JIM JARMUSCH ON ‘FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER’ IN SAINT LAURENT RIVE DROITE TALKS

editor MAREK BARTEK

Saint Laurent Rive Droite continues its Talks series with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch as the guest of its fifth episode. Shot in black and white and hosted by journalist Augustin Trapenard, the conversation accompanies the release of Father Mother Sister Brother, Jarmusch’s latest film, co-produced by Anthony Vaccarello through Saint Laurent Productions.

The discussion centres on themes that have long defined Jarmusch’s work: family, observation, and the spaces where meaning quietly accumulates. Family, he notes, is “a kind of arbitrary thing that you’re born into,” shaped as much by social structures as by personal experience. Rather than treating it as a narrative engine, Father Mother Sister Brother approaches family life without judgement or resolution. “It’s a very, very observational film,” Jarmusch explains. “I’m not interested in telling you something or teaching you something.”

That refusal of instruction runs through the conversation. Jarmusch speaks openly about his preference for non-dramatic moments — the scenes most films would cut away from. “There’s no action. There’s no violence. There’s no nudity or sex. There’s no drama, really,” he notes. Instead, meaning emerges through gestures, silences, and what he describes as “people’s tiny reactions to one another.”

Photography becomes a key reference point, particularly family photographs. Jarmusch values them precisely because they are not designed to be aesthetic. “They’re not artistic intentionally,” he reflects. “They are capturing a moment that is sort of a sentiment.” Badly lit or poorly framed, these images carry an honesty that feels increasingly rare in a culture shaped by curation and performance.

Throughout the episode, Jarmusch returns to the idea that beauty does not need to announce itself. He compares filmmaking to flower arranging — subtle adjustments that change the whole composition. “If you move one leaf, you see through to a different colour,” he says. The metaphor mirrors his approach to cinema full of minimal shifts, carefully observed, rather than overt statements.