‘A normal life’: Karel Tuytschaever on the dramas of Easy Tiger

Abstract

In this interview, actor–director Karel Tuytschaever and I examine his first feature film, a critical-creative project entitled Easy Tiger (2022). In it, the meeting between a psychologist (Mickaël Pelissier) and his client (Casper Wubbolts), a deaf man, proves revelatory for them both. The client speaks of a dying man with whom he was deeply in love, which leads him to explore his feelings about the possibility of finding true love. These confessions prompt the psychologist to re-evaluate his relationship with himself and with the world. Tuytschaever and I discuss how he brings together his roles as a director, an actor and an academic, before examining the film and how he communicates his complex vision with us and with his actors. Much of the film involves stillness, and it unfolds in silence. We discuss how Tuytschaever speaks volumes with it, making the film of significant interest for both hearing and other/non-hearing people. Easy Tiger received an Honorable Mention as Indie Feature Film in the Paris Film Awards; and it has earned Best Queer, Best Directing and Best International Film awards at the SENSEI FilmFest. This interview advances scholarship by introducing us to Tuytschaever’s critical work and by examining how it informs his artistic project.