at Lumière

Posted on 21.10.2023

Michel Hazanavicius introducing La Classe américaine

« La Classe américaine was not released for copyright reasons. If the police had arrived, we'd all be arrested! There were two bans on this film regarding material of Kubrick and Eastwood. I think Eastwood would have turned up with a Python 357! We were under a lot of stress during the making of the film: the Americans couldn't find out about it. I've always preferred John Wayne's ‘French voice’ to the original. When I show my children American Westerns, I show them the version dubbed in French. »

 
© Léa Rener

Hippolyte Girardot introducing The Darjeeling Limited

«  I made a film with Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch, and the way he directs the actors is so exacting, it’s almost as if we were puppets. I love The Darjeeling Limited because it's a train film. By that I mean that you have time to think while admiring the scenery. You can daydream and that's a very lyrical narrative idea.

Anderson reveals deep feelings that he never dwells on. He always hides behind a very polite attitude. One shot at the beginning of the film evokes the passing of time, missed opportunities and old age... It's a very successful shot of a train because it manages to convey so much in one image. In this film, he reveals part of his own story alongside his favourite actors: Adrien Brody and his childhood friend Owen Wilson, who were part of the cast. At the time, the latter was not doing well, he was depressed, and Wes Anderson had also directed the film for him, which is quite moving. He shot it in India, buying a train and renting 150 kilometres of railway track to be able to make everything technically possible. » 
 

Patrick Bouchitey introducing Lune froide

« The film was shown at Cannes in 1991 and it took me a long time to restore it. It's based on a book by Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness (1972). The first short story in the book permeated my film sense, so to speak. I remembered it for a long time and when I had the opportunity to make a short film, I chose to adapt it. It's a road movie featuring two characters played by Jean-François Stévenin and myself. I chose black and white to complement the white of the moon, the shroud and the naked body of the woman in the film, but also to reflect Bukowski's poetry. » 

© Loïc Benoit