An Interview with Bloomington Director Fernanda Cardoso

“Oh, I want to be a director.” That’s like saying, “I want to be an astronaut.” [Laughs] It’s really hard work. But I thought, I have to try; I owe it to myself and to my family, and everyone who’s supported me on this journey. So, you know, I’d be cutting and editing all during the day; and at night I’d come home and try to hammer out this script. I think overall, from having the first idea until the script was finished, it was about six years.

Vp: The characters in Bloomington are very, very vivid; one of the things that really jumped out at me about this movie is how Freudian it is. There are so many parallels drawn between Jackie’s mom and the older woman who is her love interest. Is that intentional? Is that drawing on a psychology background, or is that just the story that these characters wanted to tell?

FC: You know, it kind of caught me by surprise, if I may say so. I see the parallels and the connections, people have pointed it out to me; but if you ask me was I thinking about those themes as I was writing, the answer is no. I think it just came out organically. I think? [Laughs] But, it’s surprising, I guess—some people are offended and grossed out by it, some people are okay with it.

Vp: I have to admit, it surprises me to hear you say that; because it does seem really deliberate in some ways. You’ve got these two blonde actresses playing the mother and the lover, who both have nice cheekbones and similar facial structures…and there’s a decent amount of Mommy stuff going on between Catherine and Jackie, like when Catherine leans over and just starts cutting Jackie’s food for her at the dinner table. That was where my friends and I all started talking to the screen and saying, “Oh, nooo…what are you doing?”

FC: Yeah, I’ve sat through a lot of festival screenings and had that be the part where people start screaming and booing.

Vp: It does make people uncomfortable, but I think there’s a real double-standard between exploring the Oedipus Complex—the hetero-normative version of that—versus seeing it in a queer narrative.

FC: Yes! Absolutely. There are a ton of those themes in films with men and women. I don’t want to