
“A Feeling of Magical Imperfection that Film Brings”: DP Sara Mishara on Two Women

Two Women is retelling of the 1970 cult classic Two Women in Gold with a feminist spin, directed by Chloé Robichaud (Sarah Prefers to Run). In the film, a pair of struggling women decide to let loose and fulfill their unmet desires.
Sara Mishara (Tu Dors Nicole, My Salinger Year) shot the film on 35mm. Below, she explains that choice and how the film’s cinematography offers thematic answers to its source material.
See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here.
Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job?
Mishara: We had admired each other’s work for a long time, and I reached out to Chloé when I heard about this project; I really wanted to shoot it. We were both ready for a stylistic departure from our previous work, which had been a bit more serious, and often dark in my case. We quickly formed a creative bond to challenge each other into pushing the content further visually.
Filmmaker: What were your artistic goals on this film, and how did you realize them? How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?
Mishara: This film is a reinterpretation of a cult classic from the ’70s that is quite visually stylized in the set design, costumes, cinematography and editing. It is also quite silly and very much objectifies women’s bodies in the way most films having to do with sex did in that era. We wanted to make a visually generous film that took notes from the older one and transformed it into the contemporary feminist retelling of the story.
I wanted to portray the low, golden sunlight of winter in Quebec to highlight the magic that creeps into the mundane in these women’s lives. We approached the sex scenes with intimacy and candid humor, shooting handheld and with wide angle lenses to be physically close to them, in contrast to the static world of their everyday lives. We decided to shoot film early on and play with color composition and contrast to accent the absurdity.
Filmmaker: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether they be other films, or visual art, of photography, or something else?
Mishara: Lucrecia Martel, Agnes Varda, Antonioni and Almodovar, Charlotte Wells … and so many more that used composition and color to evoke emotion. Also, the cinematography of Robby Müller, Ed Lachman, and Benoît Debie—they have many bold color choices and exquisite lighting.
Lastly, there was an ongoing dialogue with Chloé, me and the actors about the portrayal of women (and men) in film, especially in regard to sex and nudity, which was very inspiring throughout the shoot.
Filmmaker: What were the biggest challenges posed by production to those goals?
Mishara: We decided to shoot on location instead of building a set to keep the stories in communication with each other during shooting and also to give us more flexibility with the snow for exteriors. We also wanted to feel the smallness of the spaces, which we end up cheating often when we build. We were mostly in two tiny apartment interiors on the second and third floors. Shooting intimate closed set scenes in these cramped spaces in the dead of winter was not easy on the crew, nor on the inhabitants of the block that had to tolerate our long hours and exterior lighting rigs. Our set bathroom was also a closet for our winter coats and a battery charging station.
Filmmaker: What camera did you shoot on? Why did you choose the camera that you did? What lenses did you use?
Mishara: We shot on an Arricam in 2-perf 35mm with Kodak 250d and 500T, Zeiss super speed lenses and an old Angenieux zoom. We decided to shoot 2-perf film in part in homage to the original format but also for the incredible texture and color rendition. For shooting skin and faces, there’s nothing like it, which was the main landscape of this movie. There’s also a feeling of magical imperfection that film brings that relates to the world in this story.
Filmmaker: Describe your approach to lighting.
Mishara: The days are very short in the winter here, so I always had lights on a crane or scaffolding at each end of the apartments. I used real sunlight when we had it (we chose the apartments accordingly) and re-created it when it disappeared. For the nights, I had a big moonbox lighting the inner courtyard and put lights in all the apartments that would let us in. The other locations all have their color palettes, which I tested before the shoot to give them each their signature mood. The car interiors are all poor womans’ process (in studio), so a little throwback vibe. The lighting playfully follows the character’s inner worlds.
Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to realize and why? And how did you do it?
Mishara: Each couple has a single take to introduce them, which follows them during an argument through their respective apartments without cutting. We covered the ground with dancefloor boards so that the actors didn’t have to cross the tracks. Each take took one mag, so the pressure was on for each department not to make a mistake in the event that it was the best take for the actors! That is always the most challenging for me—how to achieve complex technical shots without totally overshadowing the actors’ needs. They were so generous and talented, which made it easier on us.
Filmmaker: Finally, describe the finishing of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in the DI?
Mishara: I have an amazing colorist, Jerome Cloutier, who works with me during prep to find the look with my lighting tests so that we are as close as possible to the final result during shooting. Most of the colors and look come from the lighting and film stock under Jérome’s expert supervision.
Film Title: Two Women
Camera: Arricam 2-perf 35mm
Lenses: Zeiss Super speed
Lighting: 20k Molebeam, Vortexs, HMis, asteras
Processing: Normal development 4K scan
Color Grading: Jérome Cloutier at Mels in Montreal