The greatest British writers no longer come in paler shades of gray. Amongst those leading the charge of a new browner Britain is novelist and filmmaker Hanif Kureishi, who could justifiably be called one of the most important writers the UK has produced in the last 20 years. His work ranges from the Oscar nominated Asians ‘n’ Thatcher flick “My Beautiful Launderette” (he went fresh from a council flat to sitting next to Bette Davis at the Awards ceremony) to the novel “Intimacy” - a disturbingly interior de-construction of a failing relationship. In NYC for a screening of his films at BAM, Hanif talks to Trace writers Kadiya Qasem and Gamall Awad about his upcoming new book, new film and the joy of wearing Paul Smith.
Tell us about your new BBC funded movie “The Mother” currently being filmed
It’s about a woman in her early seventies that has a sexual relationship with her daughter’s lover. I’m nearly 50 now and I’m interested in aging in a way that I wasn’t when I was 25. I was thinking about my mother (she’s in her 70’s) and I had the feeling that sexual desire doesn’t modify. Clearly you can’t express yourself sexually at 70 the way you can when you’re 25. Talking to her made me aware of that. She said, “When you’re old nobody wants to touch you. The only person who’s going to touch me is the undertaker.” That’s what happens. No one touches you, unless it’s the nurse or you pay people. I began to think about what happens to bodies when they decay and what happens to desire. How, if you did have a sexual relationship with someone when you get older, how that might make you fall in love with life again. Re-ignite your passion, not only for the other person, but also for the world itself.
So what’s the new book about?
It’s called ‘The Body.” It’s really a novel about the same stuff. It’s about identity, what makes you who you are and how far out of yourself you can go and still be home in time for tea. It’s about people getting new bits, like Frankenstein. This older guy goes in and comes out as a 25-year-old sort of Italian footballer.
Would you change your body?
(Contemplates) Yeah, I’d give it a run (drifting look).
Would you like to come back as an Italian footballer?
(Grins) As a mid-fielder
And play in the world cup?
Yeah!
What this guy does. He re-lives a sort of adolescence. He has lots of fun with his body. It becomes rather narcissistic. He wants to try it out for six months, short-term rental, just to see what it’s like. But of course it turns out that he can’t go back. He’s trapped forever in this new identity. He goes home to see his wife as a 25-year-old and she starts to seduce him and he’s very, very shocked by his wife’s betrayal of him. He feels such regret and he misses everything.
It’s really a book about death and the importance that death has in life. How the fact that time starts to pass so quickly is the only thing that makes life worth living. That if you can’t die, if you don’t die, then it’s a sort of hell. Because there’s no meaning, there’s no urgency, there’s no transience, you know you’re not going to miss anyone ‘cause you might see them again in a thousand years.
Around the time of ‘Intimacy’ you asked “How do you get on with someone for a long time without killing them?” How do you feel about that now?
We live in a time where people are much more disposable. When I was a kid and you were married, you’d stay married. You’d say, “You made your bed so now you lie in it.” It was much more masochistic. People have higher standards now. This person’s a pain in the arse – they’re out. It gives relationships a kind of intensity but it also makes it more difficult.
People think that Intimacy was autobiographical, but it wasn’t in that sense, it was much less autobiographical than I imagined at the time.
The press made this big controversy about ‘Intimacy’ upsetting your ex-partner…
(Smirks) She’s producing my new film actually. We’ve always been close. What happens is that you have these arguments but once they get in the paper they sort of become- are you still like that? – As if things don’t move on at all. It’s not like that at all. She lives on the next street with the twins. (Smiles). Our children are in “The Mother.” They love it and they’re bored by it. They thought it would be more exciting. They’re identical twins, both playing the same part, but they can’t really understand why they can’t both be on screen at the same time! (Laughs).
What’s your favorite item of clothing?
I got a Dark Blue ‘Smithy’ raincoat that Paul Smith gave me for my 40th birthday. It’s so beautiful. The lining is so exquisite. Mostly my girlfriend wears it and everyone goes “You look cool in that rain coat.” It seems to me that if you wear a lot of crap and you have one good coat you can look alright, can’t you? I’ve realized this being nearly fifty. I’m sure women realize this when they’re eighteen.
On the last day of 1999 you said you were going to take two sleeping pills and go to bed, did you?
On the stroke of midnight I was having sex with my missus, I thought this was the way to go, actually it was her idea. We were sitting around going “ What are you supposed to do?” “ I don’t know, umm…” “Well why don’t we have a shag them?” “ Oh, alright…” as you do, I was so pleased. It was rather a good idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment