelma is comforted by marriage to Sergei, but it soon veers into domestic abuse. A second, gender-bending marriage to Bo, though brief, deepens her understanding of herself and her place in the world.

Voice cast

Development

Writing

Baumane began the script in 2015. She set out to write about her second marriage to a self-described gender-bending man from Sweden, but soon expanded the story to explore what made them want to get married in the first place. From there, a story of a young woman's search for love, purpose and meaning emerged. Baumane asked herself where do young women get the idea that they have to marry to be a complete person and have a worthy life? Where does it start? Also, what is love? What's the basis of it? What happens neurologically when people fall in and out of love?

Over the next year Baumane researched the biology of love and consulted periodically with NYU professor Pascal Wallisch, PhD for scientific accuracy. She wrote 24 drafts of the script weaving into her story the ways body chemistry dictates many of the decisions humans make and the feelings they feel. For this she created a neuron-like character, Biology. She also researched the anthropology and culture of love and created three singing, shape-shifting characters, the Mythology Sirens, who try to influence Zelma through pop songs. Composer Kristian Sensini wrote the music to Baumane's lyrics.[11] [12] [13]

Casting and recording

Baumane and casting director Sturgis Warner looked to cast actors with extensive theater credits and excellent language skills. They signed a Theatrical Contract with SAG-AFTRA and began making offers. Dagmara Dominczyk played Zelma from ages 7 to 29 and narrated the film from an older age. Michele Pawk voiced the second narrator, Biology. The Latvian singing group Trio Limonāde recorded the Mythology Sirens both in English and Latvian (for the Latvian language version). Matthew Modine came on board to voice Bo, Zelma's second husband, and with him brought three actors from Shameless: Cameron Monaghan to voice Sergei, Zelma's first husband, Emma Kenney and Ruby Modine.

in 2017, Baumane and Warner recorded 29 actors and singers[14] in New York City, Los Angeles and Riga, Latvia. Arjun G. Sheth, the New York Recording engineer, edited the recordings into a working vocal track.[15]

In 2021, Storm Large recorded Lion / My Love Affair with Marriage, the end-credit song with music by Sensini and lyrics by Baumane.

Production

In Brooklyn, the production process began with the construction of background sets, approximately 65 of them for the 145 scenes in the film. Warner built each set out of wood creating 3-D environments into which Baumane animated her 2-D characters. When finished, he would pass the set on to the art department where the team would cover it with papier-mâché, paint an undercoat of black, then four more coats, darkest colors to lightest, to create textured looks on the surfaces of the set.

Warner, also lighting designer, then lit the set and Baumane, the Cinematographer, photographed it using an array of stop-motion techniques to create zooms, pans and other camera movements. Once a set was photographed, Baumane imported the shots into Premiere Pro to see how the images fit with the vocal track. She would print out the chosen images and using a light box to precisely line up fresh pieces of paper, she would animate 2-D characters, pencil on paper, into the photographed scene. The team scanned the drawings, organized them, and sent them to the Latvian team working at Studio Locomotive in Riga led by Producer Roberts Vinovskis. The Latvian team colored the drawings in Photoshop and composited the characters into the photographs using After Effects. Finally, they would create QuickTime movies to send back to Brooklyn for editing.[16] [17]

Animation

Baumane animated all the characters in My Love Affair with Marriage with the exception of Biology. She worked in the traditional animation style, pencil on paper, using 662 pencils in all. Baumane explained, "I like animating on paper because the pencil becomes an extension of my hand, and the impulse goes from my gut into my heart, through my shoulder into my fingertips and when I draw the line, I become one with the line, I become one with the pencil and that is an expression of what I feel and who I am. And so, pencil and paper inspire me the way that no software, no computer program can inspire me."

Yajun Shi animated the Biology sections, thirteen minutes altogether. Baumane wanted a different animator for those sections, but one with a style that would complement her own. Shi animated on a tablet directly in Photoshop and moved back and forth between Photoshop and After Effects to create her unique style.

My Love Affair with Marriage has four different styles of animation representing four distinct worlds.

Post-production

Baumane and Warner edited the final picture. Post-production sound was created at Philophon Studios in Luxembourg, produced by Raoul Nadalet of Antevita Films and financed by FilmFund Luxembourg.

In Riga, the team at Studio Locomotive executed final mastering and color correction, and prepared all the deliverables – the various formats a feature film needs for widespread distribution.

