2023-10-09 13:00:00
“It didn’t scare me,” he explains by telephone. As an actor, I wondered if I was capable of doing this role, but it is so interesting – and then there is the director and Vanessa Springora’s book – that I mightn’t see myself saying no.”
What was interesting regarding this role?
”It is very complex. There remain plenty of gray areas. It’s very complicated to know who he really is, because he creates a kind of persona that he used in life. It’s very complicated to build. After a while, we almost forget that he exists: he almost becomes a fictional character.”
How do you prepare for a role like this, for which realism is very important?
”I try to embody. I watched what he was like on TV, I read his newspapers, his books. Each time, he is in representation. He gives the image he wants to give. When you play a character who existed, the risk is imitation. It’s not often very interesting. You have to try to be credible from the inside.”
Your character is manipulative and charming…
”It’s like a predator: he has to have his weapons. But charm has nothing to do with morality. It would be too easy if the people who gave off something nice were really nice and the people who gave off something disgusting were too. Hence this ambiguity he has.”
How do we find our attitudes? On screen, he is terrifying…
”When we see the images from the time, I find it terrifying. It’s in the head that it’s built. He swam a lot, so I did swimming. He took care of himself, so I got manicures. He was getting a tan. I did all that to be psychologically in his head, to feel what he felt a little on a daily basis.”
There is also a lot of work on language…
“Exactly. That’s really him. The words are very chosen. Let’s not forget that language is its absolute weapon. He masters it perfectly. He is not in an everyday life, but always in an image of himself that he wants to give. With the rhythm of his words, he drowns people, a bit like a snake that will charm, embellish, speak, and your head will spin following a while with a man like that.”
Getting into your head is not easy…
“Exactly. I don’t think I ever really understood his way of thinking. I think he’s seriously ill. There is no logic to be sought as we might think. So, it’s complicated: we can’t hold on to anything. It is necessary creating, its necessary to create ; invent something.”
He writes down exactly everything he does, he doesn’t hide, and it didn’t seem to shock anyone at the time. Society is also at fault…
”That’s why it’s called Consent. It’s not just regarding the victim, but it’s also regarding society. Who accepts all this? At the time, didn’t the people who read Matzneff say to themselves that he was a good talker, who gave himself an image? Didn’t people wonder if it was true? He played a lot on that, with his image. When we know, we say to ourselves that it’s amazing. I think today he doesn’t understand. He says, “Wait, I never hid anything.” He feels like it’s society that’s changed, not him.”
A literary critic, in the film, believes that “Literature has all the rights”. What do you think ?
”This is a vast debate. All rights to what, how? This is still ruining a child’s life. The limit of “Literature has all the rights”, I don’t have the impression that it can play. The red line has been crossed.”
The sex scenes aren’t obvious either, even though Kim Higelin is 23, not 14….
”All of this was very well prepared in advance, with the director and the cinematographer. We had work meetings where each scene was dissected. We knew exactly, shot by shot, where we were going. There was no improv. It’s very reassuring. This is very important work to remove any ambiguity. It’s very precise, so that the director has in the image what she wants. Because the scenes are not explicit. In the end, we don’t see anything.”
Has Vanessa Springora seen the film?
“Yes of course. Fortunately. She followed all the steps of the scenario. She didn’t want to feel dispossessed of her book. She saw it and validated it. It’s obviously very important: it’s his story, what happened to him is terrible.”
It’s a very disturbing film at first. But she will take it at her own game.
”That’s what’s great regarding the book. It is his strength and remarkable intelligence. Obviously, she took it at her own game.”
Matzneff was never convicted. Literature is the only thing that really punished him…
“Exactly. I don’t think he imagined it would come this way. Of course he tells his story, but the strength of the book is to go beyond it. This is why he was so successful: it speaks of the influence. This is a generality that applies to many other people. This is what is strong in his book. It goes beyond the autobiographical story.”
He will direct Les Tuche 5: “It’s the Tuches who decide, not the director.”
You are going to make Les Tuche 5 for the first time. Does this imply a change of tone?
“No not at all. The Tuches are like Asterix or Star Wars: they are the characters who guide. The director follows: above all, we must not distort them. It is the Tuches who decide, not the director. And the director is at the service of the Tuches. As I write them, obviously, I know. Afterwards, of course, there is always a personal perspective. This is normal, since it’s not the same person who directs. But we must be loyal to the Tuche: we must not betray the Tuche.”
What adventures will they experience?
“We revolve around royalty. We are going to attack the codes of nobility and royalty. In England – we chose England because it’s what everyone knows best, and then we are fascinated by the Queen or the King now. In France, we are a bit of a monarchy, we are a bit nostalgic regarding that even if we are very happy to be in a republic, so it is a lot of fun for us to play with these codes.”
You seem to have a lot of tenderness for the Tuches…
“Yes. In the Tuche, there is a lot of tenderness. That’s what’s most important to me: the love between them. This is part of their success. It’s not just because it’s a comedy. It’s not possible, there is something else. If people recognize themselves in it, it’s because there is humanity. It’s the humanity they recognize in his characters.”
Do you find inspiration in everyday life?
“Yes that’s it. But I’m not alone: there are four of us writing. We have WhatsApp groups, we send each other topics. When writing, there are no rules: we look at everything that happens around us, that amuses us. We can have a Tuchian perspective on this.”
This takes you back a bit to Robin Hood…
“I totally agree. It’s the same principle.”
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