JAS - PRESS KIT NZ
Transcription
JAS - PRESS KIT NZ
PRESENTS JUST A SIGH A FILM BY Jérôme Bonnell JUST A SIGH Starring Gabriel Byrne and Emmanuelle Devos IN CINEMAS JULY 31, 2014 Just a Sigh shows two charismatic stars in top form as they pursue an attraction in glances and tentative gestures. Their flirtation unfolds in real-time against a backdrop of vibrant Paris locations on World Music Day. Director Jérôme Bonnell masterfully conducts the sparkling repartee between Emmanuelle Devos and Gabriel Byrne with insight and affection. “a bracingly romantic drama that's alive with a mature sense of passion and mystery.” - LOS ANGELES TIMES “beautifully acted” – NEW YORK TIMES “a beautifully modulated turn by Emmanuelle Devos” - VARIETY CONTACT: Caroline Whiteway Publicity & Marketing Manager +61 3 9682 2944 │ +61 419 389 454 [email protected] DIRECTOR’S NOTE Jérôme Bonnell As far back as I can remember, the vague, unconscious seeds of this film were planted when I first saw François Truffaut’s The Soft Skin as a teenager. I was particularly impressed by the long night sequence in the provinces during which a third wheel, played by Daniel Ceccaldi, (reminders of whom may exist in my screenplay in the character of Rodolphe), unknowingly prevents two lovers, played by Françoise Dorléac and Jean Desailly, from being alone. I was struck by the harrowing suspense of the scene, built on practically nothing - a simple adulterous lie - and especially to what extent Truffaut was able to transform the pure present-ness of the moment into cinema. The tension is disproportionally greater than the actual, banal situation. Hence my initial wish, to make a movie whose main subject is the suspenseful blow-by-blow account of a love affair, treated in real time. Based on that deep-seated but playful desire, the rest of the story and its time-span emerged gradually, almost of their own volition. And then there was also the desire, after J’attends quelqu’un, to work again with Emmanuelle Devos. I already imagined her participation when writing the first lines of the screenplay. It was while writing it that my real subject caught up with me. I stumbled on a quip by Tristan Bernard that summed up with pitiless precision what I was trying to do: “What seems to be love, is always love.” My subject was the apparently fictional, but actually very real, idea that even if a love story lasts only a few hours, it is no less intense, and no less important in the context of an entire life. The profound issues that came up while I was writing it continue in a direction I never tire of taking: subsisting links with childhood, fears of the (adult?) world, of one’s future life, of a border with no return that one is about to cross. Here we are dealing with characters halfway through their lives, but each caught up in very personal emotions. Our characters are themselves surprised when they fall victim to their own sentimentality. They thought that long experience had given them a certain distance from things. That is exactly what touched and fascinated me. The subject is a forty-three year old woman. Being that age today is something very different from what it was only ten or twenty years ago. At her age today there are still many vestiges of adolescence. At her age today some women still have children. We are living in a new world in which we will all – or so they say – live to be a hundred. And just for the fun of it, what kind of a day will someone have, who suddenly finds herself without a cell phone or bank card in the new millennium? What kind of obstacles does that imply, and what kind of new-found freedom? I wanted to evoke, or‘use’ that context, so typical of Western society today, without falling into the trap of psychosocial argumentation. Because what is most important for me are sensations. That again has to do with the notion of time, probably the first issue that comes up in cinema. It reflects an obsession I have been examining, little by little, ever since my first film: formally reducing certain ellipses, or making them occur unexpectedly; suspending time, the better to accelerate it, like in a musical score; searching for