KNOCKING director Frida Kempff takes us through her riveting new thriller

Knocking begins with a simple enough premise. A young woman named Molly (Cecilia Milocco) moves into a new apartment building and begins hearing an incessant knocking sound from the wall above. Freshly released from a medical center following an undisclosed mental health matter, Molly is back living on her own and doesn’t want to rock the boat too much. Her neighbours and the building’s super don’t seem to hear any noises; is the knocking sound only in her head? Is she slowly losing her mind, or is there a dangerous secret in the building that no one else will acknowledge?

Swedish director Frida Kempff (Dear Kid) makes her fictional feature debut with Knocking, an unnerving psychological thriller that also serves as an important comment on how rarely women are believed about their own experiences and their own bodies. Shot almost entirely in one claustrophobic apartment, the film features lush cinematography and an incredible and ultimately haunting performance from Cecilia Milocco, who undergoes a radical transformation as Molly becomes convinced that something terrible is happening just outside of her reach.

We caught up with Frida Kempff just ahead of the film’s theatrical run to discuss what inspired her move from documentary films for Knocking, how the Me Too movement weaves its way through the film, and playing with the audience’s expectations by not proving any easy answers.

Knocking screened as part of Fantastic Fest and is in select theaters now. The film arrives on VOD on October 19.

Spoiler warning: This interview discusses plot elements of the film. 

Bad Feeling Magazine: Knocking is based on a short story; how did you come across the story and what initially struck you about the work?

Frida Kempff: I started with documentaries, so social matters. It’s important for me, it has to have a message, and but I was so frustrated because I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do with documentaries. It’s like you have a colour palette, and you can only use a couple of the colours. And then people said to me, “You should try fiction.” And I did that, I did short some short dramas. And then just by accident, I came across this novel. I think you tell the same stories over and over, and for me, Knocking is about this woman who is not being trusted, and what I liked about it was that you really put yourself as a reader in her shoes. I could see that that could really work well in a movie, but there were actually two lead characters in the novel. You had the witness, Molly, but you also had the victim.

So, you knew from the start that someone was trapped inside an apartment with chains and she was almost naked. First, I said to the producer, “I like this story, but I can’t do it.” And he said, “Why don’t you leave that out, and just be with a witness and put the audience in her shoes.” And that was really effective. So, I met with my partner writer and we did this together. It’s a very simple story in a way. A woman moves in hears knocking, and no one believes her. But I think if you dig deeper, there’s so many layers in it, and that was really interesting, you know, how do you do a film where you’re always inside of this person? That was always interesting for me as a filmmaker; can you actually do that?

For the story, it’s important that you have this unreliable narrator that you’re not sure if you can trust, or if she can even trust herself. So much of the movie relies on Cecilia Milocco, who delivers an incredible performance; you’ve worked together before, but what made her the right choice for Knocking?

Her face is just amazing. I don’t use a lot of dialogue in the films. I like to rely on images a lot. I knew that she could do that. But we also talked for the whole summer about this. Who is this character? And the first thing that we agreed to was she isn’t crazy. She’s normal. And you know, she’s vulnerable, and she’d been through stuff, like we all have in a way. But society treats her as a crazy person, and you mirror yourself through others, right? And then I put her in a psychiatric ward for a day. She stayed there, and she talked to people who work there. And they said, “It’s the people outside that are crazy.”

Coming there was healthy because you question the system structure and busy life, so that helped her. And she said, “You know what? I’m done. I know now, you don’t have to give me any more research. I know.” And then on set we didn’t talk so much. We had a colour system. So, I talked to her in colours, so it was like an escalator. Down here it was green, which was quite healthy. And then on top, there was a dark red. So, I had to say, “No, no, you’re still just green, or you’re still just yellow.” And she could add her own expressions to that. It worked great.

The film has these collage-like moments and character flashbacks that are weaved in with great effect. It creates tension and paranoia from pretty early on; the audience has a sense that something tragic has potentially happened, but we don’t know for sure. How did those elements come about?

Actually, in the script, the flashback was more like a whole sequence almost. It wasn’t shot like it is now. But I realized during the editing that I can’t just watch her, you know, I need something from her, I need to feel what she comes from. And by adding just a short glimpse of her past, it helped us to understand her present.

There are a number of ways to read the ending of the film; what did you want people to take away from the ending, and do you have a clear-cut answer as to what happens in those final moments?

For me, it’s very open, and I wanted it to be a very open ending. Some people think that it’s actually, in a philosophic way, that it’s actually her being saved. She’s saving herself in a way. But my more straightforward thought was playing around with the audience. I was hoping in the end that we don’t trust her. But then you know, she was right. That was my intention.

You started working on the film as the Me Too movement was really gaining steam worldwide; how do you think that ties in with the themes of Knocking?

If I’d have read this 15 years ago, I’m not sure if I would have thought about it in that way, that she’s not being trusted. It’s so up in the air now and with so many testimonies. So, the whole story for me was, [silencing] women, and not being trusted and being called a hysterical woman just because you stand out in a way. And that was interesting. It takes a woman to listen to another woman in a way. And I hope that will change, and I’m sure it will, sooner or later.

What has the response to the film has been so far during the festival run? Do people have a lot of questions for you about what transpires in the film or their own takeaways from the film?

Yeah, I actually had our first in-person screening here in Sweden last Saturday, still with restrictions, I think there were 70 people. But after, because I think every woman has experienced not being trusted, I just watched 50 women, and I see all of them nodding because they can really identify with that. And I think men as well, they realize that this is how it is. And that was my purpose as well, actually putting the audience in her shoes. Being a man, you can realize, oh, is this how it is?

What do you have coming up next? Apparently, you have a sci-fi project in the works, is there anything that you can share about that yet?

Yeah, I have a sci-fi film. But now, I actually have another project coming up before the sci-fi. So, that is actually a period piece. It’s a feminist period piece set the week before the Second World War starts. called The Swedish Torpedo. We hope to shoot it this summer. It’s based on a true story about a Swedish woman who swam the English Channel the week before the war started. That’s what I’m doing next.

Knocking screened as part of Fantastic Fest and is in select theaters now. The film arrives on VOD on October 19.