Largely shunned in France, the work of these consultants is now being recognised at Cannes. Film-maker Anubha Momin describes how they make for more confident movies \u2013 and directors<\/p>\n
The light is wrong for what we\u2019re trying to do. Outside, it\u2019s early afternoon at the Port de l\u2019Arsenal in Paris, bright and unmistakably day. Inside the houseboat that acts as the main set for my film Amarres (Moorings), the team has installed track lights and covered a ceiling porthole with black fabric, turning the bedroom into something closer to night. Red velvet walls, and a platform bed tucked into the curve of the bow; it\u2019s meant to feel intimate, private. But of course, it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
We have just come back from lunch. My actors are half-undressed on the bed, waiting. The set is closed, with only six crew members in the narrow hallway leading to the bedroom: camera, sound, myself, the first assistant director, and Nathalie Allison, our intimacy coordinator. We\u2019re behind, and I have less than an hour to direct three sex scenes back to back. What I\u2019m about to ask for has to look real, spontaneous, desirable \u2013 the kind of intimacy French cinema has long prided itself on capturing without instruction.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/3e9927dd626c109ce4a5b146c0256f64da9c85d6\/536_0_6159_4928\/master\/6159.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=633ca547cbb794a5e58459a60dde792d\" "\\"\u2018Do")
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