Interview d’élodie bouchez concernant LA FAUTE A VOLTAIRE-609
I immediately wanted to be part of this story, to be one of the little "fairies" that Jallel would meet on his path. I was touched by the humanity, joy and humour that are given off by the story, the way in which it tackles the different forms of exclusion. I was also charmed by the relationship between Lucie and Jallel, by the way that Lucie has of instantly "recognizing" herself fin Jallel, by her purity and her view of the world, by the way in which she clings to him like a lifesaver. I was touched by her beauty, difference and truth.
Lucie seems to be a lost young woman, incapable of finding her place in society. Yet, at the same time, she has a vital and sensual energy that gives her a form of optimism…
Lucie lives in another dimension, she isn’t aware of the social codes that would allow her to fit in more easily. For me, she is something that we’d all like to be a little more often: she can express her needs and desires loud and clear, in an absolute way, without being afraid of the gaze of other people. This is where her life force comes from. She opens Jallel’s eyes, making him admit and accept other forms of difference than the one that typifies him.
Lucie expresses her need to love in a physical rather than a verbal manner. It’s a fairly unusual acting style, closer to the body than to language, and always on the razor’s edge. How did Abdel Kechiche direct you ?
Abdel’s demands were constant, without a single second being given over to relaxation or easy options. Everything had to strive towards an extreme level of truth, shedding light on it in the process. He continually helped me to keep Lucie in another dimension, he didn’t let me hide behind any filters and he insisted that I remain concentrated virtually 24 hours a day. Abdel was able to bring about true fusion between each of us. We genuinely all acted with each other with the same generosity as our characters.
How does this film fit in with your itinerary as an actress ?
This experience is clearly one of those that you don’t forget easily and also one of those that give you bad habits in relation to the extreme demands of a director who pushes back your limits and isn’t content to accept what you can give him without trying to go just that bit further.
If you were to retain a single memory of this shoot, what would it be ?
If I were to retain just one memory of the shoot, it would probably be the moment when we shot the dance scene at the end of the film. The light was going, the crew wasn’t really into it and we were only allowed a single take. We shot the whole scene with intense joy and solidarity. We were singing like maniacs! And history even repeated itself: during the post-synchronization of the film, Abdel put around ten of us together in a small booth and got us to dance and sing at the top of our voices like crazy! The scene gives me goose bumps when I see it because of the intense joy that it gives off !