A bewitching little film by the Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski called My Summer of Love was cause for optimism in the British film industry in 2004. It told of a breathless affair between a mismatched pair of teenage girls, and it launched the careers of two talented young actresses.
Of the two, the pert and pretty Emily Blunt earned her share of fans, but it was the elfin redhead Nathalie Press who ultimately walked away with most of the plaudits — she earned a nomination for Best Actress at the European Film Awards in December, competing with those art-house queens Juliette Binoche and Audrey Tautou.
“It was like an explosion going off in my head,” says Press of the impact My Summer of Love had on her life and career. “I was in shock for a couple of months after we finished filming because I was so exhausted and so amazed. Amazed when I got the audition, amazed when they said they were keen, amazed when I went for the 100th recall and amazed when we got the green light. I knew it was something major in my life.”
Since My Summer of Love Press has appeared in the BBC dramatisation of Bleak House and had her first taste of Oscar recognition as the star of Andrea Arnold’s prize-winning short film Wasp. She couldn’t make it to the ceremony because of filming commitments on Bleak House. “It would have been amazing. I just think, OK, perhaps one day I’m going to be back. But oh, that goodie bag!” Now Press is back on the big screen in Song of Songs, a feature debut by Josh Appignanesi (see review, page 17). She can’t be sent too many scripts that deal with sado-masochism, incest and religious orthodoxy set against the backdrop of the Hendon Hasidic community. “I just thought, how brave. Basically, I like being challenged. I like being able to surprise.”
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While Mona in My Summer of Love was a blur of gangling adolescent intensity, what you notice about devout Ruth, recently returned from Israel to nurse her dying mother, is her stillness. She’s cocooned by her own stifling sense of propriety. You can’t take your eyes off her face — there you catch glimpses of the murky impulses that manifest themselves later in the film. This is opaque, uncomfortable and alienating film-making. But Ruth, absorbed in her pursuit of a twisted kind of religious ecstasy, is a fascinating creation.
Press was raised in a practising Jewish household. Her Catholic mother converted to Judaism to marry and the Press family regularly attended synagogue. Although she no longer practises, Press was able to explore her cultural and religious heritage for the role. “I had to relearn things. I couldn’t believe that I was revisiting my religion for a film. I got a real kick out of that.” So has the experience rekindled her religious conscience? “It has pushed my guilt button a bit.”
The latest project for Press is another collaboration with Arnold. Red Road is the first part of a trilogy of films commissioned by Lars von Trier and “shrouded in mystery”. Three short-film makers will each make a feature film in accordance with a set of rules dictated by von Trier — one of which is that the same ten actors appear in each. Shooting has finished on Arnold’s segment, so Press will next start work on features directed by Mikkel Nørgaard and Morag Mackinnon.
You could be forgiven for assuming that Press’s tastes veer towards the esoteric and arty. But while she loves Michael Haneke and raves about Samantha Morton and Cate Blanchett, she has recently discovered Hollywood’s ruling teen princess Lindsay Lohan. “She’s about 12 or something but she’s amazing. I’m a fan, big time. She’s got loads of freckles as well.”
Press is far more confident and upbeat than the girl I first met when My Summer of Love had just started its journey, the girl who couldn’t quite bring herself to trust that the roles were going to keep coming. “I was being down on the British industry, but every film industry is going to feel frustrating because our dreams are always dreams. But honestly, to have worked with Pawel, to have worked with Andrea twice, to have worked with (short-film director) Alnoor Dewshi twice. And Neil Hunter I’m going to work with. I’m doing The Sycamores with him. Really there should be no complaints.”