06/02/2025 - We talked to the Montenegrin director about his second feature, its setting, its historical inspiration and the power of language

Montenegrin director Ivan Salatić has returned to IFFR with his second feature-length film, Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master [+see also:
film review
interview: Ivan Salatić
film profile], which premiered in the Tiger Competition. We spoke to the filmmaker about the setting of the movie, its historical inspiration and the power of language.

Cineuropa: The story is set in the 19th century. How difficult was it to adapt the locations and the set design to that period?
Ivan Salatić: I definitely couldn't proceed as I did in my previous documentary works, using what I found. We had to hide whatever was not historical from the time. Obviously, you can watch this film as a historical piece or a fantasy piece, but still, I believe you can also kind of feel that it has a contemporary ambiance. I think that's because of the presence of non-professional actors, and thanks to the costumes. Besides that, the rural landscape in Montenegro could easily belong to the Middle Ages. And the same goes for Italy. There are always places that look historical. 

What fascinates you about the relationship between a devoted servant and his master? 
We have this historical figure in Montenegro and he was very important for not only Montenegro, but for the whole Yugoslav region. Petar II Petrović-Njegoš lived in the 19th century in Montenegro, he was a poet and also a ruler and a bishop. He was considered, and still is, one of the best writers in Yugoslavia, especially in Serbia and Montenegro. I was always fascinated by how all kinds of structures, political structures and cultural structures, were all drawn to him – all for different reasons. He was a person who stood by his own country, his own people. He was also a writer and brought knowledge to people. I was always kind of embarrassed by how he was portrayed in my country, especially when I was young. So I wanted to find a new approach to him. I found out about a book called “Letters from Italy”, written by a young rich man from Serbia, who travelled around Europe. In Naples, he met Petrović-Njegoš. When they met, Petrović-Njegoš was very sick, and the young man dedicates a lot of his journal to their encounter. He describes how the poet is surrounded by a small crew of people. In his writings he looks down on them, because they were not educated, they were servants and they were suffering a lot in the foreign land. But still they were devoted to protecting their master. From there, I imagined the relationship between the master and his servant. This servile relationship to a master, a ruler, is in the history of my people or of Eastern Europe something important. I wanted to develop the perspective of somebody who is not very educated, who is in love with his master and would do anything to save him. I wanted to look at that kind of love story. 

At the same time, the master himself is an alien in a foreign country. What was important for his character?
His perspective is that he belongs to the educated ones in his country, but in Italy, he is not seen as equal. He comes from a poor country, ruined by wars. He realises that and feels kind of embarrassed about the country he comes from. He was aware that he was seen as a “noble savage”. I was very interested in the mix of all these points of view, his own perception of himself, how he is seen by the inhabitants of this foreign country and, finally, how his entourage sees him. 

Did you also use the language of the travel journal you mentioned as an inspiration for the dialogues you wrote? 
No, the dialogues are complete fantasy. The script doesn't reflect true historical events, but it's really grounded in a lot of facts that I read about the life of this leader. I invented a language that sounds archaic, but it is also very approachable from our modern days. As for the poetry the master writes, I didn't use Petrović-Njegoš's own words, but was inspired by the writings of Croatian poet Ivan Mažuranić, who is even better and who was also fascinated with the epic story of Montenegro.

Language is an important aspect in the story. How did you approach this element? 
There was this idea from the beginning, to express how one person who is culturally inferior comes to another place, and tries to become part of it. There's a border and that is language. At the same time, he has an agreement with his servant, that the latter will take care of him, but between them, there is also a language barrier. I was interested in this border of knowledge. Language was important, and misunderstanding was important, it's all about the attempts to understand and failing to understand. 

You said that you worked with non-professional actors. What do you like about that? 
Casting is a very intuitive process for me, the most important is to find a person that can embody the presence of a character. I really like doing films with non-professional actors, for me it's the best way. For me it's more about stripping things off than adding layers to the acting. It's like “perfect imperfect” acting, because I was looking for honesty.