25th July 2023
We caught up with actor and director Daisy Moore about her frank, honest and brilliant film 7 Bananas, which Daisy wrote after losing her close friend to suicide. The film explores grief in a digital age and what it means to lose someone close to you.
7 Bananas tells the tale of a once close friendship between Dara and Sophie, now sustained by likes, memes and ever-delayed meet-ups. When Sophie ends her life, Dara struggles to mourn her death as she is faced with Sophie’s digital remains.
Daisy spoke to us about the film and why she wrote it as a way to reflect on what happened.
Your film 7 Bananas was inspired by true events, can you tell us what happened to inspire the film?
When I was 20-something I became really good friends with this girl over the course of a year. I didn't actually know her for very long, but you know when you meet someone and you just click? We were messaging every day and spending all of our time together. Then one day I got a call from a cousin and I was told she was gone.
The film is about dealing with the first big death in your life being a friend taking their own life. It was also about how people react to that. A lot of our exchanges were messages, so you’re left figuring out what happened. I have a whole diary of my friendship written out over messages with my friend who died and it’s a new feeling for me.
Were there any signs your mate was struggling? Had they stopped messaging or anything like that?
She was such a bubbly, giving and magnetic person and so there weren’t really any signs. The only clue was when she didn’t turn up to her own birthday drinks. She didn’t stop messaging, she just stopped turning up to things. She’d claim she was just really busy and we’d just think that was typical of her because she gave off this aloof, always partying energy.
When I think about the last time I actually saw her, I always think about how she was concerned about her flatmate. We were at brunch together and we were really hungover and I think that was her trying to open up a conversation about someone feeling depressed but she didn’t want to say it was her.
The film’s got a comedic edge to it, was this a creative choice to make the film more realistic?
I just wanted to find the truth in it. A lot of the things I included in the film were just how things happened, because one minute we were having fun with her and the next minute she'd taken her own life. It felt like a rug pull. I wanted to be as sensitive as possible to her family in how I told her story, but just because someone’s died, doesn’t mean they weren’t funny. Obviously this tragic, sad thing happened but she was also hilarious. All the funny moments in the film are based on real life, because I think it would have been a disservice to her if I’d taken them out and made the film super solemn.
Do you think that being in contact with our mates so much over messages and on social media can make it less obvious when someone’s become distant or is struggling with something?
There’s a whole scene in the film when you see the messages pop up and you can see what they’re both doing. They’re just worlds apart in what they’re going through, even though they’re talking together. I’m an actor, so a lot of the classes I go to are about watching and interacting with people. It’s all in the eyes and if you can’t see someone’s eyes because you’re not with them, then you’re not going to be able to see what’s going on.
It’s a film about my friend, but it’s also about social media. I was speaking to a mate who said a colleague had died and he was on WhatsApp and they came online. In that moment he forgot reality and imagined them online. What you see online isn’t always truthful, so that was what it was about.
How do you show up for your friends who are having a tough time? Are there things you find useful when supporting them?
I have this one friend who struggles now and again, and they’ve been through therapy and know that it’s important to tell friends when they’re not feeling good. I hope more people who are struggling can get to that stage. I try to listen to them and acknowledge that it’s shit. Sometimes it’s about knowing someone well enough to know what can distract them out of it. For this friend, I know that giving them a task helps to get them out of that hole.
It’s also good to let someone know they’re not burdening you. Spend some one-on-one time with them, don’t just message on social media. A lot of people blame themselves when they feel bad and sometimes you just need to say to them ‘it’s okay, you’ve been through something shit and you’re allowed to feel upset about it’.
Since showing the film at festivals, people have come up to me to say they’ve been through something similar, either they’ve come out the other side or know someone who’s taken their own life. I think film and art can open up conversation about things.
