UN FILM DE STÉPHANE BRIZÉ NODNIL TNECNIV

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VINCENT LINDON
HÉLÈNE VINCENT
et EMMANUELLE SEIGNER
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UN FILM DE STÉPHANE BRIZÉ
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OLIVIER PERRIER SCÉNARIO STÉPHANE BRIZÉ ET FLORENCE VIGNON
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A FILM BY STÉPHANE BRIZÉ
FRANCE 2012 - 108 MINUTES
Distribution
Xenix Filmdistribution GmbH
Langstrasse 64
Postfach
CH-8026 Zürich
Tel: +41 44 296 50 40
Press
Anna-Katharina Straumann
pro film promotions
Kanzleistr. 56 Postfach
CH-8026 Zürich
Tel: +41 79 336 71 91
[email protected]
Pictures are available on www.xenixfilm.ch
SYNOPSIS
At the age of 48, Alain Evrard has to go and live with his mother again. This forced
cohabitation brings back all the violence of their past relationship. He soon finds out
that his mother is terminally ill. During the last months of her life, will they finally
be able to reach to each other?
CAST
Alain Evrard .............................................................................................. Vincent LINDON
Yvette Evrard ........................................................................................... Hélène VINCENT
Clémence ...................................................................................... Emmanuelle SEIGNER
Mister Lalouette ...................................................................................... Olivier PERRIER
Public Officer EPA ...................................................................................... Sylvie JOBERT
Friend ............................................................................................... Ludovic BERTHILLOT
Doctor Mathieu ................................................................................................ Silvia KAHN
Head of the association ................................................................... Jean-Luc BORGEAT
Assistant of the association .............................................................. Véronique MONTEL
INTERVIEW WITH STÉPHANE BRIZÉ
How did you come up with this project?
Along with Florence Vignon, my co-writer, we worked from our intuitions, a
few elements that I somehow knew would be part of the new story I wanted
to tell: relation to the mother, disease, death. From the very start we had a
hint we were not heading for comedy. Then we set the bases of the story
structure which would dissect the confrontation between a man in his late
40s and his mother with whom he never got along.
The encounter happens as this mother decides to accelerate the end of
her life by going to commit assisted suicide with the help of an association in Switzerland.
Absolutely. And yet, this assisted death – an essential topic of the plot - is
not the main subject of the film. This is not even what triggers the conflict
between the characters; it is a dramaturgic event that gives a date of death
to one of the two main characters. This constitutes a very strong
storytelling element, since the question is whether these two characters
will manage to eventually ease their relationship, to exchange these few
words necessary to any life, before it is definitely too late.
You have once again thought of Vincent Lindon to play the main part.
How could I think of anyone else for this role? Vincent is full of a melancholy
that deeply moves me and in which I can project my own. We were born on
different planets and yet we are cousins. We are cousins in melancholy. We
are cousins in anger. We are cousins in doubt. We are cousins in enthusiasm. I understand what he feels and he understands what I feel. And he
conveys it on screen in a powerful and heartfelt way that touches people so
deeply. On set he is a force of nature. He is physical, volcanic, highly intuitive,
honest, always questioning, never resting, and constantly trying to find the
truth of the moment. He sweeps us all away: his partners, the team,
myself. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to film such an actor. In front
of all the characters in the film, Vincent manages to express the absolute
complexity of his character. He is a charming man to the brilliant Olivier
Perrier who plays mister Lalouette, the neighbour. A man flooded with his
love and anger to his mother. A gentle man incapable of being loved by
Clémence, the woman he meets. Vincent does all of that with sharp
intelligence.
On the contrary, the choice of Hélène Vincent may seem at first less
obvious to play this rigid woman, incapable of showing the slightest
tenderness.
Honestly, when she arrived to the casting, talented as I know she is, I
wondered how this rather bubbly woman in real life would convince me she
actually was the character. I gave her a text, she withdrew for 45 minutes
to get the structure on her mind, she took a little coat on and there we went.
I was just blown away by what Hélène was offering. Yvette came up immediately. Yvette in present time, the exact moment when we decide to film
the story as well as Yvette’s past. Seeing how this fussy nervous woman
would quickly sweep the table with her hand to clear a couple of crumbs
that were lying around I could understand how much she could have
irritated her son for so many years. And at the same time, she moved me.
This combination instantly convinced me. Because there had to be a
possibility for empathy with the character. This ability to conjure up the
invisible is the hallmark of great thespian artists. Hélène can courageously
agree to not playing a character apparently engaging while managing to
draw the implicit outlines of this sweetness painfully buried and frozen
deep down at her very core. This sweetness she can however at times
express in front of her neighbour and which gives us a glimpse of the
woman she could have been. In this extremely modest relationship lies the
shadow of the live she did not have, the heart-rending echo of a love that
remained unspoken.
