On a typically gloomy day in London, Gina, a young and beautiful radiologist, is sure she just saw herself driving by—in her own car. When she follows her mysterious doppelganger into an unfamiliar apartment, she isn’t quite sure she can trust her own eyes until she spots a photo of herself and her father on the entryway table. Understandably spooked, she dashes back down to her car. Soon she finds herself in the hospital, unable to remember what has put her there or much about the strange woman. What Gina does know is her boyfriend seems different, the ceiling above the bathtub leaks blood in her dreams, and broken mirrors are becoming a recurring theme in her life. Increasingly paranoid, Gina is experiencing a bizarre and horrific version of her former life, and as things spiral out of control, she must escape from, or come to grips with, her new reality.

Sean Ellis’s vision of London is full of shadows and blind corners. A color palette that matches the foreboding skies and well-placed overhead shots of the bewildering street pattern heighten the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped with Gina in an inescapable maze. As Gina struggles to put the pieces together, you may wonder about your own bathroom mirror, and who stares back at you in the middle of the night.
- Sundance Film Guide

Pr: Lene Bausager
Ci: Angus Hudson
Ed: Scott Thomas
PrD: Morgan Kennedy
Mu: Guy Farley
CoD: Vicki Russell

Sundance 2008 Interview: Sean Ellis (The Brøken)

Sean Ellis

Can you discuss the genesis of this project - how did the initial idea come about? 
The idea came from the thought of seeing yourself drive past on the street. I had also always loved the Edgar Allan Poe story of William Wilson and ended up using a quote from it at the front of the film. 

Can you elaborate on what kind of work went into the pre-production process (how long you've been working on this project prior to pre-production and what specifically you did to prepare, and were there specific people involved in this process that are worth signaling out?
I started writing the script in 2001. So really it's my first film as I wrote it way before Cashback. It went through many changes as financers came on board but I eventually completely re-wrote the script the way I thought it should be just before I started shooting Cashback. At that point and to the day I shot The Brøken the script was in its purest form. The French studio was happy for me to run with it on the strength of Cashback. 

Would you care to share with us why Broken is spelled with this ∅?
Well the O has a straight line through it in the title sequence. It represents, in some ways, the mirror. The only trouble is that on a normal keyboard the slash through the O is slanted but it just stuck and everyone started typing it out like that. 

As witnessed with your fluid filmmaking style in Cashback - you're particularly creative in terms of the visual facets of a film. What aesthetic decisions did you make prior to shooting?
Everything has to be planned before shooting. This film was very much in my head so it was long conversations with production design, cameraman and costume to make sure that the images in my head found their way safely onto film.

If you could name just one - what stands out as your most favorite experience you had during filming?  
I think the fact that there is emotion through visuals. I want to feel moved when I see a film. It's hard to experience when it's your own film but I think the film blends a dark nightmarish atmosphere with that of the emotional realization of the lead character.

Anatomy of a scene: What was the most difficult sequence during production?
I think the car crash was the most difficult thing to achieve. I wanted it to look like nothing I had ever seen before, so it was well planned, and not to mention our most expensive day of filming. We had six cameras running at 1,500 frames a second and crashed four cars.

What was the most challenging aspect of the production?
Any film is challenging. It's a very difficult thing to do well and even then sometimes you don't know why something is working or not. It's like one large sleep deprivation experiment.

At what part in the timeline did you and Lene (Bausager) consider submitting the film to Sundance?
As we were nearing the final editing stage it looked clear that the best platform for the film was Sundance.  We submitted a work in progress screener and then we were lucky enough to get selected. We finished the film two weeks ago so it was a close run thing. It's not only its world premiere in Sundance but it will be the first time it has played in front of an audience completely finished. I am very interested to see how we did. 

The Brøken is part of the Park City at Midnight section at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking distribution.