How Justine Bateman Visualized Anxiety in ‘Violet’

The new feature “Violet” opens with a horrifying montage, something that wouldn’t seem out of place in an arthouse horror flick, though the film that follows is a domestic drama.“Family Ties” actress Justine Bateman made her feature directing debut on the film, now available on demand. Bateman brought on video artist and DJ Mike Relm to design the montage after drawing inspiration from Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona,” realizing that the 1966 film had provided a useful guide to immersing an audience in anxiety and commenting on shame.“I kept saying the most important character in this film is the viewer. And I remember how [the opening montage] of Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’ set up the way I viewed the rest of that film” Bateman said. “I’m watching these two women talk, but there must be something going on because I was shown all that stuff in the beginning. There’s something underneath all of this....