Morning discussion: Mary Sweeney (Sodankylä 2023)

Mary Sweeney in the morning discussion, hosted by Otto Kylmälä, The School, Sodankylä, Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF), 17 June 2023. Photo: Susanna Pesonen.

Mary Sweeney in the morning discussion, The School, Sodankylä, Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF), 17 June 2023. Photo: Hilma Toivonen.

In English, hosted by Otto Kylmälä

The School, Sodankylä, Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF), 17 June 2023

MARY SWEENEY

Otto Kylmälä (MSFF 2023): "Mary Sweeney’s versatile career in film has spanned over forty years. Her filmography is characterised by collaboration with film director David Lynch, whose surreal and mystical films, edited and produced by Sweeney, have become modern classics.

As they say, behind every successful man there is a woman, and Sweeney is that woman, whose significant contribution has so enhanced award-winning films and TV series that cruise down the dark roads of dream worlds. As a producer, she enables rare artistic freedom and, as an editor, she cuts abundant and ambiguous material into an emotive experience whilst ensuring that viewers stay on track.

Sweeney began her career as an assistant editor and sound editor on quality dramas such as Warren Beatty’s Reds (1981) and Bruce Beresford’s Tender Mercies (1983). She started working with David Lynch as an assistant editor on the films Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990), after which she quickly progressed to become a key collaborator with Lynch as his producer and editor.

Their decades-long collaboration resulted in the biggest milestones in their respective careers, including one of the greatest TV series of all time Twin Peaks (1990–1991) and the murder mystery Lost Highway (1997), subconsciously inspired by the O. J. Simpson trial. Mulholland Drive (2001), the phoenix that rose from the ashes of an abandoned TV pilot, is considered one of the best films of the 2000s, earning Sweeney the 2002 BAFTA Award for best editing.

In the late 1990s, Sweeney drew inspiration from a true story to write the screenplay for The Straight Story (1999), a gentle film and arguably one of Lynch’s best. The warm and humane drama tells the story of Alvin Straight, a 70-year-old war veteran, who travels hundreds of kilometres on his lawnmower across the states to make amends with his dying brother.

Sweeney’s own directorial debut Baraboo (2009) reflects the compassionately humanitarian tone of The Straight Story, interweaving the lives of six individuals in different situations, set in the dingy motel district of a small town. Against the backdrop of picture-postcard landscapes, the film’s nucleus of warm-hearted reciprocal care conceals an altogether darker undertone and the scars borne by three generations affected by war.

Alongside her filmmaking, Sweeney teaches at the University of Southern California, exploring ‘Myths and Metaphors’ and encouraging students to think beyond rigid dramatic conventions. Her latest venture has brought her into the world of podcasts to collaborate with brain imaging professor Jonas Kaplan on the spellbinding podcast FLOAT, which explores the interconnections between art, creativity, and neuroscience." Otto Kylmälä

MSFF 2023 Resume: 17 June 2023 Aamukeskustelussa Mary Sweeney

" Lauantain aamukeskustelussa kuultiin yhdysvaltalaista leikkaaja-ohjaaja-tuottaja Mary Sweeneytä (s. 1953), joka tunnetaan parhaiten yhteistyöstään David Lynchin kanssa. Sweeneyn mukaan työ Lynchin elokuvien leikkaajana on toiminut, sillä Sweeney seuraa Lynchiltä saatua käsikirjoitusta ottamatta liikaa taiteellisia vapauksia. Sweeney kokee myös, ettei tarvitse eriteltyjä vastauksia siihen, mitä elokuvien mystiset asiat tarkoittivat: “David on runollinen kun miettii elokuvan kieltä, mutta runous kirjoitetaan lopulta leikkaushuoneessa.”

Sen sijaan hänen leikkausprosessinsa pohjautuu elokuvan emotionaaliseen maisemaan. Sweeneyn mukaan elokuvan pitää tuntua aidolta, ja vetää tunteiden kautta katsoja sisään: “Minusta empatia ja unelmointi ovat hyviä piirteitä leikkaajassa”, Sweeney totesi ja kertoi olleensa jo lapsesta saakka samankaltainen unelmoija. Sweeney toteaa myös osaavansa seurata Lynchin logiikkaa: “Leikkauksessa ei ole sääntöjä, mutta on noudatettava sisäistä logiikkaa. Tosin Davidin logiikka ei ole kovin loogista”, Sweeney naurahtaan ja jatkaa: “Mitä syvemmälle pääsin leikkaajan työssäni, sitä paremmin ymmärsin että logiikan tunnistamista ei voi opiskella.”

