Rye has made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. The French Italian is a new comedy film by writer/director Rachel Wolther, which premiered at Tribeca this month. It follows Doug (Aristotle Athari) and Valerie (Catherine Cohen), a young couple who move out of New York City to Rye to escape noisy neighbors. As they contend with delayed Metro-North trains and alienation from their friends in the City, Doug and Valerie decide to stage a fake play to get revenge on the neighbors that drove them to the suburbs. MyRye.com sat down with the film’s creator Rachel Wolther to discuss Rye’s role in the movie. The film is her feature directorial debut.
MyRye: Where were the “Rye” scenes shot?
Wolther: “We actually shot in Great Neck, Long Island, but I wanted to set it in Rye because I wanted them to travel through Grand Central… But we did not actually get to film in the lovely town of Rye.”
How was the movie financed?
Wolther: “This was a small independent film that we put together. My producer raised the money mostly through private investment, and then we got a sizable amount of grant money from New York State Foundation from the Arts and the University of Mississippi.”
Do you know of any plans to screen or distribute the film for a wider audience after Tribeca?
Wolther: “The film hasn’t found a distributor yet, so we’re still looking around. Hopefully in 2025 it will come out in a theatrical [release] and be online. Until then, just at film festivals.”
Have you spent any time in Rye?
Wolther: “I grew up on Long Island, and I live in the City, but I have a lot of family in Westchester, and I’m often coming through Rye. I just think Rye seems like such a lovely place to live, and I also think it’s a name-brand town. It’s like the Maplewood of that part of Westchester, so I thought that was a funny thing to drop in the movie… I’m enthusiastic about Rye… You’ve got the beach, you’ve got Playland.”
In your interview with “Filmmaker Magazine”, you talked about growing up in the suburbs and feeling anxious about being a “real” New Yorker. Can you speak on that a little more?
Wolther: “I think that’s one of the themes of the movie: who is a New Yorker? Only like two million people live in Manhattan, and then the other 20 million people who live in the metro area are supposed to be “outer borough,” “bridge and tunnel.” I feel an immense amount of anxiety, even though I’ve lived in the City for many years now, that I’m really still a Long Island girl… It’s actually dictated by who has the money to stay in the city. It’s very minorly addressed [in the movie], but cost of living is so insane, and I’m trying to draw just a teeny little connection – the people who have a huge house in the City and throw parties are supposed to be very wealthy, and everybody else is maybe a little less wealthy and maybe can’t swing it anymore.”
Rye provides a quiet, picturesque backdrop to the film that contrasts with the chaos the characters get themselves into. They go jogging down their cul-de-sac, amidst dog-walkers and children at play, and discuss their plan to create a fake play to embarrass a woman they dislike. They write their absurd revenge play in their tastefully-decorated living room. And, though the characters’ absurd antics border on satirical, Doug and Valerie’s frustration with commuter life is something many Rye residents can relate to.
Thank you Rachel!
The French Italian is still only available to watch at exclusive screenings. You can learn more about the movie at the Tribeca Film Festival website.
