Edouard Baer: “Life without Benoît Poelvoorde is less interesting”<

They all dressed up for their annual lunch. They are a group of friends, of a certain age, from a very specific background, that of the Parisian intelligentsia who meet at La Closerie des lilas to take stock of life, and possibly talk about hurt of others. This year, one of them having slipped is banned from the little party and finds himself alone at the bar, trying to put on a good face. This is the joyful starting point of "Adieu Paris", the new film by Édouard Baer who, true to himself, delivers a baroque score, with a host of actors with chiseled repartee. François Damiens, Pierre Arditi, Bernard Le Coq, Daniel Prévost, Jackie Berroyer, particularly touching as an old fighter who searches for his words, without forgetting Benoît Poelvoorde (the banished!), in a role that sticks to his skin, where he oscillates from one extreme to the other, from euphoria to humiliation. The perfect opportunity to organize a meeting between the director and his favorite actor, friends in life. The Covid having become involved in the affair, Benoît will be present, but on the screen. This does not prevent the joy of the reunion.

Benoit Poelvoorde . Oh, my Edouardino, how glad I am to see you!

Edouard Baer . But you have a very good De Niro head, my Benoît, despite the illness. So, it seems that we will have to find photos of us, children!

BP . I found some, all in cuteness, where I look like an angel.

E.B. I always have some on me to flirt with. I just need to get my hands on it. Alright, let's talk a bit about movies.

SHE. What is the starting point of your film?

E.B. Our generation is cluttered with “It was better before”. Some speak of “their” Saint-Germain-des-Prés, “their” Halles, “their” Pigalle that we would never have known, “Le Palace, it was brilliant! »… There are a multitude of people who want to convince us that everything was better with them and that there will be nothing afterwards. It amused me to make a film on this theme. Me, when I started, there was the band in Sagan, that of Castel, of Jean-Paul Belmondo… People that I admired a lot. And I imagine that, when you come from the provinces, even from Belgium, they are even more fascinating, you want to try to be part of them, to touch them as closely as possible. So I wanted to tell the reunion of a group of friends who would have been the last kings of Paris.

BP . It's very well seen, because that's exactly what I felt when I arrived in Paris. Édouard says something very just that sums it all up: “How do you recognize the Belgian actors in the César room? Well, they are the only ones for whom all this still matters a lot! When you go to Paris, you are full of hope, you see the capital as a real playground. With Édouard, we met a lot in hotel bars, in clubs, in very fun. Then, one day he confided in me: “You know, Paris isn't just a Luna Park, there are also people who live there. »

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SHE. In the film, Benoît, your character is ostracized, a situation that you experienced?

BP . What amused me a lot is that neither they nor I really know where this annoyance comes from. And I understand that Édouard chose me for this role, because it could happen to me in life. I can, in the evening, if I've had too much to drink, say heartbreaking things, which I happen to regret the next morning. Concerning me, it never had any impact, well, maybe if, finally...

SHE. Between you two, did friendship precede work, or vice versa?

BP . With Édouard, we've known each other for a long time, we even toured together, and spent a number of nights discussing this and that. And it's always very annoying when a friend offers you a project, because if you don't like it, it's boring to formulate. Fortunately, there, I liked everything: the pitch, my character, the scenario.

SHE. Edouard, how did you introduce it to him?

E.B. By landing at his home in Namur, the project under his arm. When I know he wanted to be cushy. But I insisted a little.

BP . With Édouard, we think it's a courtesy visit, but there's always a little something behind it. Do you remember when you crashed during the lockdown in my house in the depths of Casamance with your podcast interview story that was supposed to last twenty minutes? And which ultimately took us five hours to record. Yes, you see, you always have to be wary when Édouard comes to your house. Or when he calls you at 7 a.m., it is better to be on answering machine…

SHE. However, he has some qualities since you accepted?

BP . He arrived with a rather ugly, rather smudged piece of paper that had been lying around in his briefcase with three lines written on it. When I asked him for a little more, he took a picture of the little sheet for me, saying to me: “You see that I made a plan. With him, we are sure to share fun things. Moreover, he is really generous, even if this word may seem overused. You can't suspect him of doing this to make money or to make himself interesting. He really likes to share what makes him think, scares him, or worries him. Already, that he has something to say is quite rare in this profession. And, for this movie, the script was remarkably written, and I didn't expect it at all.

SHE. And you, Édouard, why did you go looking for Benoît?

BP . For the sobriety of my game.

E.B. Life without Benoît is less interesting, less lively. He has the gift of transforming everyday life, not only in the guignolerie, but also in the emotion. Without him, the film would not have been the same. Like in "Broken Flowers", if you're not next to Bill Murray, you get bored.