Sweeney rakastui huumaavasti leikkaamiseen opiskellessaan New Yorkin yliopistossa 80-luvun alussa. Siellä hän koki pystyvänsä hyödyntämään monia eri ongelmanratkaisutaitojaan samaan aikaan. Leikkaamisen taito vaati kuulemma harjaantumista ja useita toistoja ennen, kun hän alkoi olemaan tyytyväinen työhönsä. Hän toimi ensimmäisessä työssään legendaarisen Dede Allenin alaisena elokuvassa Punaiset (1981). Sweeneyn mukaan aikanaan leikkaamisen ajateltiin olevan kuin kodinhoitoa, siivoamista ja järjestelyä. Tämän vuoksi se jätettiin naisten hoidettavaksi. Kun Allen alkoi saada tunnustusta kyvyistään, miehetkin halusivat päästä alalle.  Sweeney mainitsee myös, ettei koskaan tavannut Allenia: “Työskentelin kaksi kerrosta hänen alapuolellaan.”

Lynchin kanssa yhteistyö alkoi apulaisena Twin Peaksin toisella kaudella. Lynchin aikaisempia elokuvia leikannut Duwayne Dunham ei ehtinyt editoida toisen kauden jaksoa, jossa Laura Palmerin murhaaja paljastuu, joten työ annettiin Sweeneylle. 

Sweeneyn tunnettavuus kasvoi myös elokuvan Lost Highway (1997) kautta, jonka tuottajana hän toimi. Tositapahtumiin perustuvan The Straight Storyn (1999) ideaa hän tarjosi itse Lynchille: “Halusin jonkin projektin, jossa David pääsisi näyttämään samaa puoltaan kuin Elefanttimiehessä (1980). Tunnistin itsepäiset, köyhyysrajan alapuolella olevat hahmot omasta lapsuudestani”, sanoo Wisconsinissa maitotilalla kasvanut Sweeney. Hän myös käsikirjoitti elokuvan itse. 

Nykyään Sweeney toimii käsikirjoittamisen opettajana ja haluaisi maalata ja ohjata enemmän lyhytelokuvia. " 

June 17: Morning Discussion with Mary Sweeney

MSFF 2023: " In Saturday’s morning discussion we heard editor, director, and producer Mary Sweeney (1953) best known for her collaborations with David Lynch. According to Sweeney, she has been a good editor for Lynch’s films because she adheres to the script and does not take liberties with it and does not ask questions about the meaning of the mythical elements in the films.

“David is poetic in his thinking of the cinematic language. Poetry is written in editing.” Instead, she relies on the film’s emotional landscape while editing. Sweeney says that the film needs to feel authentic and pull the viewer in through emotions. “Empathy and dreaminess are good traits for a film editor,” Sweeney said and continued that she had been a dreamer ever since her childhood. She received a Catholic education and would empathise deeply with for example the Stations of the Cross.

Sweeney fell in love with editing while studying at New York University in the beginning of the 80s because she felt she was able to use many of her problem-solving capabilities in it, although at first, she felt that her editing was “pretty bad”. In her first job she worked under the legendary Dede Allen on Reds (1981). “I worked two floors down, so I never saw her.”

Sweeney said that at the time editing was understood as housekeeping: cleaning and tidying up, and hence it was left to women. When Allen started to gain respect for her work men wanted to get into editing as well.

Sweeney’s collaboration with Lynch started as assistant on the second season of Twin Peaks. Duwayne Dunham who had edited Lynch’s earlier films did not have time to edit the episode in which Laura Palmer’s murderer is revealed, so Sweeney got the job.

“There are no rules in editing. I recognised the need for logic. David’s logic, so not very logical,” Sweeney explains laughing.

Finally, Sweeney became the producer of Lost Highway (1997) among other films. She offered the idea for The Straight Story (1999) based on a true story to Lynch. “I was looking for projects that would go back to Elephant man side of David. I recognised the stubborn character living in poverty from my own childhood,” says Sweeney who grew up on a milk farm in Wisconsin. She also wrote the script herself.

These days Sweeney teaches screen writing and would like to have more time for painting and directing short films. She was relieved that she was not asked to teach editing, as she finds that the trade is best learned hands on. “The deeper I went into editing the more I understood that the logic is not something you can study,” she said. " MSFF 2023

AA: I am a big aficionado of the Sodankylä morning discussions, and this one was among the best ever. 

Q: What was the first film you saw? 
A: PT-109 (US 1963, D: Leslie H. Martinson) with Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy.

Q: Which film would you take to the desert island?
A: Le Scaphandre et le papillon / The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (FR/US 2007, D: Julian Schnabel), starring Mathieu Amalric.