France 3 is broadcasting “Murders on the Frioul Islands” tonight, with Francis Huster (“Here it all begins”) and Jérémy Banster (“Un Si Grand Soleil”) as father and son cops. They explain to us the peculiarities of this “Murders at…” like no other.
After the broadcast at the beginning of the year of Meurtres à Blois and Meurtres au Mont Saint-Michel, France 3’s successful detective collection is back this evening with a new opus entitled Meurtres sur les îles du Frioul, which immerses Francis Huster (Here it all begins) and Jérémy Banster (Un Si Grand Soleil) in an investigation like no other against a backdrop of father-son rivalry, buried secrets, and Alexandre Dumas.
Directed by Sylvie Ayme (Meurtres à Toulouse, Les Ondes du Souvenir) and written by David Crozier and Camille Guichard, Murders on the Frioul Islands begins with the death of a famous Marseille publisher, found murdered on the Frioul Islands, in the midst of theatrical performance of the Count of Monte Cristo.
In charge of the investigation, Victor Mariani, a young captain of the SRPJ from Marseille, is surprised to find at the scene of the crime his father, Pierre Mariani, legendary retired Lyon commissioner. The victim being a former comrade from military service whom he had not seen for 50 years, Pierre is appointed consultant on the investigation. Which is not to Victor’s taste, who had done everything to get away from this too intrusive father.
But, above all, Victor is far from imagining the tragic secret that binds his father to the victim, as well as to his own origins…
Met at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival last year, a few months after filming, Francis Huster and Jérémy Banser tell us more about this TV movie and their duo on screen and on set.
AlloCiné: What immediately seduced you in Meurtres sur les îles du Frioul when France 3 offered you to play Pierre and Victor Mariani?
Jeremy Banster : It was a whole. The characters and the scenario first of all, because there is a real rivalry and a lot of things left unsaid between this father and this son. And finally, this somewhat forced joint investigation will force them to admit a few truths to each other, it’s fascinating and very well written.
Then there is Marseille of course, it was a pleasure to shoot in such a setting. Under the direction of Sylvie Ayme, who is a wonderful director. And with Francis Huster as a partner. What could be better ? When I received the script, I didn’t hesitate for a second.
In addition, there is a theme that I adore, this filiation, this father-son transmission. This is something that appears very often in all the films that I have been able to defend, even as a director and screenwriter. It was unthinkable that I was not part of this adventure.
Francis Huster : For my part, what fascinated me in this Murders on the islands of Frioul is to finally be able to get out of a frame. Anne Holmes [la directrice de la fiction française de France Télévisions, ndlr] created this collection with incredible success. There were over 70 episodes I believe. Sylvie Ayme had already shot a “Meurtres à…”, Murders in Toulouse, which had been the record for the collection.
And when I read the screenplay, which weaves a parallel with The Count of Monte Cristo, I said to myself that it would be the only one of all the “Murders in…” that would be unlike any other. It’s a film from the 1950s, à la Hitchcock, à la Kazan, that is to say that it gives a completely modern image of Marseille.
For once, we don’t find all the clichés about Marseille that we see too often on the screen. We are completely current, far from the dated image of the French Connection. The TV movie offers sublime views of Marseille. The police stations are in huge, ultra-modern buildings. It sucks, really. And the secondary characters in the TV movie are like in those Hollywood movies, they are extraordinary. It’s a hell of a movie, and a hell of a character movie.
François LEFEBVRE – FTV – SECOND WAVE PRODUCTIONS
Did you two know each other before playing in this TV movie?
Jérémy Banster: We had met, but we didn’t know each other. We got to know each other at work, really. We worked a lot before filming, we met on weekends, all three with Sylvie Ayme. We were able to dissect the scenario, deepen our characters. So when we arrived on set, we were already in total confidence. We were on the line. All it took was a few glances for Sylvie to refine her acting direction vis-à-vis us.
And it was obviously a great pleasure to play with Francis. He is a very generous person. And the fact of shooting with an actor like him inevitably pushes us to surpass ourselves and give the best, with each take.
Francis Huster: It was a joy. But, you know, I had to take it upon myself during this shoot (laughs). Every morning I counted the number of close-ups that Sylvie was going to do on Jérémy Banster. Because well, frankly, we lost count of the moments when she was doing close-ups on him or the scenes where she was half-naked (laughs).
Do you have the feeling that this “Meurtres à…” also stands out from the other opuses in the collection thanks to this father-son duo and thanks to all of its characters?
Francis Huster: Of course. You know, a duo exists above all and above all thanks to the other actors. This was the case for Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven, or for Gabin and Ventura. And this TV movie is further proof of that.
I find that the courage of Sylvie Ayme is not to be satisfied with her duo of actors. She knows how to trust all her actors, each one carries the TV movie in their own way. The success of this film comes from this state of mind. As in Agatha Christie’s novels, we have secondary characters who fascinate us and who make us almost forget Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.
Jérémy Banster: It’s true, everyone is very fair. Everyone has their moment, their score to play. Sylvie succeeded in highlighting and highlighting each one. And that is not always obvious in a TV movie. This film is part of the “Meurtres à…” collection, and at the same time it exists by itself, thanks to Marseille, to this duo of cops, and to these formidable characters who are around.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Marseille filmed like this. In a positive way. We often see it represented in a rather dark way. There we have a bright city of Marseille, we have Frioul, we have the Château d’If, we have the Mediterranean Sea, and the districts of Marseille. And it’s good to see that on screen.