Hagai Levi, reknown for “The Affair” and “In Treatment,” is testing new waters with “Etty” – a story he has wanted to tell for 10 years.
Based on Etty Hillesum’s diaries, the show stars Julia Windischbauer, Sebastian Koch, Leopold Witte, Gijs Naber and Claire Bender. Currently screened at Series Mania following its Venice premiere, it has started out as a film.
“It kept expanding. I had a three-hour film and I needed more time. The series I made in the past were very much suited to television. This one is a film split into six episodes,” he tells Variety.
While the likes of “Severance,” “Baby Reindeer” and “The Rehearsal” have certainly piqued his interest, Levi is adamant:
“There’s not enough arthouse television – and certainly not in the U.S. The Golden Age of Television is over. Very few projects that can be considered artistic attempts. You need nudity and sex. American television has become corrupt, because it indulges in brutality, violence and violence against women. They are fascinated by evil, but in doing so, they contribute to it.”
Levi isn’t really bothered by how many people will watch his new show.
“It’s about who are the people who are going to watch it. I don’t do commercial television. Every project I work on is a passion project. It was the same with ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ and ‘Our Boys’.”
He discovered Hillesum shortly after the success of “In Treatment.” “I came back from the U.S. and I was a bit depressed. I had a feeling that whatever I had achieved was going to fade away. My therapist recommended this book,” he recalls.
“For many, many people, it became a life guide, [teaching them] how to find a place inside of them that can withstand terrible things. Ultimately, it’s about doing the right thing, being a hero and understanding the meaning of solidarity.”
However, here’s comes the shocker: Hillesum, a Dutch Jewish writer, died in Auschwitz in 1943. But “Etty,” with its contemporary setting, is definitely not about the WWII.
“If you keep telling WWII and Holocaust stories in the old-fashioned way, they become anecdotes from the past. Jonathan Glazer did a great job with ‘The Zone of Interest,’ but I needed to take it away from that territory. In every pitch, I started by saying: ‘This is not a Holocaust movie. This is not a Holocaust series’.”
“My biggest concern was that all Hillesum fans, and there are many, would say: ‘What have you done to our Etty?’ So far, they feel she has come to life again, which is why I chose this form. You can imagine yourself in this situation.”
‘Etty’
Courtesy of Series Mania
Buyers like WWII stories – but Levi couldn’t care less.
“I don’t really care about ‘selling’. That’s not my thing. In one article, they described it as ‘Hagai Levi’s Holocaust series’ and I was like: ‘This is not a Holocaust series at all!’ This book isn’t a ‘Holocaust book’ either. It speaks to you as a modern person. I didn’t go into the camps [to film]: It’s obscene to do these things. In order to tell these stories, you have to show their relevance.”
While “Etty,” produced by Les Films Du Poisson and co-produced by Komplizen Serien, Topkapi Series, Arte France and Quiddity, “has nothing to do with Israel” – “it’s only European money” – Levi is aware that even though he doesn’t depend on Israeli funds, he might still be subjected to a boycott.
“I think there’s a lot of justice in a boycott. I felt O.K. with a boycott on Russia. But the problem with a cultural boycott is that you punish the wrong people. Most of the artistic community in Israel are fighting the regime, and fighting really hard,” he states.
“Over the last three years, we have been on the streets fighting this government, trying to do whatever we can. People who want to boycott [Israel] need to be much more selective. Check who you are working with – I wouldn’t want to work with a Putin supporter either. Do a little research, find out where the money comes from and whether they support the occupation. But punishing the whole artistic community is problematic.”
He adds: “People are lazy. We don’t want to do the work and just put labels on things. As Israeli artists, we need help against this monstrous regime. Boycotting actually weakens this community.”
Etty’s act of solidarity, and her refusal to use her privilege, still touches him very deeply. Even though it doesn’t quite align with modern sensibilities or the tendency to put oneself first.
“I’ve been saying that about therapy for years: it doesn’t address morality, and it should. You should feel good about yourself, but you should also be a good person. I grew up in a religious family and would get up in the morning, thinking about what’s the right thing to do. It stayed with me.”
He continues: “It’s not enough to just feel. Etty is going through a spiritual transformation, but so many people do that. They go to India, do yoga. That’s great, but they should also think about improving the world, instead of sitting in top of the mountain all their lives. Do something for others with all these insights you’ve gained.”
Julia Windischbauer and Sebastian Koch in ‘Etty’
Courtesy of Series Mania
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