Tell us about Emmanuelle Seigner, how did you meet?
What I like with Emmanuelle is that she invented the part, she gave her true
substance to the character we had imagined. I mean that, when writing, I
was very far from picturing a woman like her to play Clémence. I had let
myself be dragged to quite another kind of woman, a kind you could find
rather frequently in my previous films Not Here yo be Loved or Mademoiselle Chambon. Daydreamers, fairly aerial women. Then Emmanuelle’s
name popped up. And from the moment I thought about her it felt obvious
with the feeling that Vincent and she would make a very beautiful match on
screen. A physically very powerful and very sexy couple. I would have had
the hardest time thinking about anyone else, had she refused. She is an
incredible actress, a very unpredictable one who forces you to stay on your
guard to catch her flashes of acting brilliance. She brought a story to her
character, a mixture of strength and softness that is very poignant. She
made a powerful woman out of her, a clever woman who will know how to
guess the weakness of the man in front of her while knowing how to
protect herself when he will cause the situation to get out of hand. It was
scripted but Emmanuelle gave its true dimension to this character.
As often in your films, silence is important.
Life is composed of words, silences and hesitations. And even though in my
everyday life I would be prone to fill the void with too many useless words,
when shooting, out of honesty, because I try to capture moments of truth –
undoubtedly my only engine to gather a team on a set. I cannot avoid
silence. I just try to stop before I take a pose and start boring people.
Apart from 4 or 5 sequences, you chose to film entirely in sequence
shots. Why?
I knew before shooting that none of the scenes would be very cut out. I felt
it and visualised it this way right from writing. Plus the set actually made it
obligatory to have these sequence shots. To me there is in those scenes
shot with no cuts a space from where appears a true genuineness that
touches me deeply. Perhaps because the actors know they have to be good
together, that they are not allowed to fail. This sets a real pressure I think.
Your film thus deals with assisted suicide. This practice is forbidden in
France, but possible in Switzerland. How did you come up with this
idea?
In 2004, I saw an extraordinary documentary on television: Le choix de
Jean (Jean’s choice). This footage showed the last months of a man, Jean,
suffering from an incurable disease, and who had decided to die before
reaching the terminal phase of the disease. I watched the film, it upset me
and it stayed in a corner of my head. And on a piece of magnetic tape too,
as I had recorded it. In 2009 I felt the urge to watch it again. I was moved
by this story again and this film was one of the first elements of thinking
when we started working with Florence Vignon. In fact it gave us the idea
to use assisted suicide as a strong element of drama. It also allowed me to
discover the specific protocol followed by people who decide to die this
way. This I could not invent. I contacted the directors of the documentary,
Stéphanie Malphettes and Stephan Villeneuve, I asked them if I could draw
my inspiration from scenes of their film for all that is related to the suicide
assistance protocol and they accepted. Later, I met members of self-deliverance assistance associations in Switzeland in order to be as close to
reality as possible in my film.
So everything we see in the film regarding euthanasia is strictly accurate.
Isn’t it?
What is the son’s opinion on his mother’s choice?
When Alain finds out, he is obviously surprised and distressed. But as in
this family you do not speak, it is hard to go and ask her mother to explain.
All the more so as their relationship is particularly confrontational. Despite
it, they talk a little about it in a moment of appeasement but there is no
inner space for talking about that peacefully. They cannot access it and this
is precisely what causes their great misery.
Alain is a painful character.
He is, just as his mother is. We take him at a stage of his life when he
comes out of jail after 18 months of imprisonment for some petty drug
trafficking. He got convinced to get 110 pounds of cannabis through
customs in his lorry. A first time that ended up behind bars at a time of his
life when he was tired of everything. Tired of having built nothing, tired of
his chaotic love life. That must be the solution he subconsciously found to
withdraw from the world. Alain never learnt to talk, to express his emotions,
he is just angry. And through the years, clearly, this anger has not been
eased. And the first person at which it is directed is his mother. Why? It
probably is the outcome of a long and complex story, but it is not hard to
understand that Alain never received any signs of affection from his
mother. And at 48, finding himself in this woman’s presence again, pains
reappear instantly. It’s all there, nothing has been swallowed. Those two
love each other and yet war never ceased. But it was not about witnessing
this relationship fail inexorably, I really wanted to see whether these two
characters could take the path that, despite resentment and grief, leads to
appeasement.
As regards to the protocol, yes, it is. Everything happens in Switzerland as
I show it does. But it’s not euthanasia, it’s assisted suicide. I m not talking
of a shade of meaning, I’m talking of a fundamental difference. In Switzerland, like in France, euthanasia – the practice aiming at causing by a doctor
or under their control the death of an individual suffering from a terminal
illness – is forbidden. However, what is allowed in this country is helping a
person who wishes to commit suicide provided there is no selfish motives. To them it’s a complicated journey.
