TIFF
Over the past eight years, director Sofia Bohdanowicz and actress Deragh Campbell have created a fascinating cinematic partnership centered around the character of Audrey Benac. In “Measures for a Funeral”, their latest collaboration, they explore the blurred lines between biographical and semi-autobiographical storytelling, merging the legacy of a forgotten Canadian violinist, Kathleen Parlow, with their own artistic reflections. The result is a film that is metafictional and highly captivating throughout, oscillating between a portrait of Parlow and a meditation on preserving and interpreting history, art, and how these acts affect our personal identity.
Directed by: Sofia Bohdanowicz
Year: 2024
Country: Canada
Length: 142 minutes
The narrative follows Audrey (played by an emotionally expressive Campbell) as she starts a research project for her thesis to revive the legacy of Kathleen Parlow, her grandfather’s violin teacher. This project becomes a highly personal journey for Audrey, one that moves beyond a mandatory academic assignment into a spiritual and intellectual exploration of devotion. Through voiceovers and archival materials, the film allows Parlow’s presence to enter the narrative. This dual focus creates a dynamic and layered work that is as concerned with remembering Parlow’s legacy as it is with experiencing her life and work through a personal lens, one deeply tied to Bohdanowicz and Campbell’s own artistic identities.
Bohdanowicz’s storytelling approach combines these biographical and semi-autobiographical elements, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality, creating a work filled with philosophical and reflective dialogue that mirrors the research and emotional journey Audrey is undertaking. While the dialogue can sometimes feel thesis-like at the start, it heightens the film’s constant intellectual engagement, inviting viewers to consider the intersections between art, ancestry, inheritance, and memory. Discussions between characters often touch on themes like the societal value placed on different forms of art, lost ambitions, and the external forces that shape or destroy an artist’s path. These conversations add depth to the narrative, providing a lens through which the viewer can examine the broader implications of Parlow’s story and its resonance with contemporary struggles of -aspiring- artists, particularly women, in a world that often dictates what is considered “worthy” of remembrance.
The film features one of many standout sequences early on, dedicated to wax recordings of Parlow’s music, captured on fragile, century-old cylinders. Filmed with an immense amount of respect and passion, this sequence is one of the many in Bohdanowicz’s work that exemplifies the act of research as an essential, highly sensorial, laborious experience. This moment captures the magic and exhilaration of discovering and preserving lost art, adding to the film’s portrayal of research as a deeply engaging and essentially rewarding endeavor that teaches us about the past and ourselves.
Bohdanowicz often employs an associative editing style, which creates a fluid, non-linear approach, further enhancing its meta-narrative. Visual moments of Audrey’s present-day research are interwoven with a voice reading the works of Parlow describing her life, creating a dynamic interplay between past and present. This editing technique reinforces the idea that art and memory are not straightforward but are shaped by personal interpretation, emotion, and subconscious associations.
In terms of production, “Measures for a Funeral” is a massive evolution in Bohdanowicz’s work, with its deliberate camerawork, impressive sound design, and sophisticated aesthetic, all of which deepen the film’s immersive quality. These advancements do not detract from her minimalist style but rather enhance the viewer’s experience, drawing them into the connections between Audrey, Parlow, and the themes the film examines.
“Measures for a Funeral” dares to reach beyond the conventions of the biopic we’re used to seeing; instead forming a meditation on remembering and the devotion it demands. Bohdanowicz and Campbell have created a film that is haunting, intellectually stimulating, and emotionally resonant; a meta-cinematic reflection on art, history, and the people that shape our lives.
“Measures For a Funeral” premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival where it screened as part of the festival’s Centrepiece section.
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