Filmmaking | Interviews

More than Nuts

1 Feb , 2005  

Written by Emily Lysaght | Posted by:

Filmmaker Don Bernier talks about his documentary, 'In A Nutshell' -- an official selection at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival.

What began as a story about small roadside museums and private collections quickly morphed into something else entirely when documentarian and artist, Don Bernier, met Elizabeth Tashjian. A concert violinist as a child, an award-winning classical painter in her 20’s, and a Christian Science healer in her 40’s, Ms. Tashjian opened the Nut Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut at 60 years old. She aimed "to educate people about the beauty of nuts — the kind that grow on trees, as well as the misunderstood ‘two-legged variety’ among us."

Known to some as the "Nut Lady," Ms. Tashjian became a cult celebrity through media outlets like The New Yorker, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman, but she was largely rejected in her own community. Now at 92 years old, after unfortunate circumstances rocked both her health and her finances, Ms. Tashjian has been deemed insane by her state-appointed conservators and is confined to a nursing home against her will. On top of these tragedies, the contents of the Nut Museum have been removed and what once was her home has been sold to the highest bidder. NewEnglandFilm.com caught up with Bernier to discuss "In A Nutshell," his latest filmmaking endeavor.

Emily Lysaght: What drew you to Ms. Tashjian’s story?

Don Bernier: Elizabeth is a true original. I have never met anyone like her before. I have heard that there are two reactions to first meeting Elizabeth: total dismissal or immediate attraction. I was hooked from day one. Christine Woodside, a journalist who had befriended Elizabeth more than 10 years ago, told me that "you begin to find yourself in a sharper reality when you’re around Elizabeth." One of the main things that bothered me about Tashjian’s story, as it had been told repeatedly by late night TV show hosts and magazine reporters, was that very few people understood her. She was typically portrayed as the wacky Nut Lady or an eccentric old maid locked away in a mansion ala Miss Beale in "Grey Gardens." The State of Connecticut took this view a step further by declaring Elizabeth "incapable." Her story went deeper than that.

EL: I understand the film took three years to make from start to finish. What were some challenges that you faced along the way?

Bernier: My wife, Tina Erickson, and I actually began this project in another form back in 1998. We were intermittently visiting and documenting small roadside museums and private homemade collections. In early 2001, the guys at roadsideamerica.com referred us to the Nut Museum in Connecticut. Upon meeting Elizabeth Tashjian, I knew she would have to be the subject of her own film, not an extra. In fact, she insisted. "My museum has nothing to do with those other establishments," she explained, referring to neighboring roadside attractions. "Here, we explore the entity of the nut through art, music, history and lore." While Tina photographed, I interviewed Elizabeth and filmed her museum contents over the course of two visits.

When we relocated to New York, we lost touch with Elizabeth for a few months. My intention was to re-establish contact with her and conduct several more shoots to develop the story and make a short film out of it. In the spring of 2002, I got word that Elizabeth had been hospitalized and her 18-room mansion was up for sale. When I asked Elizabeth what I could do to help, she promptly said, "Keep filming!" And so, for the next two years, I did. The story, of course, took on a life of its own — evolving from a quirky short about the Nut Lady of Old Lyme to a more complex portrait of Elizabeth Yegsa Tashjian, her history and her present situation. I followed the story as best I could and documented Tashjian’s long and difficult court case to reclaim what she had lost, including her home, her belongings and, almost, her very identity.

EL: Was it hard to deal with the injustice towards the end of Ms. Tashjian’s life as an outsider whose main purpose was to tell her story?  Did the boundaries of documentarian and subject get muddled as you got to know her through filming?

Bernier: This was one of the most difficult aspects to making the film. And for me, it was an unexpected reality. My previous work was not entirely documentary and had no living, breathing person at its core. What’s worse is that Elizabeth’s situation was not exactly a black and white case. On one hand, after she collapsed in her home and went into a coma, the timeliness of the State’s intervention ultimately saved Tashjian’s life. On the other hand, I think she was prepared to die that way in her own home. Ultimately, I would probably get a C- as a truly objective, detached documentarian. I think that would be impossible, for me at least. However, I think that the film does present the story in an even-handed and fair way. That is, it doesn’t attempt to point fingers at anyone. Rather, it presents all sides of a terrible situation — a story that plays itself out over and over across the country with other elderly people who find themselves cornered by bureaucracy.

EL: What characteristics or stories most interest you when searching for the topic of your next documentary.  Are you drawn to anything in particular?

Bernier: For some reason, I have been drawn to eccentric elderly folks lately. I am drawn to their capacity for storytelling and their willingness to share their histories with those who’ll stop and listen. Several years ago, I began recording oral histories of older family members with French-Canadian heritage. To me, it was amazing how much these people had seen, heard and experienced during the last century. So much has changed that younger generations simply take for granted. They are the record-keepers of these memories. I have hundreds of hours of footage, photographs and recordings that will someday be whittled down into something digestible for others.

Also, as part of the original project my wife and I started before meeting Tashjian, I plan to continue filming an 80 year-old retired high school science teacher who lives in the Bay Area. He has been collecting bones for the past 60 years or so and has a basement to prove it.

EL: You founded your production company Mimetic Media in the early 90’s. The definition of "mimetic" on your website is: imitative; using imitative means of representation for protection, survival, or play.  How do you relate this to your work as a documentarian or to your documentaries themselves?

Bernier: I’ve always been fascinated with animals, bugs and critters of all kinds. The human world makes such an effort to distance ourselves from the non-human world, but we borrow so much from so-called "nature" and rarely acknowledge it. Mimetic animals are especially interesting to me, particularly insects and the ways they camouflage themselves for various reasons. Similarly, media — any media from painting and sculpture to film and video – is both a means of expression as well as a form of disguise. Media is, in a sense, mimetic. It will always be a product of something real. No matter how much I, as an artist or a documentarian, wish to express truth in my work, it will always be an interpretation of truth. It’s a nice reality check for me to keep this name.

EL: "In A Nutshell" was selected to screen at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  It has also screened at the Rome International Film Festival and the Detroit Docs International Film Festival.  What impact have these festivals had on the film?

Bernier: Having an independent documentary screen to a public audience is always rewarding. It breathes a new life into a film. "In A Nutshell" has had a limited run so far, but I am hoping that it will play elsewhere and have a life beyond festivals. More people should meet Elizabeth Tashjian, and not just "The Nut Lady."

To learn more about ‘In A Nutshell,’ Don Bernier, or Mimetic Media, visit www.mimeticmedia.com.


To learn more about 'In A Nutshell,' Don Bernier, or Mimetic Media, visit www.mimeticmedia.com.

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