CODA

CODA is a 2021 drama/comedy film written and directed by Sian Heder. An English-language remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film La Famille Bélier, it stars Emilia Jones as the titular child of deaf adults(CODA) and only hearing member of a deaf family, who attempts to help her family's struggling fishing business, while pursuing her own aspirations of being a singer. Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin are featured in supporting roles. An international co-production between the United States and France with La Famille Bélier producer Philippe Rousselet reprising his role as producer, it was filmed on location in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the United States.
== Plot ==
In Gloucester, Massachusetts, Ruby Rossi is the only hearing member of her family; her parents, Frank and Jackie, and older brother, Leo, are all deaf. She assists with the family fishing business and plans to join it full-time after high school. Because of her family, Ruby is an outcast at school and she is also the interpreter for the family since they cannot afford one, this frustrates Ruby as she is getting tired on constantly interpreting. When she notices her crush, Miles, signing up for choir, Ruby impulsively does the same as she also loves to sing. On the first day of choir, the teacher, Bernardo "Mr. V" Villalobos, instructs the students to sing "Happy Birthday to You" to place their vocal parts. Faced with having to sing in front of the class, Ruby panics and runs away. She later returns to Mr. V and explains that she was bullied for talking differently as a child and explains that her parents are deaf. Mr. V tells Ruby there is room for all kinds of voices in the choir and is surprised and impressed by her beautiful singing voice. Mr. V pairs Ruby with Miles for a duet at the upcoming choir recital. Their first rehearsal goes poorly as they each prepare separately; Mr. V insists that they must practice together. Ruby invites Miles to her house to practice, but they are interrupted by Frank and Jackie loudly having sex in the next room. Her parents get the wrong idea that they are dating but also insist they didn't know she was home. Ruby later hears classmates in the cafeteria mocking the incident. Miles apologizes and tells her he told only his friend Jay, who in turn spread the story, but she wants nothing to do with him. She eventually forgives him, and they resume their practice while kindling a relationship.
Meanwhile, Frank and Leo struggle to make ends meet with the fishing business as new fees and sanctions are imposed by the local board. At a board meeting, everyone is angry about the fact that more boats are disappearing from the harbor despite the fact that the counsel is trying to help. During the yelling Frank stands and announces that he is going to start his own company to get around the new restrictions and intends to sell his fish on his own, inviting other local anglers to join him. The family struggles to get the new business off the ground, relying on Ruby to spread the word. Mr. V encourages Ruby to audition for Berklee College of Music, his alma mater. He offers her private lessons to prepare, as he is already privately tutoring Miles. Ruby agrees, but her increasing commitments to the family business—her parents are dependent upon her to interpret for them—cause her to be late to their lessons. Mr. V grows irritated with Ruby's constant tardiness and chastises her for wasting his time and not caring enough about music. She eventually tells her parents about her audition unfortunately her parents insists that this is not the time because the business has started. Ruby tells them plainly she can't be their interpreter forever and she loves singing and wants this. Later on Jackie expresses concern about Ruby leaving claiming that she is just a baby but Frank tells her Ruby never was a baby.
While fishing one day, when Ruby is off swimming with Miles, Frank and Leo sail with a federal fishing observer on board, who does not know in advance that Frank and Leo are deaf. The boat is intercepted by the Coast Guard, after failing to respond to ship horns and radio calls. Frank and Leo are fined and have their fishing licenses suspended for negligence. When they tell Ruby that she should have been on the boat with them, she tells them she can't always interpret for them and this was not her fault at all. Leo not only sides with Ruby but says they need to hire an interpreter for them but Jackie and Frank refuse as they would need to pay them. Frank and Leo appeal and manage to get their license back, on the condition that they have a hearing person on board at all times. Ruby announces to the family that she is forgoing college and will join the business full-time. Her parents are supportive, but Leo reacts angrily, insisting that they can manage without Ruby as she truly has talent. He and Ruby later have an argument, where he tells her that she will regret not going to college forever if she doesn't go.
Ruby's family attends her choir recital, and while they cannot hear her sing, they notice the positive reception from the surrounding audience. That night, Frank asks Ruby to sing for him while he feels her vocal cords, growing emotional. The entire family then drives to Boston with Ruby for her Berklee audition. Before her audition, she sees Miles, who reveals that he failed at his audition and wishes her luck. Ruby's family sneak up to the balcony while Mr. V comes to accompany her on piano, in spite of the general prohibition on outside attendees for auditions. Ruby is nervous and unprepared at first, but after Mr. V deliberately makes a mistake on his accompaniment, she's allowed to start again and gains confidence when she sees her family. Ruby signs along while singing "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell, so they can understand what she is singing. The adjudicators notice the family, and surmise the particular family situation.
