In Addition, Grace Lisa Vandenburg (Teresa Palmer) counts everything – numbers are the scaffolding of her meticulously ordered life. But when a chance encounter with Seamus (Joe Dempsie) turns her world upside down, Grace is forced to confront the chaos she’s long avoided. Directed by Marcelle Lunam and based on Toni Jordan’s bestselling novel, the film explores the journey of accepting who you are and celebrating the things that truly matter.
Talking with our Peter Gray in Sydney ahead of the film’s Australian premiere, Lunam dug into how she resisted the familiar “fix the woman” narrative so often seen in stories about women confronting change, and how Palmer brought nuance, warmth, and unexpected depth to Grace, making her struggle feel both intimate and universal.
One of the things that I loved about Addition is its opening quote where it talks about how numbers count. “People don’t think about it, but numbers matter.” It made me think about you first encountering that line and if you felt it was more a philosophical statement about the world? Or more an emotional truth about the character of Grace?
I think all of those things, actually. The story really resonated with me quite deeply, because it was on a number of levels. I suppose (the story) came at a time – post-COVID – where I felt the world was not terribly tolerant. And I think we live in that space now, and it’s not a space I like. With the film, that line itself really spoke to me, and I wanted to make a film that promoted kindness. So I started from there. That’s a really interesting question.
The film refuses the idea that obsession is something that needs to be corrected. Grace’s counting is intelligent, it’s safety, it’s creative. Were you conscious of resisting that traditional “fix the woman” narrative that stories about anxiety can so easily fall into?
Very, very much, yes. Another excellent question. I think we err towards pathologizing things and putting things in boxes. I am very opposed to that, because I don’t think we easily fit into any kind of box. Again, it harks back to celebrating difference. Here’s a woman who is very smart, a mathematician, and not many women are. Yes, she has mental health issues that are derived from pain in her past that she hasn’t quite managed to work through yet, because we’re not all perfect. Here decision to get treated or not is completely up to her. That shouldn’t be predicated by anybody else.
Tolerance was a big thing. And on top of that all, she’s really sexy. She’s really fun. So you go, “Okay, you can have all those things, right?” They can all coexist. I know loads of people that are like that. People aren’t just in “this box.” I felt very strongly (about) not having that depiction of mental health as, “Okay, this person is high functioning or unable to function at all.” That’s just bullshit, quite plainly.
Well, on the mention of things that are sexy and fun, you have Nikola Tesla as part of the film. One of the things I loved was how Grace says he becomes “Nick” when she learns that he loved counting. He became more human to her. Is there someone you’ve looked up to that has become more human to you when you found out something quite relatable about them?
Oh, completely, yeah. My film heroes. Other directors. And other artists, particularly. I’m really into art, film, and music, (so) there are loads of them. I can’t recall exactly (or) give you a name, but I think if you find (something) that makes them human, you say, “Okay, we all have faults.” We all have shit to deal with. Characters, or even our friends, are often a mirror of things that we like or dislike in ourselves. So I think that you play with that stuff too.
Addition is so many different things in terms of genre. It has a romantic comedy-ness about it. It made me think, with this film being about numbers and making sure everything is perfect, looking at romantic comedies and everything aligning, is there a romantic comedy couple that you think is actually still together because all the numbers have aligned?
Oh, that’s a tough one. Any couples that are still together? Maybe from a Nora Ephron romantic comedy, because they were all very kind of warm. It’s a different era, you know? We don’t live in that era anymore. I think in the current romantic comedy (state), I would say no. I wouldn’t stay they were still together.
Counting gives Grace safety, but the film suggests that it can’t always be measured. Was there a moment in the story where you felt the film was asking you to let go of certainty as a filmmaker?
I think that wasn’t so much with the numbers. For me, I think that was more in her journey dealing with her medication. That was where I was really discovering, because I hadn’t been medicated for anything, so I had to go into a whole discovery universe on that aspect. You imagine that things will be a quick fix, (but) when you go into it and research it, you see that everybody’s different and you need different things for different purposes. I think that probably was, for me, where I said, “Okay, you can’t tie that up in a bow.”
Grace feels so lived-in as a person. Were there any conversations with Teresa where she brought in something that you hadn’t thought about for the character? Where Teresa knew how to make Grace her own that you hadn’t thought of?
Oh, loads of that. Teresa is an incredibly generous actress. She’s quite amazing. She really threw herself into this. I mean, in the dancing, which she’s fantastic at, in the sex scenes, which we didn’t play automatically as being high energy. They were intended to be a bit of fun and not heightened. All of that stuff, her physicality, she’s this electric charge of a person.
Well, we need movies like this. In this ridiculous world right now, it’s nice to have a film made for adults that makes you pay attention. It’s led by women, it’s a female story…it’s just what we need right now, so thank you so much.
Oh, you going to make me cry! Thank you.
Addition is now screening in Australian theatres.
