He is one of the personalities who will make the year 2025. Jean-Paul Rouve will take the stage with “L'Air de rien”, a unique show in homage to French song expected in Montpellier on April 26. He will also be back before that on February 5 in a new Tuche opus for which this time he goes behind the camera. Interview.
This will be one of the events in 2025, at the Corum in Montpellier, you will perform there on April 26 with “L'air de rien”, an evening in homage to French song. What form will this show take?
It's an idea that I had a long time ago, when I went to see Jean-Louis Trintignant on stage who was declaiming great texts of French and foreign literature and a lot of poetry. Poetry is no longer a major art today, and I deplore it. Who are the great poets of today? They are the song writers. I am passionate about songs, there are so many beautiful texts that speak of our society, of the passing of time.
French song is special, it is the text above all, it is a tradition. Of course, we know all those who are in the “pantheon” such as Barbara, Brel, Renaud, I take that but I also wanted to draw on popular culture, there are some very beautiful texts, from Michel Delpech, Balavoine, Sardou, Julien Clerc, among all these artists. I love and read these texts on stage like stories, accompanied on the piano by Alain Lanty. These are often mini-scenarios, some could be put into images and become short films.
It’s a bit like the soundtrack of our lives that will play on stage…
It's a very good definition and there will also be recent titles, I'll take Orelsan for example, the very current song also interests me.
Have all these artists that you are going to tell on stage mattered in one way or another to you?
Yes, I only took things that I liked, it's completely subjective, these are texts that interest me, that touch me. I grew up with Brel, Brassens, Barbara, but also Bono, Goldman… I was immersed in the great French song with text, but also the very popular song, because my parents listened to RTL at home, I was not locked into a style, as long as it was well written, everything interested me.
We all have little Proust madeleines that follow us like this and then it sometimes takes us back to a perhaps vaguer period, we know if we were children, if we were teenagers, that's what is strong in the song, it’s this collective memory unconscious.
You will talk, in particular, about Renaud, to whom you are close. What does it mean to you?
He is a great poet, on the level of Brassens. He is truly his direct heir. It's a poetic style of writing, also very close to rap, because it brings, as we would say today, a punchline. It's fantastic, it's fine, funny writing, which speaks of the times and very varied subjects. He is not only in the relational, romantic song, “I love you, you don’t love me anymore”… He goes everywhere, in all subjects. He's not afraid of anything. With Souchon, they are the two great authors of French song. He is a very very great man, he is in the pantheon of French song
He's just been on tour for two years anyway, it's crazy and obviously it was full everywhere, it's Renaud…
You will also mark the year 2025 with the highly anticipated release on February 5 of “God save The Tuche”, which you directed. What made you decide to go behind the camera this time?
Olivier Baroux made four and wanted to move on a little, which I can easily understand. Pathé offered it to me. I found it interesting because I've done four as an actor, it gives me an additional challenge.
I jumped into it and I loved doing it, I really did. It’s a wonderful memory, a magical shoot.
Will this film be in line with the previous ones?
Yes, it’s the Tuches! It's like when the Americans make a superhero film, a Batman remains Batman, but afterward, indeed, you are right, there is always a part that is personal, we put things that make us laugh, it there is the way of telling the story, but we do not distract from the frankness and the essence of the film. And that, for me, is easy, because I also co-write, so I'm on that line, anyway.
We will find all the characters who leave for England, they arrive in a world that is not theirs, in this case royalty, with all its codes. And instead of adapting, they come with their world and disrupt others…
How do you analyze the success of the Tuche?
Everyone has an opinion, I don't, because we can't know. We can always explain to you after the fact a success or a failure, but who knows, in fact? Person. It's so magical…
How was this cult character of Jeff Tuche born?
It was born at the time of writing, we talked about it and it also comes quite a bit from the Robin Hood sketches…
This month you were in a completely different register on the poster for “La Vallée des fous” by Xavier Beauvois, where you play a sailor adrift, few actors move with so much ease from one genre to another. the other, are these two fields that you wish to continue to invest in parallel, as an actor as well as as a director?
I don't ask myself the question in those terms. It's not the kind of films that determine my choices but the personality of the filmmaker. In this case, it was the desire to film with Xavier Beauvois that guided me above all and if tomorrow I read a comedy that I like and seems relevant to me, with a filmmaker's vision, I would not hesitate.
Since Robins des bois, the troupe that you founded and which popularized you, you have become one of the most prominent figures in French cinema, at the moment when you are preparing to go on stage in a new register, what take a look at this atypical route?
Frankly, without false modesty I don't see myself like that. I don't look back. I don't even know how many films I've been able to make. These are the next projects that occupy my mind.
Do you have other plans? Any other desires as an actor or director? Will there be another Tuche?
I really like directing. It allows me to explore other worlds. With the Tuche, it's the first time that I've tackled a comedy. Until now, I have co-written and directed dramatic comedies. Currently, as is often the case, I am developing several subjects and the future will decide which one will remain at the end of the writing journey.
Concerning the Tuche I will answer you as I do every episode. It's the public who will decide and if then we find a good idea…
