the essential
Agnès Jaoui is a candidate for re-election as president of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse. Its news is busy this year, with the publication of a book and a record, the release of several films and the staging of an opera. Interview.
La Dépêche du Midi: Is the current year, started with an honorary César, punctuated by several films, a book, a record and soon your birthday, special?
Agnès Jaoui: So I already think in terms of the school year, since I have two children, and I don’t worry at all about the passing years and the dates. So, maybe in a few years, looking back, when I’m very old, in the evening by candlelight, I’ll say to myself: “Oh my, this year was crazy!” But it’s true that for now, I I have my nose in it so I don’t realize it. Although I am aware that there has been a book, a record, a film as well as some great film proposals in recent years.
One of them, “The Last of the Jews,” is a film that you have defended since its release. It echoes the news that affected your family a year ago in Israel…
Yes, I have my family on the phone all the time and one of my cousins actually sent me a video showing them in the Tel Aviv metro, they were waiting for the missiles to fall. Everything that happens is awful, with crazy people on all sides and a nightmarish narrative. I understand the pro-Palestinian demonstrations but when we see that women no longer even have the right to speak in Afghanistan, where there is not a demonstration, no one cares. Not to mention Ukraine, Africa…
“The Size of Our Breasts” has just been published. Is writing a book another way of leaving a mark, even if narcissism is foreign to you?
It is yet another object, obviously, than a film or a play. But the fact of having done it with my friend Cécile Partouche, the book belongs to both of them. It’s yet another testimony, another trace. But, of course, success is not nourishing. That’s not how I calmed my anxieties, which still haven’t calmed in fact. In fact, narcissism is a monster that grows bigger when you feed it. There is no satiety and some stars remind us of this. For my part, it’s the joy of creating that saves me and working with friends to boot!
In other news, this new record, “Wait for the sun to return”, released on the label of Aurélie Cabrel, Francis’ daughter. How was the connection established?
My manager met Aurélie Cabrel and Benjamin Guyot from the label, they mentioned my wish to record a record in French and they were interested. So, last year, I traveled from Toulouse to Astaffort a few times and, naturally if I may say so, I met Francis Cabrel. Then, the proposal to sing “Si tu me dices ven” together came, so I was delighted. He offered me the only song on the record in Spanish, which was even funnier because it’s by my favorite trio, Los Panchos! This is the trio that started it all. It was when I heard them sing “Lo Dudo” in the film “The Law of Desire” by Pedro Almodovar in 1987 that I fell in love with this music.
Since your appointment in 2021 as president of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, what relationship do you maintain with the city?
Toulouse has been part of my life for three years now. I already loved it because I sang with the group Zebda, because I already had very strong memories, because I filmed here in Frédéric Sojcher’s film, “The Course of Life”. And, for three years, another relationship with the city and with its inhabitants has been forged which is very warm and exciting. Thinking about it just now makes me smile! The city suits me, we’re a bit in Spain and that makes me feel good. There are lots of things in common with Paris and at the same time we’re not there. And in fact, everything takes me back to the South-West, to the region. And then I continue to follow what’s happening at the Cinémathèque. It’s completely exciting and a privilege to work with this team of passionate people. So I’m going to run in the next elections to remain president of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse!
After films, a book, a record, why does opera occupy your daily life currently?
I am staging “L’Uomo Femina” in Dijon, an 18th century opera by Baldassare Galuppi which tells the story of two shipwrecked men who wash up on an island ruled by women. Performances will begin on November 7. We are also preparing “Don Juan” which will be performed in 2026 at the Toulouse Opera. The model of the sets designed by Éric Ruf corresponds exactly to what I asked for, so I’m delighted!
