Céline Roustan
Public transportation terminals are the home of so many emotions and while they always provide good opportunities for people watching, they are much more than “just” a location, in some situations they can actually be a character on their own. In writer/director Kim Allamand’s Terminal, an older woman spends her time at a bus station hesitating to get on a bus. Full of metaphors and symbolism, Allamand subtly captures the random beauty of such a situation, leaving every single viewer to their own interpretation.
“Location first, then find a story”
When we asked Allamand how the idea of the film came to be, he confessed that it was driven by the idea of making a film in a single setting. Explaining it was a case of “location first, then find a story in it”, the director cites Paul Schrader’s “Trancendental Style in Film” as an inspiration for his film. What’s interesting in his process is how he reverses the conventional character and story development stages by first finding a promising environment and then placing people and objects there, building a story around how they all interact – which he believe portrays “more than spoken words”.
With such an importance given to the location, the terminal, Jonas Jäggy’s cinematography plays a paramount role in bringing the location to life and making it a character. Shot on film with carefully constructed frames, the atmosphere of the terminal is certainly immersive through the film, giving the audience the feeling of being present in this setting, alongside the short’s protagonist. “The film is constructed out of only 20 shots” explains Allamand, and each one of them paints the scene, to the point where, maybe because of the romanticism I naturally add to the location, I could feel the temperature and the smells of that bus terminal.
Margherita Schoch (left) as Terminal’s central character – an 80yr-old woman waiting for the right time to leave on a bus.
Narratively, the driving force of the film is this older woman, wonderfully portrayed by Margherita Schoch. Not only does she trap us in this groundhog day situation where every day seems to repeat itself, we see and experience everything through her eyes. However, where she is most compelling is in bringing her character’s emotional journey subtly to the surface during her different encounters with strangers. It is inevitable she’ll get on that bus.. But when?
Terminal had its world premiere at the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival where it was awarded Best Swiss Newcomer and the Young Best Jury Awards. Allamand is currently working on some ideas for short films, while also focusing on his first feature project.