Following his interview with Mary Stephen at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, Wilson has invited the storied director to return to Deep Cut to discuss her new hybrid documentary feature and her work editing the films of Éric Rohmer. As Palimpsest: Story of a Name garners praise around the international film festival circuit for its sensitive, witty exploration of her family’s history, Stephen dives into a different side of her personal history with the French auteur. Listen in as we ask Stephen’s thoughts on Rohmer’s process with actors on set, the authority Stephen had over the edit, and how parents tell–– or, don’t tell–– stories to their children.

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Timestamps

00:00 Intro

03:51 Melvil Poupad: Hot or Not

05:21 Rohmer’s personal and professional life

08:42 Working as a Rohmer collaborator

11:10 A Summer's Tale preproduction

13:02 The Rohmerian Type of Woman

14:40 Blocking and editing in A Summer's Tale

21:06 Creative input as an editor

25:10 Mary’s sense of time

27:52 An Autumn’s Tale

35:55 The themes of Palimpsest

38:19 The Ending of Palimpsest

45:29 Mary's Relationship with her father

51:11 Mary as a director

54:34 Advice for younger filmmakers and personal deep cut

Fall in love with three beautiful podcast hosts; fumble the bag with all three. To prepare for our upcoming interview with director Mary Stephen, we study her work editing Éric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale. Almost five years following our initial series on the French auteur, have our thoughts changed on his calm naturalism? We compare his work to more recent Deep Cut director Hong Sang-soo, discuss the structure of his scenes, and wonder about how Stephen helped sculpt time in this film. Most importantly: do we really find that pouty French twink hot?

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:06:00 A Summer Tale context

00:10:38 General reactions

00:20:02 Film structure and opening

00:24:47 Gaspard’s conundrum

00:30:48 Margot

00:36:08 What is the film trying to say?

00:38:15 Naturalism and conversations

00:44:05 The passage of time

00:46:15 The audience’s trust

00:50:17 Hong v Rohmer, closing tangents

Eli flies in from his foray into his favorite film fest, the 64th installation of the New York Film Festival. It’s a year full of delicate, considerate, humanistic films: Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, and Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care. Ben and Wilson share their thoughts on two more films in the lineup, Hong Sang-soo’s The Day She Returns, and William Greaves’ Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Also, just for the heck of it, hear what Wilson thinks about Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest, Look Back.

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Keep walking in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

06:40 Everytime (2026) dir. Sandra Wollner

13:05 The Man I Love (2026) dir. Ira Sachs

23:17 Club Kid (2026) dir. Jordan Firstman

27:31 Tender Loving Care (2026) dir. Mike Leigh

32:37 For The Moon (2026) dir. Eric Baudelaire

38:44 The Day She Returns (2026) dir. Hong Sang-soo

44:07 Once Upon a Time in Harlem (2026) dir. William Greaves, David Greaves

47:25 Look Back (2026) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda

50:59: Upcoming festival coverage