Amei Wallach on Filming Louise Bourgeois

Courtesy Amei Wallach

Director Amei Wallach with Bourgeois's "The Quartered One"

Courtesy Art Kaleidoscope Foundation

Louise Bourgeois in the documentary film "Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine"

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There was a scene of Rob Storr taking a group around her studio, and her ducking in and out. There are scenes of her playing with materials.

Since you mention Robert Storr, he said in the film that Louise can be extremely difficult, and rather hurtful.

Ha! Well, her subconscious is so close to the surface that anything will spark it. She could be quite difficult, but on the other hand, she could be so accessible and intimate. Jerry says it comes from fear, and I think that’s true. She’s afraid she’ll come off wrong, she’s afraid she’ll say the wrong thing, she’s afraid you won’t understand her. And she reacts quite sharply. But I think she came to trust us, and that was a huge thing.

I can’t imagine that tangerine scene could have happened if she didn’t.

I have to admit, that was not our scene. That was a scene that Jerry hired somebody to shoot, and he gave it to us. We didn’t shoot it, but we cut it in such a way that it’s seamless, so it’s as moving as it could possibly be.

We wanted it to be the climax of the film, and for everything to lead to that. At one point when Marion and I were editing the film, we started with it, which was totally the wrong thing to do. It had to be the climax.

There’s also a scene where Louise yells at you. Did you debate whether to include that?

Because Louise is so open about how difficult she is, we thought it was fine to put that in there. We needed an example of the kind of thing Rob was talking about.  

Was it difficult to watch her get so emotional and not intervene?

Well, I had been writing about her, so I had seen it before. On the one hand, she performs for the camera. That’s pretty obvious, right? On the other hand, it’s so accessible and real. It’s a very funny combination, and it’s a little tension-making, because you’re not getting what you want. But what I’ve learned from this film is that you might think you know what you want, but what you get is what you actually want.  

Do you think the film is how Marion envisioned it?

At the first screening, I said, “This is not the film Marion would have made” — I was so intent on the dramatic arc, and on the emotionality of it, whereas Marion loved to find the intellectual and aesthetic and emotional core. That would have been an incredible film, just not the film that we made. But Isabel Jay, Marion’s daughter, who’s in her early 20s, got up and said, “Yes, but my mother would have been very proud of it.”

Are you still in touch with Louise?

I go to see her from time to time.

Is she well?

She’s very well. She’s 96 years old, and she’s always drawing and making prints.

Has she seen the film?

You know, everybody asks me that, so finally I sent an email to Jerry yesterday, because I’ve never brought it up with her. He wrote and said she has seen the film, enjoyed it, and got a laugh out of some of the older footage.

Will she be going to the Guggenheim for the show?

No, no. She hasn’t left her house in 10, 12 years.

Louise seems so generous with her ideas about life and how to live it. I’m wondering what you took away from your time with her.

What I took from her is not to be afraid of where things come from, and not to be afraid to try things. And she’s also the one who said — I think it was paraphrasing the song — you don’t always get what you want, you get what you need. She had a very complex, hard life in many ways, but look what she made of it.