A major figure in French cinema for over 40 years, Daniel Auteuil recently took up singing. He will come to perform for the first time in Quebec the very personal pieces from his second album released last year, If you’re afraid, don’t be afraid of love. The iconic actor gave us a joyous telephone interview.
Posted at 1:05 a.m.
Updated at 5:53 a.m.
We feel in this album a mixture of nostalgia and the present…
Yes. The present moment is due to the arrangements of Gaëtan Roussel. And what you hear of nostalgia are my melodies, my music, my lyrics! To tell stories like that, it had to be with the means of our time and our time. By being careful to tell credible stories, which correspond to the man I am today, at the age I am today.
The songs talk a lot about the father-son relationship, but are you as much a father as a son?
Yes, I tried to write a script that would tell the story of a little boy, and the vector of the song means that I can interpret it. I can tell my own stories, which gives me the strength and credibility to go on stage and sing. It’s not someone else, I’m not disguised, even if sometimes I dress like a rocker! (Laughs)
You make music seriously, but there’s still some fun behind it, it seems!
More than fun, I would say a great, great pleasure, and I think that’s what passes. But you are right, I do this very seriously. I don’t play a role, I don’t act as a singer. In the four years that I have been doing this, it is a new profession that I have learned. When you’re a songwriter, there’s an intensity to give, it’s very special. It is a vector of emotion. I really like it. I should have started 10 years ago.
Your parents were opera singers and you did musicals in your early days. Was the idea of becoming a singer one day on your mind?
Yes, but I didn’t dare. And it must be said that my life as an actor keeps me busy. I continue to make films, as an actor, director and author, I have a great activity, which is closer to creation than to a simple performer. My frustration, perhaps, is not having taken charge of myself sooner. Well, there’s no point saying I should have or could have. It’s good to do it.
Your texts are very poetic. Do you work on them a lot?
Enough, anyway. It comes to me from my work as a theater actor, from exposure to great texts. I often write the lyrics before and the music After. I start with a sentence and the threads that we draw from it. And the more we shoot, the more images come. Time has to stop, or we have to stop time, to do that. But once I have my lyrics, I bring my guitar on set, and in the caravans, I can start composing and escape.
Do you compose all the melodies?
PHOTO ROBIN FRANÇOIS
Daniel Auteuil
Not all. The ones who are the most successful are Gaëtan! (Laughs) On the album, there are two or three melodies that are his, the rest are mine.
Are you also a musician?
No. I was born into it, I was bathed in music, references, melodies. On my first album, If you had known me, the emotion that Paul-Jean Toulet’s texts gave me, I tried to transform it into music. I suggest melodies, songs, then like in a film, a cinematographer will structure the light and the image. Gaëtan and the musicians structure my songs.
Are you lucky to have found each other, Gaëtan Roussel and you?
Yes ! It’s the odds of friendship. The most wonderful thing is that he knew how to shape my songs in my image, and not in his own.
Do shows and albums force you to neglect your acting work?
No way. I have the freedom to choose. This year, for example, I made two or three films, including one as director and actor. I have time to do everything. It’s nothing, 150 concerts in four years!
How do you see the idea of coming to sing your songs in Quebec?
Like a kind of Christmas or birthday present. It’s a gift that life gives me. At the same time, all my life, I have made sure to give and receive. I am made for this.
Could it be said that you have an aptitude for happiness?
I want it. After a while, you understand what to do. You also need luck, meeting the right people, but at a certain age, if you continue to want to hurt yourself, it’s because you haven’t understood anything. If we can give ourselves the means to get through beautiful moments, we must not shy away from them.
Is this the meaning of the very beautiful title of the album?
Yes. If you’re afraid, don’t be afraid. Go ahead, go for it, whatever happens.
The public who goes to see you, what should they expect?
Let him be surprised! (Laughs) Let him come with confidence. Yes yes.
What is your relationship with Quebec? Have you come often?
Only twice, to make a film called The widow of Saint-Pierre, with Juliette Binoche. It was near Lac-Saint-Jean, in the middle of winter, the temperature was -30. To look good, I didn’t wear my cap, so my brain was frozen and it was hard to speak. I came back in the spring, and I finally saw the faces of all the people I worked with!
Is this like a new territory for you to clear?
But I’m not coming to clear the land! I come… to sow some poppy seeds.
Daniel Auteuil is in concert at the Outremont Theater on April 30 and 1er may. He will also perform in Quebec, Sainte-Agathe and Longueuil. Daniel Auteuil will star in Joachim Lafosse’s film A silence from May 3.
Consult the show page at Théâtre Outremont
The #metoo of French cinema
The #metoo wave has swept across French cinema in recent months. We had no choice but to talk about it with Daniel Auteuil, who is very positive about women’s voices being liberated. “I think it’s about time. Future generations will have an easier time living together, it was necessary. It’s true that it’s the cinema industry that is targeted, but it’s the same everywhere, throughout society! We serve as a vector, but it would be too simple if the evil was only there… It is the world, the world which is changing quickly, quickly, quickly, and to participate in these changes, and to see them, is an opportunity . This is my way of thinking about these beautiful movements. »
