Zoe Saldaña in The Absence of Eden
The Absence of Eden, now out in theaters, marks Italian-born artist Marco Perego’s directorial debut, starring Zoe Saldaña (who’s married to Perego) and Garrett Hedlund. Watching The Absence of Eden (produced by none other than Martin Scorsese) it is obvious that Perego has an incredible artistic eye, using stunning shots and the perfect color palette to convey the right emotions, while bringing a dramatic and complex story about immigration to the big screen.
Saldaña portrays Esmeralda, a dancer who is forced to leave her country because she killed a client as he was assaulting her. While making her way to the United States, Esmeralda becomes the guardian of a young girl, whose mother was just taken away from her by the smugglers. When Esmeralda finally arrives to her destination, she is also separated from the young girl, and has to take on an illegal job, in order to be reunited with her. Her story is intercut by Shipp’s, played by Hedlund, an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent, who will soon realize that his profession could have dramatic consequences on his personal life, as his own girlfriend might be an undocumented woman, played by Adria Arjona.
During our interview over Zoom, Saldaña declared: “Playing a character like Esmeralda was moving, because the conversation around immigration is very complex. We are all product of immigration somehow, across the globe. I’m a first generation, my grandmother came here in the 1960s and she made sure that we always understood why we are here, and what kind of people she wanted us to be. I married an emigrant from Italy, and finding his place is always a big conversation in his life, and missing is motherland is always a conversation, trying to teach our children who we are, where we all come from respectively is important. This was always a conversation for us, and Marco just wanted to highlight the humanity about it.” Hedlund added: ‘’I hope it can bring awareness and relatability to an audience and hopefully some compassion.’’
Saldaña’s always had a strong on-screen presence, whether she was the star of a Hollywood blockbuster, or of a smaller independent project. In The absence of Eden, the actress gives an incredibly powerful performance, and while she might have been very busy starring in huge movie franchises such as Avatar, The Guardians of the Galaxy or Star Trek, she previously declared that movies like this one help her stretch out her acting skills. I asked her what she learned about herself as an actress taking on this role, and if working with her husband added to the experience as well:
“I do suffer from a lot of anxiety, and I have a way of suppressing it and feeling like I can do it. Working with my husband gave me a level of security I have never experienced to that degree. And I knew it was a very heavy topic that we were dealing with, but it did feel like a playground where I was able to branch out and not feel so constricted. When you sign on for a director’s vision, you’re there to accomplish that for that director, and I completely understand the assignment, but it was very freeing to work with my husband.”
While The Absence of Eden paints a heartbreaking, realistic portrayal of what it means to cross the U.S. borders, the dangers and insecurities immigrants have to face every day, there is poetry and beauty in the way Perego and his cinematographer, Javier Julia, film their actors and the way they move their bodies like in a living painting, but also in the way they play with the light and colors.
“I really approached this like doing a sculpture” explained Perego “The film is designed in 3 different colors, white, red and blue like the American flag, and there’s a moment where all the immigrants are sitting down like in a Goya painting, so everything really felt like a sculpture.” But does Perego feel like his final vision is complete and does he feel as fulfilled with his first movie as a director, as he would have been with a sculpture ? “I never feel this way, I’m always researching, and I’m sure if I rewatch the movie now, I’ll know what I can do better. But I’m very proud of this film, and having collaborated with my wife. I felt very grateful and I learnt so much from her.”
‘’You remind me of this color palette and how it helped me, was knowing that every shot, every piece of wardrobe and pattern, wallpaper, they all had a purpose, a meaning’’ added Hedlund. ‘’For me in prep, it’s a beautiful thing when somebody brings such a poetic image to life for you. You can’t help but wanna leap into that environment, that’s what somebody like Marco, his sensibility, his craft, his poetry, and his artistry bring out.”