Some time later, Ruby is accepted to Berklee. Her family and Mr. V are delighted with the news. She invites Miles to visit her in Boston. Meanwhile, the hearing workers in the family's fishing business have been learning sign language, enabling them to communicate with and interpret for the family. Ruby's friend Gertie drives her to Boston for college as her family sees them off; Ruby signs, "I love you so much" (literal translation: "I really love you") to them as they drive away.
== Cast ==
* Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi
* Troy Kotsur as Frank Rossi, Ruby's father
* Marlee Matlin as Jackie Rossi, Ruby's mother
* Daniel Durant as Leo Rossi, Ruby's brother
* Eugenio Derbez as Bernardo "Mr. V" Villalobos, the high school choir director
* Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Miles, Ruby's love interest
* Amy Forsyth as Gertie, Ruby's best friend
* Kevin Chapman as Brady
== Production ==
=== Development and writing ===
Sian Heder, the film's writer and director. CODA, written and directed by Sian Heder, is an English-language remake of the French-language film La Famille Bélier, which was released in 2014 and was successful at the French box office. Philippe Rousselet was one of the original film's producers, and he had the rights to do a remake. He and producer Patrick Wachsberger approached Heder to direct a remake for a United States audience. Heder said, "They were interested in adapting the film, but they wanted someone to make it unique and take the premise from the original and, also, reinvent it." By May 2019, the companies Pathé Films and Vendôme Group had formed a film production partnership to develop and produce English-language films, with the first being CODA.
CODA is set in Gloucester, Massachusetts. While its predecessor La Famille Bélier was set on a rural dairy farm in France, Heder chose to set CODA in Gloucester, being familiar with the city from visiting the North Shore in the summer when growing up. Heder explained, "For me, it has the combination of being very picturesque and quintessentially New England but also with a working-class grit to it." Heder learned American Sign Language in the process of writing the script, with 40% of it ultimately being in ASL. The director was helped by two deaf collaborators whom she called "ASL masters", Alexandria Wailes and Anne Tomasetti.
To prepare for the film, Heder observed a fish processing plant and consulted the local harbormaster about how authorities would raid a boat. She received feedback from director Kenneth Lonergan—who directed the 2016 film Manchester by the Sea, which was set in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts—and members of the fishing-industry nonprofit Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association. Several consultants and a fisherman educated Heder in local fishing practices.
=== Casting ===
Heder first cast Marlee Matlin in CODA. During the development process, the film's financiers resisted casting deaf actors for the remaining deaf characters. Matlin threatened to drop out unless deaf actors were cast, and the financiers ultimately relented.
Heder described the casting as an opportunity for Matlin to play against type, her previous roles having been "'put-together' and classy characters". Heder said, "Marlee, in real life, is much more funny, and she has a dirty sense of humor. This (role) was a working-class fisherman's wife, and she has a lot of elements of her personality that were very right for this character." Matlin used her connections with Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles, California, to help Heder find additional deaf actors. Heder saw Troy Kotsur in a Deaf West production and cast him as the fisherman and father. She cast Daniel Durant after finding him through auditions. Matlin, Kotsur, and Durant were already familiar with one other through their collaboration on the Deaf West production of the musical Spring Awakening.
Matlin described her interest in getting CODA made, "I felt that audiences would really see deaf people in a film ... There are so many levels for people to identify with and, for people with no connection, who have never met a deaf person, to see sign language, to see deaf people in normal, day-to-day settings ... People think that deaf people are monolithic in how they approach life. And this film bursts that myth ... But to burst that myth, it had to be told as authentically as possible. And it’s strange because studios clearly have the ability to greenlight a film and cast whomever they want, and there continues to be a lack of awareness that you can tell universal stories with deaf characters." Kotsur said, "You have to think a little bit outside the box and present more opportunities, instead of just having two options ... You know, you write this script because somebody's deaf, or I'm writing it because it's a character that happens to be deaf. There's a distinction there.”
For the deaf actors, Heder hired a rotating group of ASL interpreters that facilitated communication with signing and speaking among the cast and crew. She connected with the deaf community in nearby Boston to secure the interpreters for on-set communication.Matlin said, "[Heder] really immersed herself into our culture and made every attempt to learn and to work with us and having two directors of sign language on the set, plus interpreters, plus the crew who learned our language, everyone working together, it was working like on any other set, but the sign language aspect made it extra special."
The director also auditioned hundreds of teenage girls before casting Emilia Jones as the hearing member of the deaf family. Jones took voice lessons and learned ASL for nine months before filming started. Heder also chose to cast Eugenio Derbez as the girl's choirmaster, seeing him as a fit for her "amalgamation of Heder's college rhythm teacher and her high school drama and English teachers".