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Love Songs: "Les chansons d'amour" (2007) by Christophe Honoré
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Interview with
CHIARA MASTROIANNI
Did you know Christophe Honoré’s films before appearing in LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR?
I had seen DANS PARIS and liked it a lot, especially the song between Romain Duris and Joana Preiss, which was my favourite moment. When he talked to me about LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR, I was delighted to see that he was taking the use of songs in a film even further. I love Christophe’s spontaneity. He is both shy and audacious at the same time.
For you, what do songs allow you to express in the film?
For a start, they allow you to have fun! Songs have a very playful dimension. Even if I don’t perform the happiest song in the film! Jeanne doesn’t talk much, she is a fairly withdrawn character. In the song "Parc de la Pépinière", she can express herself at last. Christophe wanted this moment to be a dramatic one. He told me that if I could cry, that wouldn’t be bad either... I think it’s beautiful that Christophe decided to use songs to tell this painful story. The songs are a breath of fresh air that eases the characters’ suffering. Songs never take themselves seriously.
Despite your experience as a singer, were you afraid of these moments of song?
Yes, I was afraid. I’m always afraid anyway! But my fear stimulated me rather than paralyzed me. I’m not sure that my experience as a singer really helped me because there’s a big difference between singing alone in a studio and being filmed while you sing. But I was encouraged by my love of musicals, from Minnelli to Jacques Demy. And Christophe really played down the stakes in the sung scenes. He approached them in a simple manner, without overdoing it. He almost «trivialized» his project to avoid intimidating us.
Do you like love songs?
Of course, especially the sad ones! I’m a real sucker for them.
Your character, Jeanne, is perhaps the one who is the saddest when Julie dies. Unlike Ismaël or Alice, her grief immobilizes her...
Jeanne doesn’t lead a very fulfilled life. So sorrow necessarily takes up a lot of room when she loses her sister. Jeanne has less spirit than the others. This period of mourning comes very early in her life, too early... especially as Julie’s death remains unexplained, as if fate had come knocking at the door of this family. This leads to Jeanne’s feelings of guilt: why was Julie the one who died and not her? Jeanne has the guilt of the one who is left behind. Ismaël rebounds more easily. Julie’s grief overwhelms her and centres her at the same time, forcing her to pull herself together, to wake up. It is accompanied by an impulse to live.
Julie has a "cardiac arrest". Symbolically, do you think it is possible to die from too much emotional suffering?
Yes, I think it’s possible to die because of one’s feelings, to let oneself die. It happens to animals, so why not to human beings?! I love Christophe’s film because of that to: he is proud to tell a love story, literally, without any snobbery.
In making this film, did you think about LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG, about your mother in that film?
Not at all. Christophe never referred to it. It was only when I saw the stills of Ludivine in her little white coat that I thought about it. But when I read the screenplay and when we were filming, not at all. The film was made in a very spontaneous manner, in very easy conditions. Christophe put the film together very quickly, he wanted to capture a moment of life. I’m used to these low-budget films produced by Paulo Branco and the economic constraints don’t bother me. As long as the director can make the movie he wants to make, as long as there’s enough film in the camera!
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Interview with
CLOTILDE HESME
How did you come to work on LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR?
I had already worked with Christophe Honoré on stage in one of his plays called LES DÉBUTANTES. Unfortunately, it only ran for four performances in Dijon. We regretted it and we promised to work together again one day. He called me for a part in DANS PARIS but I was working on stage at the time. With LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR, I couldn’t miss the boat again! I have a great deal of admiration for Christophe, for his work as a writer, a filmmaker, a playwright and a director of actors. He is very fond of language and words but doesn’t approach them in a cerebral manner. With him, the rehearsals are very physical, the language passes through the body.
This is especially true of the very vibrant Alice, the character you play...
Yes, Alice has a hellish delivery, when she speaks she sounds like a machinegun going crazy. When Christophe got me to work on Alice’s rapid manner of speaking, I had the impression that I was having a diction work-out!
Weren’t you afraid of singing?
At the Conservatoire, I skipped all the singing classes because I was terrified by the idea of having to sing. I would burst into tears, to the extent that the teacher thought that it hid some kind of trauma, that maybe my mother was a famous opera singer! It was only later that I took classes. I followed a year-long course with a brilliant teacher who made me want to sing. And a good job too! Without knowing it, I had prepared myself for Christophe’s film...
Do you like love songs?
I love them ! I’m a big pop fan. My sister writes songs, I’m very close to that form of culture.
According to you, what do the songs bring to this story?
They provide the opportunity to talk about death while remaining grounded in life, while being joyful. Joy is something that typifies Christophe. He is an artist firmly on the side of life. Like Alex Beaupain too. I believe that it was very important for them to tell this story together. I thought that the sung scene on the phone between Romain Duris and Joana Preiss in DANS PARIS was fantastic. I would have liked it to last even longer, with more scenes like it. That is now the case with LES CHANSONS D'AMOUR and I’m happy and proud to have been involved in this adventure.