BP . It's nice to say that. It's funny, because he gave me directions, like for the scene entering the restaurant, where he said to me: “There, you're overdosed on yourself. Well, no need to direct me on that, I know how to make a fuss of it when I walk into a room. Then he concluded with: “Trust your silences. »

SHE. Edward, what kind of child were you?

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E.B. A masculine gender! Seriously, I was angry all the time, at everything and everyone.

BP . Me, I was an adorable child, my mother can testify to it, always happy, always happy. A very wise child.

E.B. We'll call him to check anyway...

BP . My brother was much more temperamental, so I played a lot with this contrast. And I was a pretty good student until I was a teenager. The break was made at the first button, at the first masturbation. Afterwards, I missed a lot, I had to hang on a lot, and I became unbearable.

E.B. I don't like to think about all this too much. I haven't settled all of my past, and barely the present. But I was very good until CM2, because I was in a small school like Marcel Pagnol, the teachers were nice, the girls wanted to kiss us by force at recess, well, it was a whole small world ideal. Then, I don't know why, my parents wanted to put me in a Jesuit college, and then everything went wrong. I felt like I was in a prison, with a very weird atmosphere. Besides, to make my father admire me, I had the bad idea to choose German as a second language. I retained only one sentence, which earned me between 1 and 5 on each check. The whole secondary school was abominable, the boys' schools are a horror.

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SHE. And with the girls?

E.B. Well, I didn't know any, so I married my cousin every summer.

BP . Me, I had a lot of success when I was little, and, at the first button, it became a disaster. Until I was 20.

SHE. What did you want to become at 20?

BP . Nothing. I've never aspired to anything, and that's what I've often been criticized for. Well, yes, I wanted to be a draftsman, and I studied fine arts, but to break through, you understand quite quickly that you have to be gifted. Which was not my case. I liked to stay alone and draw my universe, then, very quickly, I saw that it was easier to play it in the cinema.

E.B. Me, I wanted to play politics, galvanize the crowds, make great speeches standing in front of a desk. I admired Napoleon, a short man who managed to get an entire army behind him.

SHE. So, actor, it was not a vocation?

E.B. I started by writing texts, then, one day, a friend of my father said to me: “If you were Proust, it would be known. There you are, there you are. Then I tried Sciences Po, and I went to a bank where I was considerably bored every day, even though I was well dressed, in a suit and tie. I had never considered becoming an actor. One day, a friend took me to Cours Florent, and I had an audition in front of Isabelle Nanty on "Léocadia" by Jean Anouilh. And there, I understood physically that it was something that I wanted to do, that I was in my place. To restore the life in false, I like that, and I find myself there well. And then, after, with the troupe, we met in a bar, Chez Christiane and Mauricette, who had been whores until a short time before, and I really liked this atmosphere. The teachers took us, the students, and it was like a little theatre. And I looked at all this little world that amused me a lot. I liked the mythology of friends, bands.

"Benoît transforms everyday life, not only in the guignolerie, but also in the emotion"

BP . Me, I was fascinated by the commitment of cursed artists. I believed in it. I carried around as a teenager with a cane and an impossible physique. I was experimenting with friends, not going out for three days, eating and drinking to see who got bigger, faster. Then I met Rémy Belvaux, who, instead of talking about it like me, really did things. I became an actor thanks to them, even though it took years to convince myself that I really was. Ten years ago, when I was asked the question, I was still playing my coquette.

SHE. Have you had moments of doubt, where you found this job less graceful?

BP . Yes, and it corresponds exactly to the famous passage of quarantine. It seems that everyone has to go through a shitty period, and me, I suddenly worked too much, I mixed everything up, I tried to find answers to questions that I didn't have to ask myself. The worst part is that I was not in difficulty. I created problems for myself by dint of inventing them for myself. Fortunately, this period of doubt is behind me. And I'm glad I'm done. Today, I long to be an old fart.

E.B. I never really went through that, because I never really peaked either. Today, I'm a bit afraid of filming as an actor, because I think I would be bored. I loved my 40th birthday party, there were only people I love around me. Afterwards, it was less funny, I know very well how to ruin my life too. I just hope not to let go, to continue to be curious, to search. Not necessarily the same people, in the same places. We must not go looking for something that we have known. Even if sometimes I would like to come across Jean-Claude Brialy who would introduce me to Marlene Dietrich.

BP . Me, I am absolutely not nostalgic, I regret nothing, I feel very good with myself and with my time.

SHE. And this Covid, how do you live it?

BP . I am very tired. I just stay in Namur, in my think tank and work, it's quite austere, but I get used to it.

E.B. Be careful, he has the Covid for Dummies. In real Parisian circles, we had the Delta, like me, a month in bed without seeing anyone. For Benoît, we are only talking about a “light” Omicron. Which doesn't stop me from kissing her. From afar.

“Adieu Paris”, by Édouard Baer, ​​with Benoît Poelvoorde, Pierre Arditi, Jackie Berroyer, François Damiens (1 h 36).