That is to say legacy, to the one who organises this assisted death. Within
this space of tolerance associations of assistance to suicide were created. To them it’s a complicated journey.
And this is the true topic of the film. The very question of the film. It’s a love
story between a son and his mother. A love story blocked by embroiled with
Does that make it a militant film?
a deeply stuck in pain in these two beings incapable of expressing their
feelings. I reckon it is quite a recurring them in my work but this time I tried
I preach for no thesis. I don’t feel legitimate at all to utter an opinion on a to go further, deeper, into analysing this highly paradoxical relationship.
topic like this one. It is up to people, really. It’s an extremely personal
matter that goes down to the very core of an individual. It’s the decision that
Yvette, the character of the mother in the film, makes.
What paradoxes?
But this seems incredibly simple for her to take this step.
When we discover this woman in the film, she’s been ill for quite many
months already. So she had thought it through for a long time, she made up
her mind, she’s not wondering whether it is a good idea or not. She made
a choice and came to terms with it. She by the way explains to her son at
some point that she has not done it on impulse, she thought it through. She
even concluded by saying: that will be at least one thing I decide on. Which
reveals a glimpse into what her life probably was.
They love but tear each other apart. And when they manage to get a
moment of rest, they cannot help but cause it to degenerate. Because,
even if the clash hurts, they are on a familiar territory, they have their
marks. It is convenient … but I think there is not greater waste than this.
The question is whether they will keep missing each other until the very
end.
CREW
Director ............................................................................................................. Stéphane Brizé
Script .................................................................................... Florence Vignon & Stéphane Brizé
Cinematography ........................................................................................ Antoine Héberlé (AFC)
Music ................................................................................................. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
Sound ....................................................................................................... Frédéric de Ravignan
First assistant director ............................................................................................ Emile Louis
Casting ..................................................................................................... Brigitte Moidon (ARDA)
Production manager ................................................................................ Christophe Désenclos
Set .......................................................................................................... Valérie Saradjian (ADC)
Costumes ............................................................................................................ Ann Dunsford
Make-up .......................................................................................................... Stéphanie Selva
Hair .............................................................................................................. Jean-Marie Cuvilo
Editor ........................................................................................................................ Anne Klotz
Sound Editor ....................................................................................................... Hervé Guyader
Sound mix ..................................................................................................... Emmanuel Croset
STÉPHANE BRIZÉ - FILMOGRAPHY
Motion Pictures:
2012
2009
2007
2005
1999
QUELQUES HEURES DE PRINTEMPS
MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON
ENTRE ADULTES
JE NE SUIS PAS LA POUR ETRE AIME
LE BLEU DES VILLES
VINCENT LINDON
Filmography (Selection) :
AUGUSTINE by Alice WINOCOUR / QUELQUES HEURES DE PRINTEMPS by Stéphane BRIZÉ / PATER
by Alain CAVALIER / TOUTES NOS ENVIES by Philippe LIORET / LA PERMISSION DE MINUIT by
