Olmo & the Seagull

Pregnant women often lose teeth because the unborn child draws calcium from their bodies. The acquaintance who told Olivia this seemed unfazed, but it made quite an impression on this young actress. As well as making her lose her teeth, the baby could also make her lose the starring role in Chekhov’s The Seagull, her career, her everything. Impending motherhood is hell for this woman, who as a child said she only existed when she had an audience. When she’s passed over for a North American tour, she thinks she’ll go insane just like Nina, the character in Chekhov’s play. Olmo and the Seagull can be viewed as a form of exorcism. Olivia and her boyfriend Serge re-enact this period from their life, intercutting these scenes with in-the-moment improvisation and an earlier performance of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. In voice-over, Olivia reads aloud passages from her journal. Sometimes the film’s directors interject, highlighting the film’s multilayered reality. Where does the acting stop and real life begin? Aren’t we always playing a role? But for Olivia, the film also forms a bridge between her theatrical life and her new role as a mother. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)