a harmony between moments of suspense and moments of quiet contemplation. Time is just as much the central issue of the film and of the eventful occurrences of the day, as it is of Alix’s life. Pregnancy at her age is for Alix, still childless, something unimaginable. With it comes the idea, old as the world, but here pressingly concrete, that life will never again be the same. In a way, one is finally saying good-bye to a world of prolonged childhood. Furthermore, aside from the fantasy of the ‘passing stranger’, the choice of making her lover an Englishman is not insignificant. Alix speaks to him in his own language, in a language not her own, and so in a way, she is still playacting, still on stage, just as she has been her entire life. Life helps her to act well, as much as vice versa. Here my own love of actors is a fortunate coincidence, because this story within a story moves me in a particular way. It may be part of the great pleasure I take in this project, and remains an essential question: how do you film an actress playing an actress? A job one does as much to hide as to show oneself off; a life in which renouncing childhood is unthinkable; in which one always runs the risk of losing touch with reality. Such considerations, however, need to be treated with infinite precaution. One must never succumb to clichés or overindulgence. My wish is to examine nuances and avoid caricature. What interests me here is not ‘what you see’ when an actress is acting, but ‘what it does to her’. We will privilege high angle shots – both discreet and more obvious – with the camera often overhead, tracing the romantic (or divine) movement of the destiny being played out, while sustaining the tension, the suspense of an absolute present. The camera will move freely, but without any needless agitation. It will never leave Alix, as it accompanies her POV. It will also film her eyes, her hands, and each clock she encounters. It will treat Paris (terra incognita for me until today) and its shifting cityscapes like the episodes of a tale, like the background for a treasure hunt or an initiatory journey, with the idea that Alix, on a trip or brief visit, is experiencing a parenthesis between two performances in Calais. We will breathe with her, we will identify with her fears, her lies... and her truth. We will be there with what she sees and hears. We will never film a body whole during scenes of lovemaking, but we will not deprive ourselves of doing just that during the onset of desire. We will favour sequence shots for “set pieces” (onstage, during disputes...), but intercut intimate scenes, although never losing sight of the overall musical rhythm in which time becomes in turn threatening, and then hovers in suspension. A lot of preliminary work will go into our exploration. The actors will have texts to read and will discuss with each other their roles, the screenplay and its scenes, and most importantly, everything that takes place off screen. We will choose to show some things, not to show others. Such a balance will work only if each alternative exists, not only in theory, but rigorously real. It is that kind of rigor that will give us a sense of freedom when shooting. Because what I care about most is the pleasure my actors take in acting and my own surprise at what they come up with. FILMOGRAPHY Feature films: 2013 just a sigh (Le Temps de l’aventure) 2010 THE QUEEN OF CLUBS (La dame de trêfle) 2007 WAITING FOR SOMEONE (J’attends quelqu’un) 2005 LES YEUX CLAIRS 2002 OLGA ’S CHIGNON (Le chignon d’Olga) Short films : 2009 QUATUO R 2003 NOUS NOUS PLÛMES 2000 LISTE ROUGE 2000 POUR UNE FOIS 1999 FIDÈLE ABOUT THE CAST Gabriel Byrne (DOUG) Actor Gabriel Byrne was born on May 12, 1950, in Dublin, Ireland. His mother was a nurse and his dad was a barrel maker. He explored several careers, including teaching, archaeology and becoming a priest. At 29, he joined Dublin's Abbey Theatre. His film career took off when he starred in The Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing. He produced In the Name of Father, which was nominated for five Oscars. Early Life and Career Actor, writer and producer Gabriel