On the occasion of the cinema release of the film Sous le vent des marquises, AlloCiné met its director, Pierre Godeau.
On the occasion of the theatrical release of the dramatic comedy Sous le vent des marquises, AlloCiné met its director, Pierre Godeau. In his new film, the director summoned François Damiens in a more moving register than usual. He responds to the revelation of Illusions Perdues: Salomé Dewaels.
The Belgian actor plays Alain, a film star in decline. The latter must play Jacques Brel in a biopic but cannot find the right tone to slip into the skin of the characters. He will therefore stop filming and try to recreate links with his daughter, Lou (Dewaels).
AlloCiné: We are not used to seeing François Damiens in this dramatic register, why did you think of him for the role of Alain?
Pierre Godeau: I thought of him because he is an immense actor and a great admirer of Jacques Brel. It’s so valuable for a director to have your lead actor know the subject as well as you do. I had experienced this pleasure with Benoît Poelvoorde when I adapted Sempé in Raoul Taburin. There, it was the same, a privilege, like for an orchestra conductor with his first violin.
François Damiens is an immense actor.
How did he react when you offered him the role?
François immediately suggested that we meet and invited me to come to Brussels to the Brel foundation where they were showing a documentary on the period that we cover in the film. We sat side by side in the room and together we discovered these never-before-seen images of Jacques Brel on his boat.
It galvanized us, impressed us, but also reassured us because we immediately felt that we were on the same wavelength. We both put ourselves in the same place in relation to Brel, at the same distance, respectful, admiring but also authorized to talk about the life of an artist who continues to inspire us today.
It is undoubtedly my most personal film.
Did you draw inspiration from true stories to write the screenplay?
Not really and yet it is undoubtedly my most personal film.
Why did you choose this title, Sous le vent des marquises?
It was a dialogue that left but the title remained… I liked the idea of this father and this daughter who become closer thanks to or under the influence of Jacques Brel; whether it is thanks to him, to cinema and fiction, that they find each other, Sous le vent des Marquesas therefore…
Why was Salomé Dewaels the perfect actress to play Lou?
Salomé is too strong; with her, François and I found each other. I am responsible for choosing them both and for the relationship I had with each of them, but not for their agreement.
This is my limit as a director. I can’t force people to love each other. I thank them infinitely for that even if they probably don’t have much to do with it either, because it’s like in life, it can’t be explained.
Pan Distribution Salome Dewaels
It is by playing Jacques Brel in a film that the character of Alain escapes the tumult of the cinema. How and why did this idea emerge?
Alain is someone who lives his life through his roles. At least that’s what he’s been doing for a while. This is the place he gave to his profession. There, that’s what he continues to do, letting himself be guided by his role.
Jacques Brel left the stage at the height of his glory, he was not forty years old. He never went back. When Alain learns that he is ill like Jacques Brel, he does not hesitate to leave the set without looking back.
The settings of the film are magnificent, where did you shoot and why did you choose an island?
From the start, I wanted the film to take place on an island. I wanted to materialize the journey that the father and daughter would have to take to reach each other. I also wanted it to symbolize a place as much as a compartmentalized past. A time when father and mother lived together. A time when the girl lacked nothing. A place that she will have to leave to grow up. We filmed on Monk Island.
Benoit Poelvoorde makes a funny and unexpected cameo as Alain’s replacement in the film about Brel, why did you call on him for this role?
Who else but him to take the role of Alain? Who else but him to represent a threat to Lou who does not want his father to abandon the project? Benoît was kind enough to come. Without him there was no scene.
Pan Distribution
François Damiens
When it comes to directing actors, are you more instinctive in letting your actors suggest things or do you prefer that everything is well framed?
Both ! I really try to give as little indication as possible so that the actors feel free to bring me everything they are and everything I wouldn’t have thought of; and then gradually, I lead them towards the film if I feel them a little bit outside the scene.
Why was it important for you to address the theme of filiation in this film? Does this resonate with your personal story?
My father is a producer and director. My uncle is also a producer. Cinema has always played a large part in our family life. And if it was able to distance us a little sometimes because, like all exciting jobs, it is demanding, it also brought us closer together because the work and the stories we tell are wonderful pretexts for telling each other the things we ‘it’s sometimes hard to say.
I’m a very good spectator, whatever the genre, from blockbuster to arthouse film.
More generally, what movie buff are you? What kind of movies do you like?
I like everything, I’m a very good spectator, whatever the genre, from blockbuster to arthouse film, I think I know how to recognize and like a successful film. And what I particularly like is a film that resembles its author, regardless of the style, the writing… regardless of whether it is personal.
Your latest cinema crush?
Without hesitation, The Kidnapping of Marco Bellocchio.
Who are the filmmakers/artists who inspire you?
There are so many… From Paul Thomas Anderson to Leos Carax via David Lynch, Nanni Moretti, Pedro Almodovar, Aki Kaurismaki or Kelly Reichardt… I could go on for a long time.