For AlloCiné, the candidates for the 2022 presidential election reveal their vision of Culture, their tastes in political fiction and their favorite films and series. Today, Fabien Roussel, candidate of the French Communist Party (PCF).
Fabien Roussel (French Communist Party)
- www.fabienroussel2022.fr
- twitter.com/Fabien_Roussel
- www.facebook.com/roussel2022
- www.instagram.com/fabien_roussel
- www.tiktok.com/@fabien_roussel
Shouldn’t Culture benefit from a sovereign ministry?
When the Ministry of Culture was created in 1958, its first holder, André Malraux, had the title of “Minister of State”. This was never again the case during the successive seven years and five years. And under the seven-year term of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, it was even reduced to the rank of “Secretariat of State”. Even if the term “regular” seems excessive – far be it from me to make cultural property or artistic creation “state monopolies”! – it is clear that the Ministry of Culture must find a rank, a role and attributions, more in line with the idea that we have of its mission. As stated in point 111 of my program: a major Ministry of Culture, Popular Education and the Media will be created. It will be endowed with the widest competence, including France’s external cultural action and its role within the framework of the Francophonie. The shared competence will be reconstructed between the State and the local authorities (…).
Is cinema necessarily a political art? What inspires you about the recovery that can be done around a work, such as “Bac Nord” recently?
Since its birth, cinema has been a popular art. As such, it seizes today, like yesterday, all the subjects of society, including their “political” readings. It’s a fact. On the other hand, I don’t have the habit of judging a work according to whether the “political” statement it would make goes or not in the direction of my commitments. The film you mention poses, in my opinion, a completely different problem: it is a symptom. Symptom of a “banality of evil” that certain districts of our cities would carry and of which a certain fringe of opinion would see the solution in the sole reinforcement of “all repression”. It should also be noted that the directors of this film reacted strongly to the attempts at political recovery of which it was the object.
Do cinema and series have, among other things, the vocation, in your opinion, of helping to “move the lines” on societal issues (parity, diversity, etc.)?
Yes ! And they do. Let’s trust the creative freedom of authors so that they always do more, and even better!
Candidate… and spectator
If we had to give a film or series title to this campaign…
Invictus. Because a united nation wins against all odds.
If you had to give a film or series title to your program…
Life is Beautiful, by Roberto Benigni. Even in the worst times.
A replica of a film or series that inspires you…
I immediately think of Audiard, I keep two in mind: “Retirement must be taken young (…) above all, it must be taken alive, it is not within everyone’s means”. (The Barbouzes). And how not to also remember the “Don’t touch the grisbi” Tontons gunslingers. Audiard has a sense of formula that I greatly admire.
A movie/series character that inspires you…
Robin des Bois, for his keen sense of social justice.
For which President·e on the screen would you have voted?
Without hesitation: Mandela in Invictus. I got involved in politics precisely against Apartheid, I have unlimited admiration for the strength of Mandela, he who experienced injustice in his flesh and who knew how to keep the hope and the conviction that he was possible to reverse all that. And to do so, not in the anger and hatred of the other, but through the unity and reconciliation of the people: “I am the master of my destiny”.
My slogan, “Happy Days”, is also this: we are the masters of our destiny.
The best political film?
The Dictator, a masterpiece which has lost none of its acuity more than eighty years later when it comes to the risks posed by the rise of nationalism in Europe.
The best political series?
Baron Noir, for his raw realism.
Your first spectator memory?
Laurel and Hardy. What a duo!
Your cult film?
The Tontons gunslingers
Your cult series?
Money Heist
Your latest cinema/series crush?
The Lupine Series
Film/series music to work on or think about?
The soundtrack of the movie Jackie Brown, by Quentin Tarantino
Note from the Editor of AlloCiné
On the occasion of the Presidential Election 2022AlloCiné gives the floor to the twelve candidates involved in the race for the Elysée, with the collaboration of Camille Marigaux, Culture, Politics and International journalist at France Culture and RFI.
The same questionnaire was submitted to all the people in the running. We will post a candidate’s responses each day, in the order determined by the official draw. A thematic article, bringing together the responses and proposals of the various candidates on topics related to media chronology and piracy, will also be available on our site by April 8, 2022.
We remind you that you should be civil in the comments related to these publications. In the event of overflows and messages that do not comply with the charter, we will be obliged to close the comments. Thank you for understanding.
Don’t forget to vote on April 10 and 24.