From the Film Maker...

I used geometrical shapes, as the painting does, to give an idea of a static, rigid environment. Alternating shots of the two opposite sides of the room suggest the two characters are constricted within their limited space. The character of the wife doesn't seem to have a relationship with the husband; the mistress doesn't seem satisfied by being just a lover.

In my film, spatial distances suggest an unspoken relationship between the characters, as they do in the painting. The figure of the husband, always present in the background, highlights his part of the story. This echoes the man in 'Peepshow' reading a book in the background. I used opposite spaces and objects; the broom leans against the wife's side of the room and is facing the red chair placed on the mistress's side.

My set represents the interior of the house in the painting, my aim was to get as close as possible to the composition and colours.

The major difference between the painting and my set, I believe, is the mood evoked. In 'Peepshow' the interior is bright and suggests quietness, while in my film the atmosphere is darker, echoing the anxiety of the characters.

The 'Peepshow' reminds me of a doll's-house. If you are playing with a doll's house you are aware that the space is not real although it tries to be realistic. Inside a doll's house everything comes to life, while everything outside disappears.

At the end of the film, the two women looking through the peepholes imagine themselves inside the space. They are both the 'actors' and the 'audience'. For me, the lack of characters in the painting allows your mind to play with the space.
Marco Devetak