Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, Céline Sallette’s first feature film, “Niki”, is released in theaters this week. Charlotte Le Bon plays the visual artist with great accuracy. Encounter.
(Comments collected and formatted by Marine Guillain)
Shooting paintings, where the canvas becomes stained with paint from random gunshots. Modern and generous sculptures of women called “Nanas”. The amazing Tarot Garden in Tuscany, a perfect representation of the world of Niki de Saint Phalle. How were these works, now famous throughout the world, born? They actually symbolize the rebirth of the artist, who managed to emancipate himself from a partisan society and free himself from his traumas (incest, family dramas) through art.
It was this aspect of his life that touched Celine Sallette right in the heart, as she explained to us during our meeting in Cannes: “When I read Niki de Saint Phalle’s biography, I immediately knew what I wanted to tell: her transformation, the moment when she became herself. The film begins with an image of Niki posing as a model during a shoot, like a jewel or a trophy, reduced to silence. At the end, she has short hair and fires shots with a rifle. I wanted to tell what happened between the two, the path that led her to start her new life.”
Immediately, Celine Sallette think of Charlotte Le Bon to interpret Niki: “I was always told that I looked like her,” the Canadian actress tells us. I have seen her work in different places, she has so many sculptures all over the world that I feel like her work is part of the collective unconscious. After Céline approached me for the role, I read everything Niki had written, analyzed her work, tried to understand how and why she did things. I found very clear links between his experience and his creation.”
Charlotte Le Bon in “Niki”
© Praesens-Film AG
And Charlotte Le Bon is preparing thoroughly for this project which drives him so much “Roles like Niki don’t come along every morning!” she says, but she leaves with a major advantage. Having been immersed in art for many years herself – she studied visual arts in Quebec – she has also done modeling: “I planned a lot of things because, like her, I hated this job! And then when I played Niki creating her works, certain gestures were very familiar to me, so I wasn’t afraid of being off base. I knew exactly what I was doing, which was a weight off my shoulders.”
Arriving at a stage in his career where the desire to play was less present – Charlotte Le Bon herself presented her first feature film at Cannes, the sublime “Falcon Lake”, two years before “Niki” – the Quebecer confides that she needs “real challenges” to get her out of her house: “It was a real challenge, to embody this flamboyant woman, and especially to embody her triumph. She went through hell and came out thanks to creation, I find that glorious and magnificent.”
For his part, Celine Sallette had already had feature film projects in mind before making “Niki”, but none had come to fruition. Before her, no one had been authorized to make a film about the visual artist: “Niki’s granddaughter always refused, because for her it was too intimate. When I was in contact with her, I told her that in my opinion, her greatest work was the path she had taken. Managing to free herself from trauma through art and daring to publicly reveal the incest she had suffered, at that time, was truly pioneering. What she did to free herself and regain strength is exemplary. She is reborn with the shots on her paintings, and it is these works that give her international recognition. At the end of the film, his life begins. His liberation is the central subject of the film.
In cinemas from October 9.
More information about “Niki”
Trailer for “Niki”
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