Awarded a César for his role in La Nuit du 12, Bouli Lanners is once again starring in a thriller adapted from real events. For the theatrical release on May 1st of An Affair of Principles, AlloCiné met the film team.
One of the biggest political scandals of the century adapted for film
Brussels, 2012. When the public health commissioner is dismissed overnight in the greatest opacity, the European deputy José Bové (Bouli Lanners) and his parliamentary assistants (Thomas VDB and Céleste Brunnquell) decide to lead the investigation.
Copyright Pascal Chantier
They will then discover a real plot threatening to destabilize European authorities, right up to their summit. Taken from real events.
Adapted from Hold-up in Brussels, lobbies in the heart of Europe by José Bové, in collaboration with Gilles Luneau (© éditions La Découverte, 2015), An Affair of Principle is available to discover in theaters now. On this occasion, AlloCiné was able to meet Bouli Lanners, Thomas VDB and director Antoine Raimbault. A look back at the creation of a gripping thriller, adapted from a very real scandal.
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Why did you choose this particular case as the starting point for A Case of Principle?
Antoine Raimbault: Initially, it was a desire for cinema. I wanted to make a contemporary thriller, on this subject of lobbies. I came across this affair and it seemed to me that it concentrated a lot of ingredients conducive to a thriller, with a European dimension which was not initially planned. The fact that José Bové, a real cinema character, went to the aid of a political opponent on a question of rights and principles moved and touched me. Institutions, characters, themes… Everything lined up in front of me.
What were your cinematographic inspirations?
Antoine Raimbault: There are few precedents taking place in a European framework. There is one on the Greek debt, Adults in the Room by Costa-Gavras, but which takes place more on the side of the European Commission and which I have not watched. Beyond the references, I wanted to get closer to this type of film where we don’t understand everything, but where we accept to let ourselves be carried away by the plot.
Many languages and nationalities intersect in the European Parliament, and therefore in the film. How do we work together to understand each other, on set as in politics?
Antoine Raimbault: In Parliament, people don’t really speak English, but “globish”, a broken English that everyone understands. So my slogan was “Come as you are”, it was very good that the actors each had their own accent. I just wanted Clémence, the character played by Celeste Brunnquell, is better than the others in English. But she wasn’t, so she had to work!
Bouli Lanners: Thomas and I had to work on speaking poor English, which was very difficult since we still have a high level! (laughter) We had to be careful not to speak too well.
Thomas VDB: I think José Bové speaks better English than us! He grew up in the United States.
Bouli Lanners: Yes, he has a perfect vocabulary… but a big accent!
How do you work with a personality who is still alive and in the news to embody them on screen?
Bouli Lanners: I met José and watched a lot of reports to see his way of speaking, especially with his colleagues. I wanted to see him in action. José Bové is also a silhouette: his mustache, his nose, his hair… What scared me was that I was bigger at the time. I had a fixation on that. But in people’s subconscious, his character is necessarily associated with a strong guy, so that reassured me. But it’s not a biopic and I’m not Daniel Day-Lewis, so the performance must not come only from the resemblance to José Bové.
Copyright Pascal Chantier
Thomas, your character is very loosely based on a real person. How far have you distanced yourself from reality?
Thomas VDB: In the film, my character doesn’t pay attention to how he dresses… so it wasn’t a role of composition for me! (laughter) It was the first time I met the person I was going to play. We chose to invent a personal story for him to give him an evolution: at the start of the film, Fabrice completely wants to stop politics. But the character of Lisa Loven Kongsli, an old friend whom he will meet again, will motivate him to dive back into this investigation. But that didn’t really happen to Jean-Marc, José Bové’s real parliamentary assistant, who still works in the European Parliament.
You are rather known in a comic register. What convinced you to make a dramatic shift for this particular film?
Thomas VDB: Antoine saw me in Claire Andrieux, by Olivier Jahan, the first non-comedy film in which I played, and contacted me. When someone offers me a film with as many qualities asA matter of principleI am the first to make myself available, comedy or not!
There are, however, many elements of comedy in the film. Was it to defuse the tension?
Antoine Raimbault: Initially, I imagined an American-style film, more serious. This lightness actually came from our meeting with José Bové and his assistant, Jean-Marc, who are very funny and who enjoy fighting. Bouli and Thomas knew how to catch that. There is fun, and that was very important.
Thomas VDB: This note of lightness was very important in the trio. Antoine wanted us to have this playfulness, in a bureaucratic and serious context. We can hear the audience laughing during the projection, it’s crazy to think that the goal has been achieved.
The plot, very political, can seem opaque. How did you prepare to play experts in such a specialized field?
Antoine Raimbault: From writing to post-production, our objective was to take on the density of the subject without making “Europe for dummies”. We had a lot of discussions on the substance of the subject, on the case, to understand it. But we had to plan each sequence to get to the point. It should not become uncomfortable for the spectators, and the line between “accepting not understanding certain elements but letting yourself be carried away by the plot” and “understanding nothing” is very thin. My reference on the subject is the Emergency series. I’m not a doctor, I don’t understand 95% of the terms, but that doesn’t stop me from understanding and hooking.
Bouli Lanners: People ask me lots of things about European institutions now, I try to deflect the conversion! (laughter)
Copyright Pascal Chantier
What was your experience of working in these political institutions? Did this make you want to get involved?
Bouli Lanners: To vote, already! But on condition that you never set foot in the European Commission in Brussels again, which is a real purgatory.
Thomas VDB: Take three elevators and walk a kilometer to go from the office to the canteen… We were completely lost!
Bouli Lanners: On the other hand, these places which are not really sexy still look good in the film!
Antoine Raimbault: Yes, but the institutions gave us time and human resources to support and guide us. They played the game and were completely transparent. They understood the challenge of letting fiction in, and that’s very good news!
Comments collected for AlloCiné by Isaac Barbat.
An Affair of Principle, adapted from real events by Arthur Raimbault with Bouli Lanners, Thomas VDB and Céleste Brunnquell, can be seen in cinemas from May 1.