What is your view of the bonds that unite Julie, Alice and Ismaël?
Love is possible between them because there are three of them. As soon as Julie is no longer there, everything becomes shaky, the love between Ismaël and Alice no longer has any reason to exist. It would be almost indecent for Alice to carry on loving Ismaël now that Julie is no longer around. Alice has to come to terms with a dual loss: that of Julie and that of her love for Ismaël. Julie’s loss reveals to her the love that she feels for Ismaël. Up until that point, her bisexuality protected her from her love for Ismaël, she sheltered behind her feelings for Julie.
In LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR, Christophe Honoré tackles the emotions of love without beating about the bush...
Yes, he is not at all afraid of emotion and feelings. He approaches all that without any cynicism but occasionally with a hint of self-derision, notably thanks to my character when she makes fun of Julie and Ismaël: "All this soppiness makes me sick!" But there is also a hint of envy in Alice’s words. In a way, she would like to be in their shoes... In LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR, Christophe films people who love each other and I find it very noble and brave to be like that these days, to tell such a story. We are living in an age where we find it hard to accept great and noble feelings...
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Three nominations (including Christophe Honoré and Clotilde Hesme),
one win (for Alex Beaupain), for Les Chansons d'amour at the
Étoiles d’Or 2008
2007 French Film Critics’ Étoiles d’Or
2007 Étoiles d’Or winners: Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, February 18, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
Best Female Newcomer / Étoile d’Or de la Révélation Féminine française 2007
Clotilde Hesme, Les chansons d’amour
Audrey Dana, Roman de gare
* Hafsia Herzi, The Secret of the Grain
Best Screenplay / Étoile d’Or du Scénario français 2007
Christophe Honoré, Les Chansons d’Amour
* Abdellatif Kechiche, The Secret of the Grain
Valéria Bruni Tedeschi and Noémie Lvovsky, Actrices / Actresses
Best Original Score / Étoile d’Or du Compositeur de Musique Originale de film français 2007
Bruno Coulais, Le Deuxième souffle
Alexandre Desplat, L’Ennemi intime
* Alex Beaupain, Les Chansons d’Amour
http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/etoiles-dor-2007/
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Four nominations (including Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Clotilde Hesme and Guillaume Le Braz, Valérie Deloof, Agnès Ravez, Thierry Delor for sound), and again,
one win (for Alex Beaupain), for Les Chansons d'amour at the
César Awards 2008
French Academy of Film Arts and Sciences’ 33rd César Awards - 2007
2007 César du Cinéma winners: the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, on February 22, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
BEST MALE NEWCOMER / MEILLEUR ESPOIR MASCULIN 2007
Nicolas Cazalé, Le fils de l’épicier
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Les chansons d'amour,
Johan Libéreau, The Witnesses
Jocelyn Quivrin, 99 F
* Laurent Stocker, Ensemble, c’est tout
BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER / MEILLEUR ESPOIR FÉMININ 2007
Louise Blachère, Water Lilies
Audrey Dana, Roman de gare
Adèle Haenel, Water Lilies
* Hafsia Herzi, The Secret of the Grain
Clotilde Hesme, Les chansons d’amour
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE / MEILLEURE MUSIQUE ÉCRITE POUR UN FILM
* Alex Beaupain, Les chansons d’Amour
Olivier Bernet, Persepolis
Alexandre Desplat, L’ennemi intime
Zbigniew Preisner, A Secret
Archie Shepp, Faut que ça danse!
BEST SOUND / MEILLEUR SON
Antoine Deflandre, Germain Boulay, Eric Tisserand, L’ennemi intime
Guillaume Le Braz, Valérie Deloof, Agnès Ravez, Thierry Delor, Les chansons d’amour
Thierry Lebon, Eric Chevallier, Samy Bardet, Persepolis
Jean-Paul Mugel, Francis Wargnier, Dominique Gaborieau, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
*Laurent Zeilig, Pascal Villard, Jean-Paul Hurier, La Vie en Rose
Also...
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS / MEILLEURE ACTRICE DANS UN SECOND RÔLE
*Julie Depardieu, A Secret
Noémie Lvovsky, Actrices
Bulle Ogier, Faut que ça danse!
Ludivine Sagnier, A Secret
Sylvie Testud, La Vie en Rose
http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/cesar-awards-2008/
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Hmmmm--I'm not the only obsessional one around here!
Ok, it sure isn't Alex Beaupain's music--but a clever Youtuber has made a 'slash' Les Chansons d'amour video using a Michelle Branch song ("All You Wanted")--very cute! I like it!
Ismaël and Erwann (in love) (3:38)
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUOC5GBcIRM[/youtube]
I wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away
I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone
to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out
That when the tide comes
I'd take you away
If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted
was somebody who cares
I'm sinking slowly
So hurry hold me
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted
was somebody who cares
All you wanted was somebody who cares
If you need me you know I'll be there
Oh, yeah
If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted
was somebody who cares
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
;D
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