Back to the scene where, after climbing a tower, Arthur kisses Guinevere for the first time since the start of “Kaamelott”, and to the way in which Alexandre Astier approached the sequence in question.
After long years of arguing, shouting, taunting and domestic scenes, at the end of Kaamelott – Premier Volet, Arthur and Guinevere finally exchange a passionate embrace, and even a romantic kiss.
Just before going into battle against Lancelot, the two characters go to King Ban’s Tower to retrieve a crown of flowers. As Guinevere takes the stairs, Arthur stands guard and suddenly decides to join her at the top. He then climbs the ivy that wraps the facade of the tower, passes through the window and, without saying a word, kisses his queen.
Particularly awaited by the fans, this sequence which nicely completes the singular relationship of the royal couple, had been envisaged by Alexandre Astier for a long time, as he himself declared during a question and answer session with his fans, organized by the Fnac :
“(…) I’ve known for a very long time that Guinevere will be in a very stereotypical princess situation, that is to say locked up by the villain at the top of the tower, like in a lot of fairy tales, taken over by Mario Bros, etc. This classic climb of the lover or the suitor by the vegetation that runs along the tower, I know I’ve wanted it for a long time”, he explained.
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The filmmaker and interpreter of Arthur continued his commentary by declaring that in his eyes, the scene was all the more beautiful as the two characters lent themselves to this love ritual at an age which is not so much that of traditional lovebirds. :
“I don’t know how old they are, but more or less ours, or a little less, because cinema has done a bit of magic”, he confides. “In any case, they are over 40 years old. And the fact that he goes up to these grasslands, when the door is open and he just has to go up the stairs, the effort he makes, even badly, even out of breath, even with my hands scratched by thorns… I fell rather in love with this idea. I wanted to do this, because I think it’s very pretty.”
Yet, despite the precision of the scene thatAlexandre Astier had in mind, the director still viewed its outcome with some trepidation, wondering if the kiss between Arthur and Guinevere would seem believable to audiences.
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“There is something that helped me a lot to do that,” he says. “It’s Guinevere herself. It’s Anne Girouard. (…) In fact, as I approach her, it’s the look she has, she, at that moment, which for me contains everything it should contain. That is to say, perhaps a tiny bit of panic, but also a bit of impatience, a mixture of astonishment and yet familiarity. Something light, but with meaning. And suddenly I thought to myself: “If she sees what we can do with it, that means we’ll get there.”
Find more details and secrets behind the scenes of Kaamelott – First part in the DVD-Blu-ray bonuses.
(Re)discover our interview with Alexandre Astier for “Kaamelott – Premier Volet”…