With the summer months waning down, A24 had found a perfect groove in 2019 by mixing modern horror hits with more socially conscious dramas. In their previous film Skin (2019), they took the follow-up for an Oscar-winning filmmaker and tackled racism from a unique perspective. With their next film Share (2019), they continued exploring taboo subjects, this time with sexual assault in a manner that is far from the conventional cinematic depiction. Some may take offense to the lack of a satisfying ending, where the perpetrator gets some sort of comeuppance. For director Pippa Bianco, that was not her intent. She chose the more difficult route and made another attention-grabbing title that earned more than enough rave reviews along the way to suggest the start of a promising new career.
Like Skin before, Share’s story begins with Bianco producing a short of the same name. The major difference between these two is that Bianco’s short largely ties to the final film, presenting a fleshed out version of her 10-minute short. Prior to working on her directorial career, she was best known for co-writing the Miles Teller film Bleed For This (2016). She had industry experience, but soon her attention turned to wanting to make films. Following directing a documentary short called Picturing Barbara Kruger (2015), she turned her attention to a story that had interested her for some time.
Bianco claims that the story was inspired by somebody she knew. She had a male friend who claimed to have filmed a consenting sexual experience with a woman. According to the director, she was surprised given that he didn’t fit the profile at all. He didn’t seem like the type who would do such devious things. Given that Bianco was a big fan of cinema’s more voyeuristic qualities – citing The Dardenne Brothers and Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video (1992) as an influence – she wanted to explore the story from the victim’s standpoint. She wanted to understand the results from a much more difficult standpoint.
Given that this was around 2014, the conversation around sexual assault was different. While she wasn’t rejected, many opposed the idea of how she was presenting protagonist Mandy’s journey. They claimed that she shouldn’t have been drunk or reckless, that she should’ve had more forethought. Bianco provided the counterpoint that she wanted to reflect sexual assault from a more realistic standpoint, where teenagers were acting like teenagers, and that the ultimate outcome was not about vengeance. According to Bianco, every character was designed as a good person capable of doing bad things. Even the “villain” of Share is far from a demonic force. There isn’t redemption, but more personal acceptance. Bianco claims that this was reflective of her own experience with survivors who desired to come to terms with everything in private.
Bianco has suggested that the first and last scene were always conceptualized in her head. In order to get any progress with the film, she first made Share (2015), starring Taissa Farmiga as Mandy with co-stars including Keir Gilchrist, Madisen Beaty, and Andre Royo. It was filmed as part of the American Film Institute’s (A.F.I.) Directing Workshop for Women) and featured crowdfunding from Indiegogo with some of the profits going to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (R.A.I.N.N.). With a tenseness, it garnered plenty of positive reviews. It became the only American short film to play Cannes in 2015, becoming the first recipient of The Cinefondation Award. It was also Farmiga’s first film at Cannes since A24’s The Bling Ring (2013).
This was enough to ratchet up interest from investors. In March 2017, A24 jumped on board roughly a year after The Sundance Institute made it part of their Screenwriter’s Lab. From there, they began to achieve resources that helped to make the film more sensitive and honest to Bianco’s vision. For instance, she demanded to strictly interview survivors who were public with their sexual assault stories while respecting their overall anonymity. Her overall goal was to make Mandy’s story a symbol of survivors who didn’t have triumphant days in courts. Bianco believed that the ultimate message should be that even those who were able to get out of bed and live their lives were heroes. Even with this in mind, she wanted to avoid stereotypes while finding herself drawn to them, specifically regarding the parents unfairly judging Mandy for her actions. She eventually found a balance that was more compassionate and helped inform the story’s overall intent. Add in Bianco’s personal experience with crisis hotline operations, she knew that the best way to resolve the film was not to provide answers but give resources.
During the casting search, she found herself experiencing great difficulty finding a perfect Mandy. She believed that the girl needed to be more quiet and observant, and Bianco believed that American actors were too concerned with activity. She eventually found Rhianne Barreto, who captured Mandy’s quietness perfectly. Bianco was eager to work with her right away, though ran into various issues when it came to transportation. Since Barreto’s father was Iraqi, she looked suspicious to customs and was unable to travel to America. After three requests that included sponsorship from senators like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, they eventually had to move production to Canada, which everyone ended up enjoying more.
Between the time of filming and release, everything began to pick up for Bianco. The film would premiere at Sundance in 2019 where it would also be picked up by HBO for distribution. At the festival, the film would receive three nominations, including two wins that were U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Barreto, and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Bianco. Given that they were coming off of another sexual assault film with The Tale (2018), it felt like they were trying to bank off of the film’s important message. It would also be the second film after Native Son (2019) to be co-released with A24 and HBO. To go one step further, Bianco would even work on another A24 and HBO co-production: the hit TV series Euphoria. Considering that early trailers for Share immediately drew comparisons to the teen drama, it was clear that they were banking on the film’s success.
Another thing that differed between the 2015 short and 2019 film was the presence of The Me Too Movement. The decision to comment on sexual assault was suddenly a more realistic conversation. While some still argued that Bianco was depicting it in an unrealistic way, it still received acclaim.
According to critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film earned an 85% rating. Compared to the 33% audience rating, it presented one of the bigger divides for a 2019 A24 movie, likely due to its subject and lack of satisfying conclusion. Leading the positive feedback was Poulomi Das of the Hindu Business Line who suggested that “Pippa Bianco deconstructs the unique complexities of modern survivorship with a sobering portrait of just how much it takes to be an assault survivor in an age where the internet doesn't let go of the memory of you.” Sharing the enthusiasm was Alissa Wilkinson of Vox who noted “A sensitive, complex, important film - particularly in a world where the lines of consent and accusations of sexual assault still seem to be up for debate.” The few who disagreed included Inkoo Kang of Slate who said that “Share's ascetic dismissal of concrete details renders the film alienating, even off-putting.” Overall, it was well-received and left a positive reputation for everyone involved.
As of this publication, Bianco hasn’t yet announced another project. Barreto meanwhile has moved onto mostly TV, including the Amazon series Hanna. It was another great example of how art could be used to convey dark messages in ways that are empathetic and personable. Bianco achieved her goal of making a provocative take on a taboo subject. It was heartfelt and one of many indie films to explore the changing perspective of women in cinema with Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) and The Assistant (2020) only helping to amplify the need for women to speak up and hopefully change the conversation for the better. While Share didn’t quite capture the zeitgeist with as much acclaim as HBO’s The Tale, it did plenty to show how diverse the approach to this story things can go.
With the summer winding down, A24 moved on to a returning collaboration with one-half of the Swiss Army Man (2016) team with a film that was challenging in a very different way. It was a story about men’s foolishness finally catching up with them, creating this heartbreaking reality that existed both in the realm of tragedy and dark comedy. It also would temporarily revive Nickelback and make for one of the oddest entries that the studio released in 2019 – and that’s including The Lighthouse (2019).
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