Swiss director Philippe Weibel got his start at Netflix in England
Swiss director got his start at Netflix in England
“I turned Zurich into London”
Filmmaker Philippe Weibel was the first Swiss to make it onto British Netflix with his latest film. The majority of the shooting did not take place on the London Thames, but on the local Limmat.
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“The Art of Love” is the first Swiss film ever to be shown on Netflix in the UK and Ireland.
Patrizi BroderEditor People
With his feature film “The Art of Love”, Zurich filmmaker Philippe Weibel (48) was the first Swiss director ever to have his work shown on Netflix in Great Britain and Ireland. “It’s a great honor for me and my team,” says Weibel to Blick. “Since I’m a big England fan, I’m all the more pleased about this success in Anglo-Saxon countries.”
“The Art of Love” is Weibel’s second feature film and tells the story of the 55-year-old British woman Eva (Alexandra Gilbreath), who is in a marital crisis and as a part-time job reviews sex toys for the London company “The Art of Love”. Influencer Adam (Oliver Walker) made his living as a tester of these love toys. After all, they have to team up for a new project and are not at all enthusiastic about each other.
topic of loneliness gained relevance
But in order for the cooperation to work, both of them have to leave their comfort zone and face their loneliness at the same time. “I’ve found the topic of loneliness and how our society is becoming more and more lonely in the course of digitization very exciting for a long time,” explains Weibel, who began working on the script shortly before the start of the corona pandemic in 2019.
“With the corona crisis, the topic has also gained relevance. Many are looking for love in the digital space, are happy about dozens of likes, but they don’t really experience closeness,” says the father of two, who lives in Zurich with his wife and children. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re single or married: loneliness affects us all. Because people can also be lonely in relationships or surrounded by many other people. »
Filming mostly took place in Zurich
Funnily enough, the majority of the shooting for the tragic comedy, which is set in England, did not take place in London but in Zurich, reveals Weibel: “During the pandemic we couldn’t shoot in England, but we were able to bring the famous actors to Switzerland. So I turned Zurich into London without further ado.”
Among other things, the film was shot in restaurants in Zurich, which were finally set in a London environment via green screen. “Only once did we reveal our actual location, when you saw the Swiss washing-up liquid ‘Handy’ lying around in one scene,” Weibel laughs. “A British colleague finally asked me, amazed, what this ‘mobile phone’ was. We then retouched the scene and quickly cut out the washing-up liquid.”
“The Art of Love” celebrated its premiere in autumn 2021 at the Zurich Film Festival. The private strip has already won prizes at eight festivals, including the audience prize at the Five Lakes Festival in Munich. The tragic comedy has been running on Netflix in England and Ireland for three weeks. When the Swiss production will make it onto Netflix Switzerland is still open, negotiations are already underway. “The Art of Love” can currently be seen in various Swiss cinemas.