Thibault de Montalembert speaks of “A door must be open or closed” according to Alfred de Musset

In our interview, the actor returns to this intriguing work and his interpretation of the character, while discussing the relevance of his message and the direction of Éric Vigner.

A return to the stage after 30 years

Thibault de Montalembert does not discover A door must be open or closed; he already played her thirty years ago, alongside Marianne Denicourt, in a production filmed by Benoît Jacquot. This first contact with the play took place during rehearsals at the Odéon and marked a turning point in the actor’s career, particularly with the subsequent engagement with the Comédie-Française. This return to the stage of this play, under the direction of Éric Vigner, is part of a process of revisiting the same text, but in a radically different way, in order to better explore its subtleties.

Love and truth at the heart of Musset’s text

The play focuses on love in an almost clinical form, where two characters – a count and a marquise – are forced to confront their feelings and their hesitations. Thibault de Montalembert plays the Count, a man haunted by romantic failures, who constantly questions the possibility of true love. The relationship between the two characters is marked by palpable tension, both emotional and intellectual.

For the actor, this dialogue is not only that of two individuals, but also a “dialogue between him and himself”, a reflection on unfinished love, the quest for the absolute and the truth in the human relations. The influence of Musset, who never had a fulfilling romantic experience, is felt in the complexity of the relationships he establishes between the sexes, even more so when we consider the way in which this dialogue resonates in the contemporary context.

A contemporary staging

One of the particularities of this production directed by Éric Vigner is its ability to update a 19th century text. Indeed, A door must be open or closed was written to be read, not to be performed on stage. Éric Vigner updated the text, removing the heaviness of the language of the time, to make it a more fluid work, while preserving the spirit of the text. Result: an astonishing modernity which resonates with current concerns, particularly around male-female relationships. The actor notes that the text resonates today with burning social questions, such as those linked to feminist movements or criticism of patriarchy, whether in the context of #MeToo or in the analysis of the power exercised by men over women.

An alchemy that is woven throughout the performances

Thibault de Montalembert and Christelle Tual, who plays the Marquise, had never worked together before this production. However, a strong bond quickly developed between the two actors, allowing them to nourish an alchemy which makes the duo particularly striking on stage. Their exchanges, filled with humor and tension, echo the finesse of Musset’s dialogues, while bringing a new dynamic, marked by the tempo of the contemporary staging.

An actor with a busy schedule

While A door must be open or closed occupies a central place in the theatrical news of Thibault de Montalembert, the latter is also pursuing other projects. He is currently finishing filming a film for Netflix called Champagne Problema romance set in Épernay. He is also present in a detective series called Montmartrebroadcast on TF1, and begins a new comedy for France 2. Without forgetting the continuation of the adventure 10 percentthe hit series in which he plays agent Mathias Barneville.