Financing

My Love Affair with Marriage is an independent production funded over a six-year period by 1,685 individual backers and grants from a variety of institutions and foundations.

Release

New Europe Film Sales is the international sales agent for the film.[27]

My Love Affair with Marriage had three premieres over a five-day period: the World Premiere at Tribeca Festival in New York City on June 11, 2022,[28] the European Premiere at Annecy International Animation Film Festival[29] in France June 15, 2022, and the Latin American Premiere at Guadalajara International Film Festival[30] in Mexico June 15, 2022. It has gone on to screen at over 90 other international film festivals winning multiple awards along the way.

Reception

Accolades

!Festival!Date ofCeremony!AwardCategory!Recipient!Result!Ref.
Tribeca Festival, New York CityJune 16, 2022International Feature CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[42]
Annecy International Animation Film Festival, FranceJune 18, 2022Feature Films in CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageJury Distinction for a Feature Film[43]
FICG – Guadalajara International Film Festival, MexicoJune 18, 2022Best International Animation FeatureMy Love Affair with MarriageHonorable Mention[44]
FEFFS Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival, FranceOctober 1, 2022Independent Animated Films CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[45]
Woodstock Film Festival, New YorkOctober 1, 2022Feature NarrativeSigne BaumaneExcellence in Narrative Directing[46]
Viborg Animation Festival, DenmarkOctober 2, 2022VAF Best Feature Film 2022My Love Affair with MarriageWinner[47]
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, TurkeyOctober 8, 2022International Feature Film CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[48]
Anim'est International Animation Film Festival, RomaniaOctober 14, 2022Best Feature FilmMy Love Affair with MarriageSpecial Mention for a Feature film[49]
Riga International Film Festival, LatviaOctober 22, 2022Feature Film CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageSpecial Mention[50]
Fredrikstad Animation Festival, NorwayOctober 23, 2022Nordic-Baltic Competition – Feature FilmsMy Love Affair with MarriageBest Feature Film[51]
BIAF Bucheon International Animation Film Festival, South KoreaOctober 25, 2022International Competition – Feature FilmMy Love Affair with MarriageSpecial Distinction Prize[52]
Raindance Film Festival, London, UKNovember 4, 2022Best International FeatureMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[53]
Raindance Film Festival, London, UKNovember 4, 2022Best ScreenplaySigne BaumaneNominated
New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival, JapanNovember 6, 2022Official Selection for Feature FilmsMy Love Affair with MarriageGrand Prix for the Feature Films[54]
Sevilla International Film Festival, SpainNovember 12, 2022Official SelectionMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[55]
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, EstoniaNovember 27, 2022Baltic Film CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[56]
European Film Awards, IcelandDecember 10, 2022European Animation Feature FilmMy Love Affair with MarriageNominated[57]
Latvian National Film Awards, Lielais KristapsFebruary 26, 2023Animated Films CompetitionMy Love Affair with MarriageBest Animation Film[58]
Latvian National Film Awards, Lielais KristapsFebruary 26, 2023Animated Films CompetitionSigne BaumaneBest Director of an Animated Film
Latvian National Film Awards, Lielais KristapsFebruary 26, 2023Animated Films CompetitionSigne BaumaneBest Production Design of an Animated Film
Aswan International Women Film Festival, EgyptMarch 10, 2023Feature Film CompetitionSigne BaumaneBest Screenplay[59]
Aswan International Women Film Festival, EgyptMarch 10, 2023Feature Film CompetitionMy Love Affair With MarriageEgyptian Film Critics Association Award[60]
Tokyo Anime Award FestivalMarch 13, 2023Feature Film CompetitionMy Love Affair With MarriageNominated[61]
Créteil International Women's Film Festival FranceMarch 27, 2023Fiction CompetitionMy Love Affair With MarriageNominated[62]
Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films, GermanyApril 26, 2023Honorary Trickstar AwardSigne BaumaneHonorary Trickstar Award[63]
Anifilm, International Festival of Animated Films, CzechiaMay 7, 2023International Competition of Feature FilmsMy Love Affair With MarriageBest Feature Film for Grown-Ups[64]
Animafest Zagreb, CroatiaJune, 10, 2023Grand Competition for Feature FilmsMy Love Affair With MarriageGrand Prix for Animated Feature[65]
Female Eye Film Festival, Toronto, CanadaJuly 30, 2023Best Feature Film CompetitionMy Love Affair With MarriageBest Film[66]

References

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