October 07, 2022 by Jonathan Blanchet
Coline Serreau in La Belle Verte (1996). She plays the role of Mila, who agrees to go to Earth, a planet abandoned for 200 years.
The director of Trois Hommes et un couffin and La Belle Verte is the guest of the fourth CLAP, the Ciné Rencontre Lumineuse in Plombières-les-Bains, at a time when her films have never seemed so current and necessary. Meeting with a stubborn woman who is not ready to lower the flag.
If we had to sum up your cinema, we could say that it has this particularity of having been able to follow the evolutions of the mores of society…
When Trois Hommes et un couffin came out in 1985, it didn’t mean making people feel guilty. He showed that having a child was a joy. Why would these men miss this? A great deal of machismo fell with the film. Same thing with The Crisis. Maria Pacôme’s tirade (which expresses the fed up with her mental load and her need to finally live her life, editor’s note) had a big societal impact. This created a very liberating trigger for women… and for men too!
Do we always talk to you about Trois Hommes et un bassinet?
Now, I hear more about La Belle Verte (ecological and spiritual fable which sees an extra-terrestrial landing on Earth and realizing the extent of the damage, editor’s note). The subject of the film passed for completely frosty when it was released. In 1996, it didn’t make many entries…and I don’t remember seeing a single positive paper from a journalist. When it came out on video and DVD, word of mouth changed everything… and with YouTube and streaming, loads of scenes ended up on the internet. It has become a global phenomenon. People gather to watch it. They understood how much La Belle Verte talks about us!
Vincent Lindon said recently of The Crisis that he was almost 30 years ahead.
When you want your film to last, you must not stick to the small reality of the moment. Our society has been going badly for a while, things are not getting better. The whole thing is to dig the furrow to allow us to show how we can get out of it. A film like Local Solutions for Global Disorder is very important for people to see right now. We can’t get by in a society where the only goal is to make more and more money. So we have to fight to change it.
Despite the harshness of the social themes, your films are full of comedy and humor. What balance can be found between the two?
For me, there is not much difference, the two are not incompatible! Look at Chaplin, Lubitsch… I see the world in its tragedy and its comedy at the same time. Laughter makes it easier to look at yourself. We can laugh at ourselves in this society! It is essential to have hope. Life goes on and will continue…. with or without us!
On your side, you chain the projects! Do you plan to explore other fiction formats, other on-screen techniques? Your feature film, Chaos, was one of the first to be shot with a digital camera…
The first theatrically released worldwide you mean! The digital imposes another writing, much richer. I am not one of those who are nostalgic for film. We are made to sweat with the film! The mute was beautiful, but the talkies, it’s still not bad, isn’t it? Same thing in the theatre: I put on an interactive show and following the audience, I improvise, I change the text and I have extremely direct contact with people. This is also what I come to look for in Plombières. This is an important opportunity to take the pulse of society.
CLAP-Festival
October 8 and 9
Cinema of Plombieres-les-Bains
Meeting and screening of five films by Coline Serreau in her presence (Three Men and a Basket, La Crise, La Belle Verte, Saint-Jacques… La Mecque and the documentary Local Solutions for Global Disorder)
Info: www.plombierescinema.fr