That’s the conceit behindBlithe Spirit, a new film based on the 1941Noel Cowardplay of the same name.
Hall notes that the scene is one of the most pivotal in the film.
“The seance was a scene that I storyboarded really carefully,” he says.
Angus Young/StudioCanal
As seen in the image above, the sequence begins with an evocative overheard shot.
“It has to be real, but it also has to be ridiculous.”
Real meets ridiculous is an apt description of the film itself.
StudioCanal
But Hall has longed to put a more modern twist on the story for years.
It’s still set in England during the 1930s, but it gives the women greater agency and depth.
That amplification invites a surprising comparison.
StudioCanal
“That was very much tonally a touchstone for me,” he says.
“You don’t want to take it too seriously,” he says.
Much of that sensibility arises naturally out of Coward’s writing.
StudioCanal
Though not a household name like Shakespeare, he’s a perennial favorite on Broadway and the West End.
“He writes about something everybody has experienced: human, personal relationships,” Hall muses.
“He’s brilliant at getting to the center of what people mean to each other.
And he’s extraordinarily good at laying bare people’s hypocrisy.
Blithe Spiritwill be released by IFC Films in the fall.
