He speaks in a low and silky voice which has the gift of making the meeting instantly warm. Observing the same discretion for forty years, Pascal Greggory has always accompanied us. Through his presence in the cinema, from Eric Rohmer to Patrice Chéreau, from Jacques Doillon to Raoul Ruiz, from Luc Besson to Maïwenn; and in the theatre, directed by Chéreau, Luc Bondy and more recently by Arthur Nauzyciel. Today, he is starring in Mia Hansen-Løve’s new feature film, A nice morning, where he plays the role of a former professor of philosophy suffering from a neurodegenerative disease. A character inspired by the filmmaker’s father.
How did you receive this script?
I was very suspicious. I couldn’t see myself playing this role. It’s still very complicated for an actor to imagine how he’s going to be able to make a character exist whose mental capacities and language are diminished. I had always done the opposite. With Rohmer, Chéreau, in theater in general, my acting has always been structured around a text. There, I was faced with an unknown language. I had seen Mia Hansen-Løve’s films but I didn’t know her. She convinced me when she told me she had recordings of her father when he was sick. Listening to his words, I was able to grasp who he was. And then Mia managed to make me understand the complexity of this world in which the character finds himself.
Despite this absence from the world that you embody, a benevolence and gentleness emanate from your character. Is it due to the direction of the actor or to what you release yourself?
A bit of both, I must say. Mia’s father was a philosophy teacher and his students adored him. And on my side, I’m more of a well-mannered, sociable person. I have often found that people who devote themselves to thought give off something peaceful. As if reflection taught you that deep down there is hardly any solution to the destiny of men.
How was the meeting with Léa Seydoux?
Our relationship has been exceptional. We both come from a bourgeois and Protestant background, we found ourselves on that. I didn’t know her and it was as if I was destined to meet her. Léa is very intelligent, very constructed, despite a very complicated family. She fascinates me as a woman and as an actress. In the second, she is in the right place. With her, there are no complications, you don’t feel the work, it’s rare. And then what I like is that when you see her on screen, you imagine her outside. Léa is also out of frame. In this film, where she appears without sophistication, I found her even more beautiful and desirable. This is the magic of photogenics. Immense theater actors know this, who will never make a film because their physique does not imprint.
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