Marie Gillain under the influence of Alexis Michalik

During a cocktail party with friends, Anna (Marie Gillain) stabs his companion, Damien (Alexis Michalik). She is indicted for attempted murder… Why this gesture? To insanity, based on an autobiographical script by Éléonore Bauer, shows how a narcissistic pervert deploys his grip. The story begins as a humorous romantic comedy, before sliding, inexorably, towards hell. Alternating seduction and humiliation, knowing how to aim where it hurts, the man puts his victim down, like a bullfighter carrying the fatal blow.

Developed like a puzzle, the TV film shows the investigation led by a doubtful policeman as to Anna’s guilt and the role of her lawyer (Ahmed Sulla and Nicole Ferroni, perfect counter-use). Behind the camera, the couple Andréa Bescond and Éric Métayer, Caesarized in 2018 for Tickles – a film recounting the sexual abuse of which the director had been the victim as a child -, finds the right tone to transcribe this violence against women.

The actress Marie Gillain (Speakerine ) and actor, playwright, screenwriter and director Alexis Michalik (Edmund), who play the two main protagonists of this story, engage in a cross interview.

TV MAGAZINE. – Why did you accept this project?

Alexis MICHALIK. – The subject, very strong, the script up to par, Andréa and Éric whom I knew… The role, also very strong, a great actress opposite… From the first day, paradoxically, even if Marie let go of her guts and I played a full bastard, it was a very playful, very engaging shoot. We were permanently present on the set, and therefore in a non-stop energy in front of Éric and Andréa who are also a couple and sent this energy back to us.

Marie Gillain. – I dreamed of a female character, an absolute character, where we are on an extremely powerful emotional journey with a mixture of great vulnerability, of letting go. I dreamed of working with directors committed on a human and artistic level. It was the perfect match.

“The slide towards the dark part is not linear, there are jolts of life, hope, then a simple word explodes all the internal cells”

Marie Gillain

How to approach such characters?

AM – It was clear, I didn’t do any particular research, I understood where they wanted to go in the writing. On set, we arrived prepared and the directors took us even further to extremes, to the point of madness. They pushed us to improvise. We were always on the alert.

MG – The film has the very essence of the screenplay, very written dialogues that were there, but they have indeed deconstructed a lot. They wanted to be surprised themselves. In this tilting, sliding mechanism, there are bound to be chaotic, uncontrolled reactions. The sliding towards the dark part is not linear. There are jolts of life, of hope. Then a single word explodes all the cells inside.

It starts out as a romantic comedy…

MG – These moments of humor were written, especially those of the character, who was very cynical. They are fundamental because it is simply life. When you experience tragic moments, you don’t necessarily think of putting yourself in pathos mode. The spectator realizes that it is withering but life goes on around it.

There really was a shooting in two parts, one very light, the other where we enter a harder phase, in particular with the rape scene. But we lived it well because we knew each other and everything was extremely benevolent.

AM – The most trying shoots don’t necessarily have to do with what we play. Sometimes there are toxic people on a set. It doesn’t show in the picture. You can live hell on a comedy!

“I think he is incapable of empathy, it is the mark of narcissistic perverts”

Alexis Michalik

Alexis, how do you analyze your character? Is he really cruel or does he love her in his own way?

I think he’s incapable of empathy, that’s the mark of narcissistic perverts. He only loves himself and at the same time he hates himself, that’s why he makes everyone suffer. It takes place in a kind of game imposed by defense mechanisms that he set up himself in childhood to survive. He feeds on the suffering of the other to move forward.

Do you need to find extenuating circumstances for him?

AM – No, not at all. Because that’s a pretty extreme case. He will seek what causes suffering without regret. He takes women into a daily life where they have not imagined that they could live something passionate as he will make them believe.

MG – Yes, she says to herself, I still have the right to live this great and beautiful love story!

Do you think we can get caught up in the game?

MG – Yes totally. For having experienced it to a lesser extent and having talked about it… At a certain point in one’s life, when one is a single mother, in a relationship for a long time and the daily grind lessens the sensual and loving vibrations, or when one has financial problems, one can dream of an escape! And when you’ve taken the bait of this feeling, when you feel above the rest, it’s easy to accept a form of price to pay.

AM – Any relationship, even a healthy one, is a sum of compromises. A narcissistic pervert does not suddenly reveal himself. We often meet unhappy people in a relationship who do not leave for a thousand reasons.

“It’s a quality and a fault with me: in life I find extenuating circumstances in everyone! »

Marie Gillain

Alexis, how did you approach the choreographed bullfighting scenes?

AM – I let myself be led. Andrea was dancing behind the camera to show me the moves. She threw herself on the ground, I threw myself too! I am very happy with the result.

MG – As he is a character who is always in control, these are the only times when there is a form of abandonment. He exults in a smile and she collapses in parallel. But there are also times when you feel it lost, its flaws reveal themselves.

Do you find extenuating circumstances for him?

MG – It’s a quality and a fault with me: in life I find extenuating circumstances in everyone! It may be a professional deformation because for me the essence of acting is to observe the people around me and empathy is created.

AM – I say that about my work as an author. You have to be able to understand the motivations, even of the bad guys, to make them believable.

Does Andrea’s personal story play a role?

MG – She is one of those human beings who make a deep impression through their experience. She has a strength, an organic and visceral relationship to existence, injustice, violence… She has been able to channel it and exploit it through writing, dance, her acting or her place as a director. . She is deeply combative and committed. She reminded me of the violence figures, because it matters. She knows her subject inside out and places herself on the side of the victims. It is inseparable from her.