Delphine GLEIZE / MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON by Stéphane BRIZÉ / WELCOME by Philippe
LIORET / POUR ELLE by Fred CAVAYÉ / JE CROIS QUE JE L’AIME by Pierre JOLIVET / CEUX QUI
RESTENT by Anne LE NY / SELON CHARLIE... by Nicole GARCIA / LA MOUSTACHE by Emmanuel
CARRÈRE / L’AVION by Cédric KAHN / LA CONFIANCE REGNE by Etienne CHATILIEZ / LE COUT DE
LA VIE by Philippe LE GUAY / MERCREDI, FOLLE JOURNEE by Pascal THOMAS / CHAOS von
Coline SERREAU / VENDREDI SOIR by Claire DENIS / LE FRERE DU GUERRIER by Pierre JOLIVET /
PAS DE SCANDALE by Benoît JACQUOT / L’ECOLE DE LA CHAIR by Benoît JACQUOT / BELLE
MAMAN by Gabriel AGHION / MA PETITE ENTREPRISE by Pierre JOLIVET / LE 7EME CIEL by Benoît
JACQUOT / PAPARAZZI by Alain BERBÉRIAN / FRED by Pierre JOLIVET / VITE STROZZATE by Ricky
TOGNAZZI / LA BELLE VERTE by Coline SERREAU / LES VICTIMES by Patrick GRANDPERRET /
LA CRISE by Coline SERREAU / TOUT ÇA POUR ÇA by Claude LELOUCH / LA BELLE HISTOIRE by
Claude LELOUCH / GASPARD ET ROBINSON by Tony GATLIF / NETCHAIEV EST DE RETOUR by
Jacques DERAY / IL Y A DES JOURS ET DES LUNES by Claude LELOUCH / LA BAULE-LES PINS
by Diane KURYS / L’ETUDIANTE by Claude PINOTEAU / QUELQUES JOURS AVEC MOI by Claude
SAUTET / UN HOMME AMOUREUX by Diane KURYS / 37°2 LE MATIN by Jean-Jacques BEINEIX /
HALF MOON STREET by Bob SWAIM / NOTRE HISTOIRE by Bertrand BLIER / PAROLE DE FLIC by
José PINHEIRO / L’ADDITION by Denis AMAR / LE FAUCON by Paul BOUJENAH / THE EBONY TOWER
by Bob KNIGHT
HÉLÈNE VINCENT
Filmography (Selection) :
QUELQUES HEURES DE PRINTEMPS by Stéphane BRIZÉ / LES PETITS RUISSEAUX by Pascal
RABATÉ / LES IRREDUCTIBLES by Renaud BERTRAND / ENFERMES DEHORS by Albert
DUPONTEL / ITINERAIRES by Christophe OTZENBERGER / SAINT JACQUES LA MECQUE by
Coline SERREAU / MA VIE EN ROSE by Alain BERLINER / BERNIE by Albert DUPONTEL / BLEU by
Krzysztof KIESLOWSKI / J’EMBRASSE PAS by André TÉCHINÉ / LES MARIS, LES FEMMES, LES
AMANTS by Pascal THOMAS / LA VIE EST UN LONG FLEUVE TRANQUILLE by Étienne CHATILIEZ /
COCKTAIL MOLOTOV by Diane KURYS / QUE LA FETE COMMENCE by Bertrand TAVERNIER / LES
CAMISARDS by René ALLIO...
Theater (Selection) – Actress :
LA CELESTINE by Fernando DE ROJAS (directed by Christian SCHIARETTI) / ALEXANDRA DAVID
NEEL, MON TIBET by Michel LENGLINEY (directed by Didier LONG) / CORIOLAN by William
SHAKESPEARE (directed by Christian SCHIARETTI) / MOLLY BLOOM by James JOYCE (directed
by Jean- Michel DUPUIS) / LE CHANT DU DEPART by Ivane DAOUDI (directed by Jean-Pierre
VINCENT) / RETOURS by Pierre LAVILLE (directed by Patrice KERBRAT) / PERE by STRINDBERG
(directed by Claude YERSIN) / LIBERTE A BREME by FASSBINDER (directed by Jean-Louis HOURDIN)
/ BAAL by BRECHT (directed by André ENGEL) / DON JUAN by MOLIÈRE (directed by Bernard
SOBEL) / EN REVENANT DE L’EXPO by Jean-Claude GRUMBERG (directed by Jean-Pierre
VINCENT) / CAPITAINE SCHELLE CAPITAINE ESSO by REZVANI (directed by Jean-Pierre
VINCENT) / LES SOLDATS DE LENZ (directed by Patrice CHÉREAU)…
Theater Director :
VAN GOGH A LONDRES adaptation of the play by Nicholas WRIGHT / CREANCIERS by August
STRINDBERG / PEINES D’AMOURS PERDUES after William SHAKESPEARE / VOIX SECRETES by
Joe PENHALL / TABLEAU D’UNE EXECUTION by Howard BARKER / MONSIEUR MALAUSSENE
AU THEATRE by Daniel PENNAC / LA NUIT DES ROIS by William SHAKESPEARE / MAISON DE
POUPEE by Henrik IBSEN / LE SYSTEME RIBADIER by Georges FEYDEAU / L’INTERVENTION by
Victor HUGO / LA NUIT D’IRLANDE by Bruno BAYEN / LA MORT DE DANTON by Georg BUCHNER /
LA STAR DES OUBLIS by Ivane DAOUDI / FRANZISKA by Frank WEDEKIND
EMMANUELLE SEIGNER
Filmography (Selection) :
L’HOMME QUI RIT by Jean-Pierre AMÉRIS / QUELQUES HEURES DE PRINTEMPS by Stéphane
BRIZÉ / DANS LA MAISON by François OZON / ESSENTIAL KILLING by Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI /
CHICAS by Yasmina RÉZA / LE CODE A CHANGE by Danièle THOMPSON / GIALLO by Dario
ARGENTO / LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON by Julian SCHNABEL / LA MOME by Olivier
DAHAN / BACKSTAGE by Emmanuelle BERCOT / ILS SE MARIERENT ET EURENT BEAUCOUP
D’ENFANTS by Yvan ATTAL / LA NEUVIEME PORTE by Roman POLANSKI / PLACE VENDOME by
Nicole GARCIA / LE SOURIRE by Claude MILLER / LUNES DE FIEL by Roman POLANSKI / FRANTIC
by Roman POLANSKI / COURS PRIVE by Pierre GRANIER-DEFERRE / DETECTIVE by Jean-Luc
GODARD.