Byrne was born on May 12, 1950, in Dublin, Ireland. The eldest of six children, Byrne was born to a poor Dublin nurse and a barrel maker. At age 12, he moved to England to become a priest, but was expelled for smoking. In January 2010, Byrnes stated he was abused by Christian Brothers in Ireland as a child. He studied archaeology at University College Dublin and then switched gears once more to become a teacher at an all-girls school. After one of his students asked him to start a drama club, Byrne became interested in acting. Acting Career Byrne joined Dublin's prestigious Abbey Theatre at age 29 and made a name for himself in the Irish soap operas The Riordans and Bracken. After moving to America, he starred in two 1985 television miniseries, Christopher Columbus and Mussolini: the Untold Story. He made appearances in such films as Excalibur and Siesta before starring in The Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing. The hit film made his name in Hollywood, and Byrne made several successful films throughout the 1990s, including Little Women, The Usual Suspects, The Man In The Iron Mask and End of Days. More recently, he skillfully portrayed the privileged Marques of Steyne opposite Reese Witherspoon's ambitious Becky Sharp in 2003's Vanity Fair. He won a Golden Globe for his role of Dr. Paul Weston in the 2008 HBO drama series In Treatment. In 2009, he played Paolo Vinci in Julie and Julia. Gabriel Byrne has also produced several films, most notably In The Name of the Father, which was nominated for five Academy Awards. Emmanuelle Devos (ALIX) 1989 EMBRASSE-MOI Noémie Lvovsky 1991 LA VIE DES MORTS Arnaud Desplechin 1992 THE SENTINEL (LA SENTINELLE) Arnaud Desplechin 1994 THE PATRIOTS (LES PATRIOTES) Eric Rochant FORGET ME (OUBLIE-MOI) Noémie Lvovsky 1996 MY SEX LIFE… OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT (COMMENT JE ME SUIS DISPUTÉ… (MA VIE SEXUELLE) Arnaud Desplechin ANNA OZ Eric Rochant 1997 LE DÉMÉNAGEMENT Olivier Doran ARTEMISIA Agnès Merlet 1999 I'M NOT AFRAID OF LIFE (LA VIE NE ME FAIT PAS PEUR) Noémie Lvovsky MAYBE (PEUT-ÊTRE) Cédric Klapisch 2000 ESTHER KAHN Arnaud Desplechin COURS TOUJOURS! Dante Desarthe VIVE NOUS Camille de Casabianca OUCH (AÏE) Sophie Fillières 2001 SUR MES LÈVRES Jacques Audiard 2002 THE ADVERSARY (L’ADVERSAIRE) Nicole Garcia 2003 SMALL CUTS (PETITES COUPURES) Pascal Bonitzer IT'S EASIER FOR A CAMEL… (IL EST PLUS FACILE POUR UN CHAMEAU…) Valéria BruniTedeschi THE RED KNIGHT (RENCONTRE AVEC LE DRAGON) Hélène Angel 2004 KINGS AND QUEEN (ROIS ET REINE) Arnaud Desplechin BIENVENUE EN SUISSE Léa Fazer GILLES’S WIFE (LA FEMME DE GILLES) Frédéric Fonteyne 2005 THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (DE BATTRE MON COEUR S’EST ARRÊTÉ) Jacques Audiard THE MOUSTACHE (LA MOUSTACHE) Emmanuel Carrère GENTILLE Sophie Fillières 2006 WAITING FOR SOMEONE (J’ATTENDS QUELQU’UN) Jérôme Bonnell CEUX QUI RESTENT Anne Le Ny 2007 TWO LIVES PLUS ONE (DEUX VIES… PLUS UNE) Idit Cebula A CHRISTMAS TALE (UN CONTE DE NOËL) Arnaud Desplechin BANCS PUBLICS Bruno Podalydès À L’ORIGINE Xavier Gianolli THE UNSPOKEN (LE NON-DIT) Fien Troch 2009 WILD GRASS (LES HERBES FOLLES) Alain Resnais LES COLLEGIENS Riad Sattouf COMPLICES Frédéric Mermoud COCO BEFORE CHANEL Anne Fontaine CAST LIST Alix The man (Doug) Rodolphe Diane Olivier Emmanuelle Devos Gabriel Byrne Gilles Privat Aurélia Petit Laurent Capelluto CREW LIST Directed by Screenplay Photography Editing Sound Sound editing Sound mixing Costumes Art direction Casting Script First assistant director Production manager Head of post-production Make up Hair stylist Producer Produced by Coproduced by With the participation of With the support of Jérôme Bonnell Jérôme Bonnell Pascal Lagriffoul - AFC Julie Dupré Laurent Benaïm Julie Brenta Emmanuel Croset Carole Gérard Anna Bachala Isabelle Ungaro Christine Catonné Guillaume Huin Diego Urgoiti-Moinot Mélanie Karlin et Eugénie Deplus Barbara Schneider Ainhoa Eskisabel Edouard Weil Rectangle Productions Scope Pictures Element Pictures France 3 Cinéma Alvy Distribution Canal + Ciné + France Télévisions Le Pacte Eurimages La Région Île-de-France With Cofinova 8 Cofinova 9