"I didn't want it to be a story about overcoming adversity": Director Gemma Blasco on Spanish drama 'Fury'

Washington [US], March 19 : Gemma Blasco made her feature debut with the Spanish drama 'Fury', the tale of a young woman trying to cope with a traumatic experience and who finds a channel for her rage on the stage.
Written by Blasco and Eva Paune, the film follows Alex, a young woman, played by Angela Cervantes, trying to come to terms with a violent assault she suffers at a New Year's Eve party. "'Fury' came from a desire to offer a different, darker and more visceral vision of the consequences of sexual violence. When I was 18, I was sexually assaulted, and shortly after, I started studying film," said Blasco, reported Variety.
"It didn't take me long to realise that, one day, I would end up making this film because I couldn't find any references that I felt represented me and the way I was feeling inside. I wanted to see a representation that was dirtier and grittier rather than one that was somehow romanticized and sugar-coated," added the director.
"I didn't want it to be a story about overcoming adversity. I wanted to really delve into the depths of the traumatic process. The script was born from 'beacon' images I'd been accumulating over the years, like gutted boars, Greek tragedy, blood, and the night. Slowly, I started putting the pieces together and getting closer to the characters. And just as the protagonist of the film uses theatre to channel that fury, I wanted to use my role as director of the film in the same way," as per the outlet.
Blasco shared that the film "is more of an exploration of human nature, although I have used elements of toxic, masculine behaviour to get there."
"It has to do with both those things," Blasco added. "On the one hand, I wanted to see what would happen if I brought together two different ways of channelling that trauma: one in a woman, the victim herself, and the other in her brother, who feels he should have protected her but isn't the victim himself.
"In a way, the film also explores gender mandates, or how, culturally, we have been taught to manage our emotions. Men are more connected to or validated by anger and fury. They have also been taught that they should protect us women, just as we have been taught to look for that protection, rather than looking for our own autonomy. We have also been taught more to mediate, to manage our emotions through words and through care," shared Gemma, as per the outlet.
The filmmaker continued, "As a person, I am not interested in violence. In fact, I reject it, and it paralyzes me. But as a director, it was interesting for me to explore it and to develop a female character who does decide to channel the fury she's carrying inside. She validates herself and goes on a journey that is much more visceral and primitive. She even feels attracted by it."
Produced by Barcelona-based Ringo Media and RM Pelicula AIE in Torrevelilla, "Fury" is sold internationally by Filmax, which also releases the film in Spanish theatres on March 28, reported Variety.