Marcello Mio: how Chiara Mastroianni became his actor father in Christophe Honoré’s film

Christophe Honoré is perhaps not a regular at the Cannes Competition, given that he does not participate “that” for the third time in seventeen years. But it is not uncommon to see him present a film on the Croisette, in one section or another. Often in the company of his favorite actress, Chiara Mastroianni, starring in seven of his fifteen feature films.

Released in cinemas at the same time as Greta Gerwig’s jury discovered it, Marcello Mio goes even further: because it blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, and tells how Chiara, actress and daughter of Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve, decides on a day of living his father’s life.

A lovely comedy with meta accents, where the filmmaker’s love for his actors and actresses (who here almost play their own roles) overflows. And a great opportunity to bring together Christophe Honoré and Chiara Mastroianni at our microphone.

AlloCiné: How was this idea born which one day led you, Christophe, to say to Chiara “I would like you to play a version of yourself who decides to become your father”?

Christophe Honore : I’ve been trying to work on the idea of ​​the journey an actor takes towards a character for a long time. That’s something that interests me a lot. I don’t know if you remember Chiara, but we did something together at the Forum des Images: “Stendhal Crystal” [discussion autour d’un film imaginaire, ndlr]where it was about an actress who moved towards a character and who, little by little, ended up living her life, but in her daily life.

I really wanted that, and I think that after Le Lycéen, I also wanted a lighter film, a comedy. So, that’s a bit how I ended up daring to propose the film to Chiara: “What if we tried to make a comedy out of your life?” And to paint a portrait of an actress today, who would be an actress in a bit of a crisis and who, at one point, would provoke the world around her and try to impose her dream on them.

People couldn’t see me as anything other than a projection of either of my parents.

Have you experienced situations like those in the film Chiara, in particular this moment where you were asked to play “more Mastroianni and less Deneuve”? Moments when you felt your father’s shadow?

Chiara Mastroianni : Yes, sometimes when I was young. But it’s not so much a shadow thing as the fact that people couldn’t see me other than as a projection of one or the other of my parents.

Christophe Honoré: Like masks.

Chiara Mastroianni: Exactly, like masks. Except that at some point, I got used to it. And then the mask served me well in the end, because as I don’t like talking about myself too much, after a while I said to myself: you have to take responsibility for it, that’s how it is.

I know what I’m experiencing inside, but I’m not lost about myself. I just said to myself: if people talked to me all the time about my parents, I would respond. I’ve made up my mind, but that’s okay, it’s not systematic either. Well I think, I don’t know (laughs) Maybe suddenly I’ll have some kind of crisis of conscience after all this.

Christophe Honoré: But, in any case, I think that everyone, at some point, questions themselves. Especially once the quarantine is over. Suddenly, in the mirror, we say to ourselves “He looks like my father, he looks like my mother.” We hear ourselves say an expression…

Chiara Mastroianni: Whereas for me it will be the opposite. As I was always told “He looks like your father”it will be : “Is he still my father? Am I looking less and less like him?” I built myself with that. And ultimately, it makes me happy, it doesn’t pose a problem for me.

And making a film like this allows you to confront it openly.

Chiara Mastroianni: Yes, this is going to the end of the process.

There is also this idea of ​​knowing to what extent we can let ourselves be haunted by a role – because we are talking about a ghost here. How far you can lose yourself in a character.

Christophe Honoré: That’s exactly what the film is about. Since we’re on AlloCiné, we can afford to be a little more of a movie buff (laughs) But that’s what I’m trying to understand: what is this process, for an actor or an actress, of letting oneself be invaded by a role? And a role, despite what we think, is not a preconceived idea of ​​a psychological character.

We don’t say to ourselves that we’re going to create a character who will smoke cigarettes like that, who will be rather irascible… No, a role is, suddenly, letting yourself be invaded by fiction. And how actors and actresses absent themselves to allow themselves to be invaded by fiction, which is not inconsistent. I hope that’s what we see in the film: Chiara who lets herself be invaded by a fiction that we know.

A priori, we manage to discern that it is Marcello Mastroianni, of whom we have an idea. But, as the film progresses, it becomes more and more disturbing, more and more vague, uncertain. And we no longer know very well what she is looking for, but we see that she is in a total fiction, and we wonder at what moment, and in what way she will emerge from it.

It’s something that you have to support as a filmmaker. I have made fifteen films and I can clearly see how the actors and actresses, after two or three days, are no longer the same. They are almost untouchable, a bit like in India. As a director you see that you have to leave them, because there is a magic that happens in them and that the film will benefit from at some point. But we have to ask ourselves the question of how we are going to bring them back to reality afterwards.

A role is letting yourself be invaded by fiction. And how actors and actresses absent themselves to let themselves be invaded by fiction

That’s what I liked too: beyond Chiara’s story, we feel that it’s a film about the actors and actresses. Even your actors and actresses.

Chiara Mastroianni: It’s an excuse, yes. Or a metaphor. Call it what you want.

Christophe Honoré: Let’s say a metaphor, it’s prettier.

Chiara Mastroianni: A metaphor then. We even see it with the character of Fabrice Luchini, who is super unifying and who says that we believe in it. That’s a bit what we, actors and technicians, say to a director when we make a film: “We believe in your story and we’re going to throw ourselves into it with as much sincerity as possible.” This film is not the story of a shooting, but it could be.

Christophe Honoré: It’s a story of identification. The identification of a woman. The identification of a father.

Chiara Mastroianni: But it’s true what Christophe says about this magic that works. In the morning I felt like I was putting on a superhero costume that gave me superpowers, even though I don’t have any. But that would give me this kind of illusion. A bit like a state of love in fact. I think directors must say to themselves “At some point she’s going to get dumped when the film ends, what are we going to do?”

And we, for our part, are here. People will tell you “Don’t go Chiara, it’s not serious!” But what do you want? If you fall in love, you fall in love. We can’t fight. And we don’t want to fight. That’s a total surrender of oneself, and it’s very pleasant. It suits me very well. I definitely prefer to be someone other than myself, because it entertains me.

But there is also this thing where it bumps, like when you bump against a transparent window. And suddenly, it’s reality. When she sees that what she does has consequences, at the end of the film with what happens with her mother, reality suddenly catches up with her. And that’s where you take over Christophe.

JACOVIDES-MOREAU / BESTIMAGE

Christophe Honoré: It makes me laugh, and I also think that the film has a certain cruelty. Because there, I’m asking actors to be themselves. That is to say, not being able to distract themselves from themselves: I suggest to Catherine Deneuve to be Catherine Deneuve, to Benjamin Biolay to be Benjamin Biolay… I am well aware that I am playing a trick on them.

And I was only able to do it because I had a great bond with Chiara, or because I had already worked with Catherine or Benjamin. Fabrice, Nicole Garcia or Melvil Poupaud could ask more questions. Although Fabrice didn’t do it.

Chiara Mastroianni: Fabrice started the film before us (laughs)

Christophe Honoré: Yes, and what was strong about him was that he wanted to meet Chiara. It was the opportunity for him because he had never played with her, and it was after seeing Room 212 that he wanted to. This momentum was essential for him.

The hazards of Cannes being what they are, the interview ended with this sentence. But Chiara Mastroianni then took the time to tell us that, contrary to what we might think given the memories she could have provided, she did not participate in the writing of her character with Christophe Honoré.

“He totally deserves his status as an author”she tells us, before adding that it was more with costume designer Pascaline Chavanne and those responsible for makeup that she was able to bring this version of herself to life. “And that’s very rare.”she concludes enthusiastically.

Comments collected by Maximilien Pierrette in Cannes on May 21, 2024