From the Film Maker

When I was facing the painting and having my first eye contact with Mrs Edwards, I felt there was a story to reveal. She was standing still and looking straight at my eyes through the painting. She seemed quite confident and defiant. Her husband had a pleasant expression, perhaps helped by the bright light reflecting through the etching that he holds in one hand. Considering their positioning, the surrounding dead colours, the use of lighting and even the age difference, I wondered if she was betraying or may be about to betray her husband, who appears wiser and yet also more innocent. Her awareness appeared more heroic than anybody else in that room – the saints, the kings, and Christ – and this awareness has built up a pretty clever irony despite the whole composition and its style. As a result, I’ve decided to tell a story that I believe was hidden in the painting.

Eli Kasavi

A piece inspired by Ignace-Henri-Théodore Fantin-Latour, Mr and Mrs Edwin Edwards, 1875